Software Development Tag

Guy Clements | Junior Developer

Imagine this. You’re on holiday in Portugal, at vineyard, tasting wine as a birthday surprise from your finance. Sat in an infinity pool in the sunshine, sampling 16.5 per cent red wine, the strongest you have ever drunk, you couldn’t be further from the everyday reality of life in Cornwall. Then your phone rings. It’s about the full-time course you applied to attend. The one you really want to join. The one that received over 100 applications meaning there’s serious competition for the few places available.

This actually happened to Guy Clements marking the start of a completely life-changing few months.

Guy got in touch with us at the start of July after deciding he wanted to follow his passion and return to pursuing a career in tech. He worked in hospitality from a young age and in management roles from 18. In tandem, Guy completed a Music Tech Diploma (DDM) at Truro and Penwith College in 2008 before going on to graduate with a 2:1 in Sound Technology (BSc) from the University of South Wales.

He then chose to travel, working in Norway for a year, and then Vancouver, Canada for two years. On returning to the UK, he secured a job at the award-winning Porthminster Beach Cafe, which he describes as the ‘best restaurant in St Ives’. Over seven seasons, he worked in several senior roles including Floor Manager, Restaurant Manager and Maître’ D. When Guy contacted us, he was working as Bar Manager, having recently decided to take a step back from senior management.

Wanting to rekindle his love for tech, he’d already begun teaching himself some coding and was keen to find an opportunity to upskill further, with a view to becoming a Junior Software Developer. The inaugural 16-week Headforwards Digital Academy Full Stack Software Development Skills Bootcamp, developed to meet employer needs, and fully funded through Digital Futures Cornwall, seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The bootcamp attracted a phenomenal level of interest, so just being selected was a huge achievement. Guy was able to give up his hospitality role just as the peak tourist season ended and began the bootcamp in early September.

‘I really love being a student …. the whole thing just lined up. I thought a free course, 16 weeks, I’ll dive straight in, and it works so well. I learned so much and it was really the type of environment that I thrive in. I absolutely loved it.’

One of the aspirations of Digital Futures Cornwall, which is part-funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and led by Truro and Penwith College, is to highlight that tech is for everyone, and to create opportunities for those currently underrepresented. And, as Guy explains, being older and having transferable skills developed in other sectors, can be a huge advantage.

‘A lot of programmers kind of work in a silo …. work everything out and it really makes perfect sense to them. But when they come to explain, it can be quite a challenging thing to understand it, and for them to make it make sense.’

As Guy goes on to explain, in hospitality it is vital to ensure you have understood what a customer is trying to convey, especially when catering for special occasions. And, for restaurant teams to work together and communicate effectively in high pressure situations.

‘That’s something I think I’ve got a really good skill set in, and that came out during the bootcamp. We did a group project Hackathon and I took the role of project lead. It’s about facilitating an environment where people can cooperate really well and making sure people understand each other.’

This is very evident from speaking to Guy. He is articulate and passionate about how there is a role to suit everyone with an interest in, and aptitude for, programming.

‘There’s so many different jobs available. Anybody from any kind of discipline will be able to find something in programming, if they enjoy problem solving and puzzles.’

Guy was surprised, but pleased, by how much team working was a key aspect of the bootcamp especially as much of the learning took place online. This was facilitated using a Miro Board (an interactive white board) allowing everyone to interact and contribute ideas during meetings. Similarly Slack was used by the group to communicate and support one another with solving problems they couldn’t figure out alone.

Guy talks enthusiastically about the different coding languages they learnt (including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python and Django) remembering to explain what each is and how it’s used for those less immersed in tech. HMTL is ‘where you start’, CSS is for ‘styling your web pages and making them look modern’, JavaScript is ‘all about interactive elements on a web page’, Python is for ‘back end programming’ and Django is ‘a full stack language that allows you to build the back end stuff which you use Python to write, and the front end stuff so people can interact with it.’

Alongside this they learnt soft skills, breathing techniques for overcoming stress, the idea of ‘the valley of disappointment’ in relation to learning a new skill and the need to trust the process.

‘It takes a very long time with small incremental changes in your abilities, and you might feel like you’re not getting anywhere, and that’s the valley of disappointment. And then suddenly you’ll see huge returns in a short amount of time.’

Guy and the others in his cohort graduated from the bootcamp in January. Many were immediately snapped up by organisations, showing the value of its emphasis on not just developing core coding skills, but individuals with the full range of abilities sought by local tech employers.

We spoke to Guy in mid-February, and it was obvious he wouldn’t be looking for his first break in software development for long. Since then, he has married his finance and started the first job of his new career. He’s now working as a junior developer at {n}.bora (nowydh bora, Cornish for a new dawn), a Truro based consultancy company delivering IT and software development services across the globe.

Guy is working with new programming languages and frameworks, like Flutter, in real life products for Cornish, national, and international brands. He is loving the role and feels that the training he completed was the ideal preparation.

“Finding this role and seeing how everything I learnt on the bootcamp comes together into real life software products is an amazing feeling. I feel like I’ve really found my feet with a quality company, I’m already learning new languages, building apps, and becoming a core member of this fantastic team”.

What advice would he give to someone, especially someone older, who is contemplating a similar career change?

‘Go online, watch some tutorials, go through the process. Lots of these courses have an application process… like the five-day programming challenge… just see if you enjoy it. See if you understand… the concepts and what you’re doing. And see if it is something you would like.’

And if he could go back a year, what guidance would he offer himself with the benefit of everything he’s learnt?

‘I would try and get more of the context to programming… once you understand what… the whole thing is trying to achieve… you start to realise that it’s all becomes a big jigsaw puzzle. Everybody’s working on a little problem that’s part of a big solution. That’s pretty fun.’

The third cohort began their bootcamp experience on 28 April. The team at Headforwards are planning a fourth bootcamp for the autumn and are already accepting expressions of interest for it. While having some experience like Guy is an advantage, this training programme is designed to take you from little or no coding skills to junior software developer in just 16 weeks.

And there’s plenty of other part- and fully-funded training on offer through the Digital Futures Cornwall partnership, both in person across the county, and online. From basic IT skills to 360 degree filmmaking, and AI masterclasses to social media marketing.

Plus, there’s everything from half day workshops and short webinars, right up to longer courses like the Headforwards software bootcamp and TECwomen’s digitalUPLIFT. This hybrid skills development programme is designed to break down barriers and empower women* with the most in-demand digital skills.

Maybe it might be the start of a lifechanging few months for you too!

* digitalUPLIFT is open to anyone whose gender expression is underrepresented in the tech sector