’tis the season to be jolly….a quick School of Code 2018 wrap-up
The past couple of weeks have flown by, our graduate and CEO have been nominated for five impressive awards, picking up big wins, the team have also been interviewing and selecting our next cohort of bootcampers, ending 2018 with a big bang!
We have been up for a number of awards across two platforms: the first-ever West Midlands Tech Awards 2018, organised by Birmingham and Coventry Live celebrating people, business and organisations who use digital innovation to drive positive change to the region. The other nominations are from the Silicon Canal Tech awards 2018 which gathers Birmingham’s finest tech talent, providing the opportunity to praise the growing tech community.
Chris Meah, our CEO scooped up the biggest prize to date as the ‘Digital Young Person of the Year’ at the West Midlands Tech Awards and won the ‘Outstanding Technology Individual’ at the Silicon Canal Tech awards. We were up also shortlisted for the ‘Innovation in Education’ and Lily Wales, our graduate was up for ‘Innovation in Arts and Culture’.
Chris Meah started School of Code in 2015 while finishing his PhD who envisioned to get people from different backgrounds into and benefiting from tech as he notices the lack of diversity in the industry. The free bootcamp is designed to get people with no tech or coding experience into the marketplace, helping transform individuals from absolute scratch onto an intensive journey all the way to a professional developer, addressing the digital skill shortage.
Scott Nicholson and Leigh White, who both graduated our first 16-week bootcamp, were nominated for ‘Graduate Developer of the Year’ at the annual Silicon Canal Tech awards. Both of them deserved their nominations for the hard work they’ve put into their blossoming tech careers, but it was Leigh who took home the prize on the night. The award recognises Leigh’s efforts and contributions to the world of programming, with only a year of coding experience under her belt. Having graduated in a maths degree during 2017, Leigh decided that maths wasn’t for her, and so was unsure of which path to take for her career. She then stumbled across the School of Code, which opened doors to the technology sector and acted as a window of opportunity. Leigh had very little previous tech or coding experience but made it through our challenging and intensive web development course, which helped her develop the relevant and essential skills that make Leigh the award-winning full-stack developer she is today. She now works at Cogcept, an AI and Software consultancy based in Birmingham. Being Graduate Developer of the Year shows Leigh’s career change, ambition and hard work have paid off, and there is plenty more to come.
Leigh has also been featured at the Redditch Standard news, if you would like to find out more, check out this link here.
The win also follows Clare Streets’ success last year, who won the Silicon Canal Graduate Developer of the Year and is now an Associate Director for B13 Technology. Before the bootcamp, Clare was a stay-at-home mum for seven years, before embarking our challenging web development course, defying all obstacles, which has helped her become who she is today.
This goes to show, our bootcamp develop and grow vital skills demanded by companies, for people who wish to lead a tech career. This is perfectly illustrated, by our bootcampers, Clare Streets and Leigh White achieving prestigious awards, and thus, recognised by the industry.
Meanwhile, the team have also been busy selecting our next group of aspiring tech-enthusiasts. We received over 400 applications and dwindled to 45 of the best applicants to attend an Interview Day at thestudio, Birmingham. The aim was to pick over 20 best candidates to become a member of the second cohort for the School of Code bootcamp. The day consisted of a session from Chris, team building and problem-solving challenges, 1–2–1 interview and a final closing speech. We will be announcing our next round of bootcampers shortly, so watch this space!
And to finally wrap-up this blog, from the team at School of Code, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Stay tuned to Next Year where we will be revealing our next cohort of bootcampers! 🥳
