A year earlier, changing career into software development still felt uncertain.
By this point, seeing my entire CodeClan cohort working in tech made it finally feel real.
I did my first post back in September last year and was able to keep up a run of 43 consecutive weeks of posting each Friday.
Then I slipped up a couple of weekends ago and I was gutted. In the end, it doesn’t really matter but I am the sort of person when I start something it quickly becomes routine and I have to keep it going or I beat myself up about it
I follow a couple of YouTube vloggers who do daily uploads. Where do they get the time? I guess they don’t have full-time jobs and kids. YouTube is their job, but still, it must be a big pressure to keep it up every day with thousands of followers eagerly awaiting your daily post.
I will keep going with my weekly blog and if I miss a week it's no big deal.
Watching the Cohort Move Into Industry
Some good news from my CodeClan Cohort 7 this week. 21 out of 21 are now employed in the software development industry. And most in Scotland. The last of us to secure a software developer job was the other week. Woo hoo! Go Us!Looking back, that felt like a huge achievement at the time. Many of us had come from completely different industries and backgrounds, and there was a lot of uncertainty about whether the career change would actually work out.
Unfortunately, one was not kept on beyond 6-month probation. I'm not sure of the details but it's a real shame and I imagine it is more to do with the company than the graduate. Based on the 100% success rate they should get something else soon.
Unfortunately, one was not kept on beyond 6-month probation. I'm not sure of the details but it's a real shame and I imagine it is more to do with the company than the graduate. Based on the 100% success rate they should get something else soon.
Looking Back at the Journey
I happened to be in Edinburgh last week and popped in to see how things were in CodeClan. A few cohorts have passed since I was last there. It was project week for some so it was busy with students working on their projects. It was great to catch up with the folk and particularly one of my fellow graduates who has gone on to be an instructor there. He never got to leave.
I had been asked previously by CodeClan if they could compile my 16 weeks of blogs while there into a PDF book.
Of course, that was my response and they had been working on it with my pictures and all. I got the first look and was amazed to find it has over 80 pages. It should be available via the CodeClan website soon. I'm quite excited to see it go live. I have never actually gone back and read through what I produced last year. Hopefully, the spelling and bad grammar have been fixed. I will add a link here later.
I had been asked previously by CodeClan if they could compile my 16 weeks of blogs while there into a PDF book.
Of course, that was my response and they had been working on it with my pictures and all. I got the first look and was amazed to find it has over 80 pages. It should be available via the CodeClan website soon. I'm quite excited to see it go live. I have never actually gone back and read through what I produced last year. Hopefully, the spelling and bad grammar have been fixed. I will add a link here later.
Looking back now, CodeClan was much more than just learning to code.
It was a complete career reset and the start of a very different chapter of life and work.
At the time it felt risky. In hindsight, it was one of the best decisions I made.
This also connects closely to my reflections on meaningful work and career change.
A lot of the thinking behind this transition started much earlier with my interest in early computing and programming.
Learning new technical skills can completely change the direction of your career and life.
I still enjoy solving problems, simplifying systems, and helping people untangle technical challenges.
You can take a look at my TechFix service if that sounds useful.