One Afternoon With The School of Code

As founder of a fast growing company I’m bombarded with questions every day, almost every hour.

Some are easy to answer, many need a simple no and others need time to reflect.

When asked by my good friend Lucy-Rose Walker whether CTO Academy would like to do a presentation to their latest cohort at The School of Code … it was a “no brainer” yes.

School of Code are based in the heart of the United Kingdom and provide intensive coding courses to applicants of all backgrounds, indeed they encourage diversity into tech and very much walk the walk in that respect with a 50/50 male:female split.

What’s more the courses are provided without charge.

Students don’t need technical experience or qualifications, just motivation and that basic requirement for success in tech, a passion for solving problems.

Primarily a coding bootcamp for career changers and with an 85% success rate for getting students their first job in tech, they’ve hit on a winning formula down at the School of Code.

It’s a particularly interesting model for me because alongside CTO Academy I wear another hat as Start up Lecturer and Mentor with Escape The City in the UK, another platform where people can transform their lives by transitioning from employment into entrepreneurship.

I understand and love working with highly motivated people looking to make a significant change to their life and potentially, the impact they make with the work they do.

So a couple of weeks ago, alongside my colleague and senior leadership coach Sanjay Mistry, we delivered a one hour Q&A presentation to 50+ members of the latest cohort about careers in tech, what the CTO is likely to expect and longer term skills required to become effective tech leaders later in their career.

Everyone stayed to the end, there were too many questions to handle within the available time and feedback was really satisfying to hear.

We wish everyone in the recent cohort the very best of luck and also to the School of Code as they expand their fabulous work across the UK and beyond.

“Thanks to CTO Academy for a great talk this afternoon on leadership development and career progression. Great to be thinking ahead” – Katie Hawcutt, from music teacher to newly minted software engineer at Wise