Short course

Skills Bootcamp in Coding

Short Course from the University of Birmingham Coding Boot Camp. Learn to become a web developer at the University of Birmingham Coding Boot Camp, in collaboration with edX. Study part-time over six months and put our resources and job placement services to work for you.

Start date
27 March 2023, coding online. 27 March 2023, coding face to face.
Duration
24 weeks
Time commitment
9 hours per week in the classroom and a further 20 hours minimum per week studying and completing assignments.
Mode
Online & in person
Cost
Scholarships available
Subject
Full stack; Web development; Coding
Level
CPD
Credit
Non-credit
Assessment
Portfolio

Endorsed by

The digital revolution has transformed virtually every area of human activity—and you can be part of it as a web development professional. The University of Birmingham Coding Boot Camp is a part-time, 24-week Full Stack Flex course that gives you the knowledge and skills to build dynamic end-to-end web applications and become a full stack web developer. Courses are scheduled to fit into your life, with convenient weekend and evening sessions. The programme is rigorous and fast-paced and covers both the theory and application of web development. As you become more proficient, you’ll use what you learn on real projects under the guidance of local employers. Plus, you’ll have an impressive Professional Portfolio and the confidence to succeed as a web development professional.

This course is offered in partnership with edX; edX is a workforce accelerator that has partnered with the world’s leading universities to help companies bridge the digital skills gap.

The 24 week Coding Bootcamp has two components - an 8-week fundamentals course, followed by the main 16-week Skills Bootcamp in Coding. The structure, pacing, and time requirements are similar across all 24 weeks (view curriculum). Students successfully completing both components will receive a Certificate of Attendance and Professional Certificate in Coding from the University of Birmingham.

Is the programme right for you?

  • Are you creative, curious and looking to reinvent yourself professionally? If so—or if any of the following describes your situation—enrolling in our coding boot camp could be a smart career move:
  • You’re considering a career change but not sure how to take the first step.
  • You’re happy in your current field, but want to move to another company or stay put and shift from a non-technical to technical position.
  • You want to engage more deeply with your current job or boost your earnings and broaden your experience with freelance work.
  • You have an entrepreneurial idea and need to acquire the skills to go “all in” on it and launch your business.
  • You’re a full-time student but hungry to learn more and expand your skill set.

What you will learn

By the end of this course you will be able to:

  • Apply “social coding” accepted and best practices (including source control, issue tracking, functional feedback, etc.)
  • Build a front end website either from scratch or by utilising a front end framework (such as Bootstrap)
  • Deploy static and dynamic websites to the cloud
  • Implement complex logical conditions to meet an Objective
  • Write SQL commands to perform Create, Read, Update and Delete commands
  • Create a full stack Single Page Application with AJAX Communication
  • Develop your vision for a website and then build it
  • Expertly navigate the file system and terminal basics
  • Work independently, or in a group, on complex projects throughout the entire development lifecycle
  • Understand the basics of troubleshooting and enhancing legacy code
  • Communicate the basics of serving a web page and how the browser renders code
  • Create RESTful APIs utilising JSON as a data format
  • Consume RESTful APIs properly utilising REST verbs
  • Create web applications and services in Java
  • Create session-based applications utilising user authentication schemes that are well-known and widely used

How to apply

In order to enrol on the programme:

  • You must be over 18 years of age.
  • You must have a GCSE grade A-C or 9-4 in Maths.
  • You must meet the English Language proficiency requirements outlined below.
  • You must have passed the admissions interview, coding test and academic interview.

Apply now

Scholarships

For 2022 entry, the University has £4000 scholarships available.  Contact admissions for more information.

Women in Tech Scholarship

The Women in Tech Scholarship will be available to students who are:

  • Female residents from the West Midlands looking to enter or progress within employment in the digital sector
  • Students must have a passion for technology and commitment to a career in the tech industry

Diversity in Tech Scholarship

The Diversity in Tech Scholarship will be available to groups who are underrepresented in the tech industry. The funding will provide support for:

  • Unemployed leaders moving into digital employment 
  • Those in employment looking to re-train (working in low paid, insecure employment to retrain to move into digital employment) 
  • Low-waged residents to enable them to enter new digital occupations and careers (household income is below the national average below £42,875) 
  • Enhancing BAME presence in boot camp cohorts and supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students to enter or progress within employment in a digital sector. 

