Learn to code and get a certification from one of the world’s top universities
How to learn how to code online and get certified for that
Hey everyone! I have been neglecting my social media presence for a while now. Let me tell you why, what I’ve been up to, and how this can benefit you. The very short version is: “I have been writing course content for the EPFL Extension School.”
A career change
When it comes to tech skills, I am entirely self-taught. I learned from books and by trial-and-error before the Internet was a thing. I’m not even speaking about online videos as that was over a decade before. In the past 20 years, I’ve worked for companies big and small, and even my own as a software developer. During that time, I’ve also written programming books, blogged a lot, and started an online course platform. As time passed, I figured that what I really, really enjoyed doing was teaching and sharing the skills I learned over the years.
A bit more than a year ago, I’ve decided to quit my job as a software engineer and work on launching a comprehensive online course to bring complete beginners to a level where they’d feel comfortable applying for a junior web developer position. My goal was to write the course I’d have wanted many years ago and that would have sped up my learning process. Being a one-man-show for such a large task is no easy feat. But my life changed when I got in touch with the EPFL Extension School.
The EPFL Extension School
The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has been at the forefront of innovation for 50 years and is consistently ranked as the number 1 young university in the world. More recently, they launched the EPFL Extension School to make digital skills accessible to anyone, regardless of education, location, or age. The EPFL ranks first in Europe for e-learning across all metrics: highest course completion rates, greatest number of courses offered and students enrolled, and most years of experience.
With such a pedigree, you’ll understand that when they agreed to talk with me, I promptly left what I was doing and jumped on the occasion. They took a great deal of time to explain to me where they wanted to go with the EPFL Extension School. Not only their goals were aligned with what I was trying to do on my own, but not only: web development is only one facet of the things one can learn by joining the EPFL Extension School as a learner. The basics of digital literacy to advanced machine learning are all subjects you can study online.
For about a year now, I have been creating course content alongside people much smarter than me, and I am totally convinced that the EPFL Extension School is the way to go if you want to learn relevant tech skills efficiently. From the basics of HTML to advanced JavaScript, Python, or Ruby.
Bridging the gap between “learning alone” and “being guided”
Learning how to code on your own can be a very solitary endeavor. More so when you are not doing it in a classroom with other students and don’t receive personal guidance from an instructor. Believe me, I know a lot about this. More importantly, when trying to self-teach a new skill, knowing what you should learn is really difficult. That’s, in my opinion, the biggest strength of the EPFL Extension School: you are not alone.
Although you can learn at your own pace, with the schedule that suits you best, you can also request a one-to-one with an instructor whenever you need! We will set up a video call and go through your questions together. Thinking back about how I learned things decades ago when I was stuck on a concept I couldn’t understand or get a cryptic error message I couldn’t decipher… how I’d have loved to be able to ask for help from the person who actually wrote the course!
Learn and get certified
There are many ways you can learn how to code. But not that many that will offer a certification. For each course you take with the EPFL Extension School, you will receive a digital certificate of completion once the course has been completed with a passing grade on the course project. When you have finished an entire program, validated by a passing grade on your capstone project, you will receive a Certification of Open Studies. The Certificate of Open Studies is an officially recognized academic credential within the Swiss system of continuing education. ECTS credits will also be awarded.
This is a game changer for many people trying to get a tech job. When I started working as a software dev at the end of the 90s, the demand was huge and it was a little bit easier to get a job with only a portfolio. But today, the world has changed and one day, I’ll tell you all about that time I didn’t even get an interview at a large corporation to work on a software I created… …because I had no diploma nor certifications!
Where to go from here?
If you are interested in knowing more about the EPFL Extension School, its programs and courses, visit exts.epfl.ch. You can even write to us and I’ll call you back to have a chat about what you’d like to achieve!
