Harriet Oughton | From Music Teacher to Rails World Conference MC
When Harriet Oughton stood on stage at Rails World Conference in Amsterdam in front of 800 developers, introducing speakers and being “slightly silly” as the event’s MC, it was hard to believe that just four years earlier, she was teaching music to school children in London with barely any coding experience.
Her journey from head of music department to senior software developer—and now a contributor to the Ruby on Rails Foundation—started with a simple observation: teachers are overworked, and tech could help them.
“I had a friend who is a software developer and I looked at what she did. I really liked what she did, and I had the idea of building tech tools that would help classroom teachers.”
That idea led Harriet to Le Wagon’s part-time Web Development bootcamp in London. What followed was a career transformation that exceeded even her own expectations.
The part-time advantage: Career change without the cliff jump
Unlike many bootcamp students who quit their jobs to study full-time, Harriet chose the part-time route: two evenings a week (Tuesday and Thursday) plus all-day Saturday, for six months.
“I could fit that in around a full-time job. I would come home from school and then I would do the work on two evenings a week, and then all weekend. Obviously it was very busy for six months, but it was a really good way of doing it because it meant I could still do my job and earn money.”
This flexibility isn’t just convenient—it’s strategic. Harriet didn’t have to take the financial risk of leaving her teaching career before proving she could succeed in tech. She could test the waters while keeping her safety net.
And it paid off:
she secured her first software developer job halfway through the bootcamp.
“I actually applied for my first full-time developer job halfway through the part-time course and secured a job at that point. So I knew I had to learn, even while doing the second half of the course, which was a great comfort.”
This speaks to the practical, immediately applicable nature of Le Wagon’s curriculum. The skills taught in the first half alone (fundamentals of web development, Ruby on Rails, databases, Git/GitHub) were sufficient to land a junior developer role.
Le Wagon’s part-time format (24 weeks) is specifically designed for working professionals: the same comprehensive curriculum as the full-time course (9 weeks), just spread out to fit real life. With a 7:1 student-to-teacher ratio and evening/weekend classes, career changers can upskill without putting their lives on hold.
👉 Learn more about our AI Software Development: Build modern web applications with AI integration in 24 weeks part-time (or 9 weeks full-time).
Learning from people who actually do the job
One advantage of the part-time bootcamp? The teachers.
“We were taught by actual people working in the industry because it was the part time course, which was amazing. Whereas obviously with a full time course, it’s not people that are working full-time as developers. So that was the really nice benefit of part time as well.”
These weren’t just instructors, they were working developers who taught in the evenings, bringing real-world problems, current best practices, and industry insights directly into the classroom.
This connection to real-world development proved invaluable:
“The skills that we learned, particularly sort of midway to the end, were really practical, hands-on coding skills—the same sort of skills that you would use if you were a junior developer. We were doing exactly the same things that I then did as soon as I started my job. It’s like I’d already had that practice.”
Over 90% of Le Wagon’s curriculum is project-based, meaning students aren’t just learning theory, they’re building actual web applications, working with APIs, deploying to production servers, and debugging real code. The kind of work you do on day one of your first developer job.
Ruby on Rails: The perfect first language
At Le Wagon, the AI Software bootcamp teaches Ruby on Rails—a choice that might seem old-fashioned to some, but Harriet explains why it’s brilliant pedagogy:
“Ruby on Rails is a web framework that is designed to be incredibly easy to use. You can very quickly get a web application on its feet, which is why it’s such a good choice for bootcamps. Students want to see those results, those goals, what they can achieve in a short space of time.”
Ruby’s human-readable syntax makes it accessible to beginners:
“The underlying code actually is quite understandable quite quickly. It’s not obscure and it doesn’t break that easily. Ruby is nice and readable, nice and easy to understand, it’s fairly robust.”
But Ruby isn’t just a learning tool, it’s a springboard to other languages:
“Ruby can be a really good springboard to learn lots of other things. There’s lots of similarities between Ruby and Python and JavaScript. Some of the core principles remain the same. But Ruby in itself is just a bit more eloquent and simple for people to grab hold of at the start.”
This philosophy, learn one language deeply, then transfer that knowledge, is why Le Wagon doesn’t try to teach five languages superficially. Master the fundamentals with Ruby, and you can learn Python, JavaScript, or any other language when you need to.