The scholarship will only be available to students who are:

  • A resident from the West Midlands (learners resident in the West Midlands are eligible, provided that they meet the other elibility criteria)
  • Age 19 or older (on the first day of learning, a resident must be aged 19 or older on 31 August within the 2022/2023 funding year) 
  • Self-funded (you must be self-funding your tuition fees or applying for a study loan to pay your fees and living expenses) 
  • Applying to a University of Birmingham Boot Camp programme (learners must intend to be enrolled as a part-time student in a University of Bimringham Boot Camp programme in the 2022/2023 academic year) 

The information that you have provided in this application will be reviewed alongside your application for admission to the Boot Camp. 

Over the course of 24 weeks, you’ll attend informative lectures and take part in a variety of individual and team exercises, working independently and in groups, in the classroom and at home. Homework assignments provide an opportunity to apply what you’ve learned and build on it. The goal is to give you a comprehensive learning experience and true insight into a “day in the life” of a full stack developer.

The skills you will gain

You will complete the program with full stack web development skills, including:

Computer Science related to Javascript

Data Structures

Algorithms

Browser Based Technologies

HTML

CSS

JavaScript

jQuery

Responsive Design

Bootstrap

Handlebars

Cookies, Local Storage

React.js

Java

Databases

MySQL

MongoDB

Node.js(Server Side Development)

Express

Security and Session Storage

User Authentication

MERN Stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, Node.js)

Quality Assurance

Writing tests

Module 1: 1-5

Mastering the browser

When most people think of the “Internet,” their mind immediately conjures up their web browser. We dive into detail about how the browser works and what exactly the source code comprising a web page does.

Module 2: 6-9

API and JSON

The advent of the API has rapidly propelled the pace of innovation in technology. Being able to communicate with other systems enables you to do even more with yours.

Module 3: 10-19

Server-side

Have you ever wondered how websites originate? They typically come from computer programmes called “servers,” but did you know that servers do so much more? Interacting with databases and even other servers. Learn how to write server-side JavaScript code with Node.js.

Module 4: 20-21

Java

Java is a mature programming language trusted across the software industry to build safe, scalable, and robust applications

Module 5: 22-23

Computer Science fundamentals

Computer science fundamentals are essential to web development so our curriculum immerses you in the basics of coding and algorithms.

Module 6: 22-24

Final project

Throughout the course, you’ve developed an impressive portfolio of projects to show future employers. This final project is all yours. Use all of the technologies you’ve learned and make something distinctly your own.

 

You will receive:

A Certificate of Completion from University of Birmingham, showcasing your accomplishments to future employers

Use your boot camp certificate as evidence of your specialised skills and progress further in your career.

Career services

You will have access to career services that will help you prepare for technical roles after graduation such as: Career content and practice sessions; Online career events with industry professionals; Soft skills training; One-on-one career coaching

Project demo day

As a graduate you will benefit from a Project Demo Day—a quarterly networking event with local professionals to showcase your final project.

Portfolio

A robust portfolio of projects to demonstrate your working knowledge of web development.

"University of Birmingham Boot Camp learners seeking new roles have found employment in a wide range of companies, from global organisations like Capgemini and Barclays to local start-ups."

Employability

100% of University of Birmingham Coding Boot Camp learners seeking new roles found employment in web development roles within 3 months. This employment ranged from global organisations like Capgemini to local start-ups like The Booking Lab. Previous occupations included midwifery, primary school teaching, engineering and finance. Starting salaries ranged from £22,000 to £31,000. We believe that the combination of our reverse-engineered curriculum - tailored to meet local tech skills shortages - coupled with our extensive Career Services offering means that our students are better equipped for employment than their counterparts from other training providers.

Our course participants will be qualified for many different roles, including:

  • Full Stack Developer
  • Front End Web Developer
  • Application Development Manager
  • Back End Web Developer
  • Computer Programmer
  • Product Manager
  • Web Designer
  • Technical Project Manager
  • Email Developer
  • QA and Test Engineer
  • Web Producer

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