codeX Bootcamps: Building essential computational logic skills

Bootcamps are usually associated with hardcore physical training. Tech bootcamps, however, provide a mental workout: a learning environment for would-be coders to start flexing some newly acquired software muscles.

How can new-to-tech candidates do that?

codeX trains new-to-tech candidates to become full-stack web developers.

We don't expect our new-to-tech applicants to have coding experience already. Instead, we include learning basic concepts as part of our application process, through free online courses that help them understand the building blocks of coding.?

The intensive two-week bootcamp takes this further, training candidates to use these building blocks to solve tech challenges. Our bootcamps serve as a springboard in preparing our candidates for their future workplaces, and also form an integral part of our application process.

It’s all about the thinking skills

Everyone who joins the bootcamps has already tried out Javascript and knows a bit about how the basic concepts fit together.??In the bootcamp we teach candidates to start thinking like coders. Where many bootcamps focus on the web skills of HTML and CSS, codeX focuses first on building the computational logic skills programmers need.?

Ultimately, coders have to learn ‘how to learn’ in order to succeed.?

To do this we give our coders a process that will help them to unpack and analyze a coding challenge, and provide a high-collaboration environment for discussing the learning as we go along, with an emphasis on effective communication.

We then point them at a set of real-life challenges, such as calculating a phone bill using given data, without providing step-by-step instructions to implement the solution.? We ask them to work out what is required to resolve it and to talk us through their thinking, then implement their solutions. Here, they start to learn the critical thinking skills required to solve software problems, as well as to communicate effectively and collaborate within a team.?

We follow Agile principles which include daily standups, full working days and regular check-ins with mentors, to support each coder as they go through this learning journey.?Instead of lectures, we hold interactive workshops where everybody is required to participate, receiving regular feedback on their participation. Candidates learn to verbalize their thinking and put their new skills into practice to solve real software problems.

It’s within this environment that would-be coders learn how to write their own code and functions for the first time.

Some Bootcamper feedback:

“For the past two weeks I have learnt about the importance of working with others, engaging with them to achieve a certain goal. I have learnt about problem solving skills, each task that I solved required me to take one step at a time to solve it.

The exercises were great... they really enhanced my problem solving skills as well as exposed me to different ways programming can be used to solve real life problems.

“This was one of the most exciting yet challenging two weeks of my life.”

Our aim at codeX is to engage each candidate’s mind, to give them the tools to think and act like a coder, open to exploring a variety of solutions when solving software problems.?

Thanks to our partnership with the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) we were able to train 132 people in bootcamps since September last year.?

All bootcampers learn the communication, collaboration and workplace skills needed to thrive on software teams, and have a hands-on understanding of coding. The strongest candidates qualify to join the one-year codeX Agile Web Developer programme, and get firmly on the road to becoming full-stack web developers.

Read about our unique programme that transforms absolute tech newbies to into advanced beginner computer programmers.