Harriet’s career proves this works: she works with Rails professionally, contributes to the Rails Foundation documentation team, and is starting at Shopify as an engineer on the Ruby and Rails infrastructure team.
The community: The secret sauce
Ask Harriet about the best part of Le Wagon, and her answer is immediate: the community.
“The community is amazing. I’ve made friends for life and it’s this amazing network of people—both the part-time teachers I was working with and the other students on my batch. Having this group of people, not just when you’re studying to collaborate with, but also once you’re into the industry… it’s worth more than money can buy.”
This isn’t just feel-good talk. The Le Wagon network has tangible career benefits:
“The other students that I met, I’m still in touch with. They’ve been a really great source of friendship and professional networking because they’ve all gone into the industry as well. So we’re all together now as working professionals, staying in touch and sharing ideas.”
Le Wagon’s global community of 31,000+ alumni across 100+ countries creates opportunities that extend far beyond graduation. Whether you’re looking for your next role, starting a company, or need advice on a technical problem, there’s someone in the network who can help.
The bootcamp is consistently ranked #1 worldwide by Course Report, Switchup, and Career Karma, with a 4.98/5 rating based on 6,000+ reviews—a testament to this community-first approach.
From student to teacher to Senior Developer
Harriet’s path after the bootcamp demonstrates the depth of opportunity Le Wagon creates:
Year 1: Junior Developer + Le Wagon Teacher “When I came out of bootcamp, I took a junior developer role. What I really wanted to do was supplement my income and continue to reinforce these skills. So I had part-time work with Le Wagon as a teacher on the bootcamp in the evenings alongside my junior developer role.”
Year 2: Batch Manager “After about six months to a year, I was asked to be a batch manager. I looked after a cohort of part-time students going through the course. It was really nice to be passing on to the next generation, and to reinforce the concepts so deeply—if you’re having to teach them, they’re really embedded.”
Years 3-5: Senior Developer + Rails Foundation Contributor Today, Harriet is a senior software developer at Zivio (a procurement tech company), writes documentation for Ruby on Rails with the Rails Foundation, creates YouTube tutorials for the framework, and was chosen to MC Rails World Conference in Amsterdam.
“All of that comes back to my choice to retrain as a software developer with Le Wagon. That was where everything started.”
This trajectory, from bootcamp student to senior developer in under five years, isn’t an outlier. Le Wagon’s commitment extends beyond graduation: alumni get lifetime access to course materials, ongoing career support (CV reviews, interview prep, salary negotiation workshops and much more), and continuous connection to the global alumni network.
Women in Tech: Representation matters
As a woman in tech, Harriet is acutely aware of the importance of visibility:
“Had I not had the opportunity to look at another woman developer and see what she was doing, and see that it is possible that software developers do look like this, I wouldn’t have been sure that I could do it. I do feel that sense of responsibility to make sure I’m being quite visible and helping other women to come through.”
This is more than personal pride, it’s about changing what the next generation believes is possible.
“It’s about showing them that it is possible to come from a variety of backgrounds, whatever your demographic is.”
Le Wagon takes diversity seriously, with initiatives to support underrepresented groups in tech and a community that actively champions inclusion. Because great developers come from all backgrounds—music teachers, journalists, sales managers, and yes, career changers at any age.
The Rails World Conference: From bootcamp graduate to industry leader
Standing on stage at Rails World Conference in Amsterdam, introducing speakers to 800 attendees, was “an absolutely amazing experience” for Harriet.
“Being that friendly face and point of contact, telling jokes, generally being slightly silly on stage—it was just an amazing opportunity. And all of that comes back to my choice to retrain with Le Wagon.”
This isn’t just about personal success. It’s about what becomes possible when you invest in learning, when you join a supportive community, and when you commit to continuous growth.
From classroom teacher to conference MC. From zero coding experience to Rails Foundation contributor. From career changer to senior developer.
Four years. One bootcamp. Infinite possibilities!
👉 Ready to write your own transformation story?
Whether you’re a teacher, marketer, designer, or considering a career change, Le Wagon’s bootcamps give you the skills and community to succeed in tech:
AI Software Development.
