My experience as an IT newcomer at Accenture

I started my journey into coding two years ago with the Accenture Coding Bootcamp for IT Newcomers. Before that, I studied Geography and worked in the Tourism sector; my only contact with IT was a 4-month further education in web development. Taking this opportunity opened up the world of software development for me. Since then I have been working at Accenture as a software engineer and could not be happier that I took the opportunity the bootcamp offered me.

The Coding Bootcamp gives an overview of software development in general as well as a deep dive into the programming language Java. The tools needed for your daily work as a software developer, such as Git for software version control, and agile project management with Scrum, are covered as well.

Especially noticeable is the project week: After having covered the basics, we had the assignment to develop a small software program within one week by ourselves. While challenging, I definitely learned a lot about coding during this week.

The boot camp wasn’t easy at all and the project week in particular was very tough, but in the end, when you managed to develop your own working program — that’s just the best feeling.

Since I finished the Coding Bootcamp, which takes 3.5 months in total, I have been working at Accenture as a software engineer for a client in the financial sector.

My first project was a cloud migration project, where we migrated the backend of a major application from on-premises to the Azure Cloud. This project gave me the opportunity to directly apply and deepen the skills I learned during the boot camp. In addition, I was able to pick up a wide variety of new abilities, and expertise with Azure Cloud, and got comfortable with common DevOps tools such as Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery software.

The first weeks on the project were challenging. However, I had amazing colleagues who were encouraging, supportive, and happy to answer all of my questions. They passed on their knowledge and enabled me to learn and grow as a developer.

Being at my second project at Accenture now, I can say with confidence, that everyone I met at Accenture always has an open ear and will help you with any struggles or questions, regardless of their professional level.

For everyone considering going into software development, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Coding Bootcamp at Accenture. Don’t be afraid if you haven’t had any points of contact with software engineering or IT in general yet. You don’t need prior knowledge in that area for the boot camp.

All you need is a strong interest in software engineering, being eager to learn new things, and being highly motivated.

And the best part about software development is: It won’t ever get boring. If that sounds good and you enjoy a challenge, give it a try and happy coding!