CodeClan Week 15

Week fifteen has been a strange week. The anticipation of the end of the course had been growing steadily, as had the anticipation of the speed networking event. From the start of the week until Thursday we were working on our final CodeClan projects. We were expected to use Java and Spring to write an api which would be used by a ReactJS app. My project team consisted of five people, two of whom were pair-programming on the ReactJS front-end while two others were working on the Java back-end. My own position was full stack, giving me the flexibility to work with both teams when problems arose. I had been hesitant to choose full stack over front or back-end initially, but in the event I found myself enjoying the position. The mental flexibility required to reorientate myself to the different languages and file structures of what were essentially two separate (though connected) projects was stimulating, and something I would love to be able to replicate further down the road.

Despite the interesting projects, the highlight of the week was the speed networking event. Described to us as ‘speed dating with companies’, the idea was that we spend six minutes talking to the representatives of one of the companies in attendance. When the time was up a bell would ring, signalling us to move to the next company. We were all quite nervous, but for my part when the event got going nerves were quickly replaced by curiosity. Speaking to so many people with a clear passion for their work was inspiring. I found myself coming away from many of the companies with a much better understanding of not only what they did, but why they did it. This left me with a very definite sense of excitement at the prospect of joining them, and has only increased my enthusiasm for the next stage of my career.

While the CodeClan course is technically sixteen weeks in length, the teaching finishes at the end of week fifteen with the completion of the final project. A variety of options are available to us for week sixteen, from support to learn new languages to help consolidating those we have already used. I suspect many of us will use the time to finish off the PDA- the professional software development award which goes along with the course. For those of us who have signed up to the industry placement scheme running over the following two weeks, week sixteen will also be used to introduce us to the technologies of the company with which we have been placed. At the start of the course I set the intention to keep a blog throughout, and the end of the structured teaching means this is likely to be my final blog post about the CodeClan course itself. It has been an intense and enjoyable journey with some wonderful people, and one I am very glad to have taken. Thanks to the instructors who have looked after us along the way, and the other members of cohort E26 who have shared the journey. Here’s to the future!