The tech course that will change your life in 12 weeks

CAUTION: Only read this article if you’re ready for a challenge and want a fulfilling career.

Published: Thu 22 Feb 2018 08:55 CEST
The tech course that will change your life in 12 weeks
Students on the Data Science program at Propulsion Academy.

‘Code’ and ‘data’ are two words you can’t escape in 2018.

Why? From the apps you use to the websites you visit (and even many of the products you use in today’s digital world), a combination of the two is often involved.

Whether it’s the code used to build an app or the data wrangled to design more specific products, coders and data scientists are integral to many businesses across almost all industries.

But is it really so easy to just step into these covetable careers if you don’t already have a degree in computer science?

At coding bootcamps like the ones offered by Zurich-based Propulsion Academy, you can become a Full-Stack Web Developer or a Data Scientist in 12 weeks no matter what your background is.

The intensive programs are challenging, require commitment and passing a series of interviews, but at the end of the three months you can sail straight into your new career.

What’s more, it could be the key that opens the door to a previously inaccessible job market.

Just ask Michał Żurczak.

Originally from Poland, Michal says the Full-Stack Engineering program changed his life and helped him to land his dream coding job in Switzerland.

Read more about Propulsion Academy’s Full-Stack Engineering program

“For me, Propulsion Academy was the hope of finding my place on the Swiss job market,” he explains.

Over the course of just 12 weeks, Michal gained valuable insights like coding best practices. The program currently includes learning JavaScript on the front-end and Python for the back-end, two of the most in-demand programming languages. It starts from the basics of HTML and CSS and ends with data structures and algorithms.

“From the prep-work through to the classes, the program is very carefully structured,” he commends.

The twelve-week Full-Stack Engineering program is intensive but rewarding.

And indeed, each week is designed so that when you graduate you can hit the ground running in your coding career.

In part, that’s because the course isn’t based simply on theory. While studying, you’ll build up a portfolio of products that give you something tangible to show future employers or clients.

Much of the project work is team-oriented, so you’ll learn to use collaboration tools and agile development concepts, both of which come part and parcel with a coding career.

Michal heartily praises the Propulsion Academy’s tutors, whose many years of experience meant that they always had the right answers to his questions. Teaching assistants, too, were always on-hand to offer the support and guidance he needed to excel on the course.

“During the whole program, you’re supported by teaching assistants who help you to understand new materials and solve challenges,” he explains.

Michal is now working as a software engineer for global research and business intelligence provider RepRisk, a role he believes he couldn’t have landed without the support of the tutors and teaching assistants at Propulsion Academy.

“They not only taught me how to code, but they also helped me believe in myself.”

Propulsion Academy’s Data Science program comes highly recommended by Enrico Paterna, an Italian national living in Switzerland, who has since gone onto forge a career as a Data Scientist at eBay.

“The course is very valuable, well-structured and it allows you to gain practical experiences in different areas of Data Science,” says Enrico.

The challenging three-month program teaches the core concepts of data science such as Machine Learning, Data Visualization, NLP, and Deep Learning/Neural networks as well as dynamic programming languages R and Python.

Find out more about Propulsion Academy’s Data Science program

In the final weeks, students complete a hands-on “Capstone” Data Science project that allows them to put their learnings into practice in a real-world scenario. They work on real data provided by companies within the Propulsion Academy network.

"The final project further provides students with a unique opportunity to demonstrate their developed skills towards potential employers," adds Enrico.

Samuel Glauser, a Swiss national who got hired as a Data Scientist by Swissquant after the program, also talks about the importance of the network created during the course. 

“The network developed among the students, lecturers, and faculty proved to be extremely valuable when it came to looking for new roles and broadening one’s data science knowledge base.”

Find out more about the programs offered at Propulsion Academy and kick-start your coding career in just 12 weeks. Click here to visit the Propulsion Academy website.

This article was produced by The Local Client Studio and sponsored by Propulsion Academy.

 

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