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The Northcoders Entry Challenge is how we determine who to offer a place to on our course. We aren’t looking for ready-made coders, but for hard-working people with an interest and demonstrable ability for problem solving and learning new concepts quickly. What Will Happen When I Apply? Review. First, we’ll read your application and decide whether…

Student Katie Masters writes… 2022 Bootcamp starts After the long bank holiday weekend and lovely Christmas break, I started back at Northcoders to begin a new block learning all about backend software development – the structure and behind the scenes workings and data of a web server. I knew this involved databases and as I…

We know coding and its terminology can appear complicated from the outside, which is why we have created this beginners guide of simple tech jargon, to make it really easy to understand! Code So, let’s start off with the most common term. Code is essentially a set of written instructions using numbers and letters, which…

The only way to find the best coding bootcamp for your career goals is to ask the right questions. Here are 9 essential questions you should ask bootcamps before you sign on the dotted line! 1. What percentage of your graduates find work as software developers? When it comes to hiring statistics, transparency matters. Are hiring stats readily…

For the last three years I had been working in project management in the engineering and manufacturing sector. However, about 18 months ago I knew that I needed to make a change. I had come to realise that I was working in a job I didn’t enjoy, in a business sector I had no interest…

At Northcoders we put huge emphasis on problem solving skills. Being a programmer is about solving problems with a specific toolset. In fact, building software can be thought of as composing lots of small solutions into one big one. From the very start of the application process, we encourage students to get stuck into problem…

Northcoders student Judit wrote about her first few weeks with Northcoders. Find out more about her career change and time with us on her Dev.to blog. I was originally going to title this post “First Steps”. Forget about steps. Starting bootcamp was more like deep diving into a whirlpool but I couldn’t be happier. Northcoders‘s bootcamp…

Considering changing your career to work in tech? You’re not alone. Google Trends data suggests that people are searching more often for careers in tech, with a steep increase over the last 18 months. Although it’s great to hear all the good things about working in this industry, true coders like to put things in numbers! We’ve…

The idea behind test driven development is that you let the tests ‘drive’ your development process. How does this work? Start by writing a test that fails, then develop the code to make that test pass, then refactor. This cycle is called red, green, refactor. A diagram to show the red, green, refactor TDD cycle RED: The…

Choosing which programming language to learn can be very daunting. There are over 700 languages currently listed by Wiki. Where should you begin? If you take anything away from reading this, it should be one key point; we strongly recommend learning one language in-depth and not two or three casually. What can happen if I choose…

If you’re starting to code, you’ll have a few different routes to take with your learning process. Everyone is different, so working out what’s the best option for your journey is important. We’ve outlined some pros and cons of bootcamp vs. self-study to help you make a decision. Self Study Pros Cons Coding Bootcamps Pros…

Whether you’ve played about with your MySpace page back in the early noughties or you don’t know your Ruby from your Python, everyone who codes started somewhere. So we’ve put together some resources that can help you get going. freeCodeCamp This website is great for complete beginners. We encourage everyone who’s interested in our courses…