Where were you before Le Wagon and what let you to enroll?
As a first remark, I landed a developer role in an exciting London startup 3 weeks after the end of the course. I am now a junior developer at
Headstart App, an application that matches students to internships and graduate roles using Artificial Intelligence.
Before joining Le Wagon, I was working in a nuclear power station as an operations engineer in the main control room. I finished my Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol and went straight into the nuclear power industry but after two years I realised that this was not the career for me. I’ve always been a big gamer and loved computers.
I wanted to move back to a big city after living in a remote village for the last year and started looking for jobs in London. As a mechanical engineer, I did not find anything that really interested me and I also came to the conclusion that I was never that passionate about mechanical engineering in the first place! During my job search I couldn't help but notice the abundance of software development roles that were available in London and this gave me the idea to look into becoming a developer.
How did you hear about the bootcamp?
A very close friend of mine recommended Le Wagon to me as he knew someone who attended one of the Amsterdam batches and after seeing her enthusiasm about the course during a Skype call I was convinced that I should apply. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.
What were you hoping to get out of studying code?
Learning to code at Le Wagon was an incredible experience and that’s all I wanted to get out of it. The course structure and content have been meticulously pieced together to create a logical journey which means that even someone with no programming knowledge can understand the concepts and excel in web development. The nine weeks are tough but rewarding, there is a lot of information being thrown at you and everyone has moments where they struggle, however at the end you will be amazed at the web applications that you are able to build.
What was the best part of your bootcamp experience?
The last 3 weeks working in teams building products was the highlight. For my final project, I worked in a team of four students to build a web application which allows users to apply for a loan using their mobile number. The idea for this project came from large proportions of people around the world not having access to financial services due to not having a bank account. Users can sign up and apply for a loan and then bank employees can review these applications, monitor their loan portfolio and have access to statistics which give them an overview of the business. This project was built in only 10 days. Honestly, I could never have imagined that I would be able to build something this completed after just 9 weeks of studying.
What was the transition out of Le Wagon like? And what are you doing now?
I landed a developer job at an exciting company called
Headstart App. A real testament to Le Wagon is that my role is a junior developer in Javascript. It just shows that although the course is Ruby, we get taught the right mindset to keep learning and becoming really diverse developers.
What was the most valuable takeaway from Le Wagon for you?
Everything. I loved it all and I’ve taken skills, friends and great fun from it! Apart from the fantastic course content, all the teachers, teaching assistants and Le Wagon staff helped to create a really friendly and comfortable atmosphere. Every one of them is clearly very passionate about wanting to help people to learn to code and this is reflected in all aspects of the course. Another reason why the course quality was so high was that the teachers were excellent; great at explaining things, answering questions and helping students with their bugs and issues.
Overall, if you are considering learning how to code in a short space of time – I recommend Le Wagon over any other bootcamp in London. It is a guaranteed life changing experience.
