Tim Todd, The Australian – 24 April 2022
At 40, Karoline Silva has enjoyed a solid career in office administration, but she found herself looking to move to a professional career that was more challenging and offered long-term opportunities.
So in February she started an intensive nine-month course that promised, when she finished, she would have the skills needed to be an entry-level software engineer.
The course is offered by the Holberton School – a Silicon Valley start-up that began operating in 2016 – which has offered its software engineering foundations course in Australia from this year.
With no experience in programming, Karoline Silva is on an intensive, nine month journey to become a software engineer. Photo: David Crosling
Ms Silva said that during the pandemic she was thinking: “I want to be employed, I want a career, I want a job that is satisfying.”
So, with no prior experience in coding, she signed up for the Holberton course, backed by a scholarship from Sportsbet, one of several companies that agreed to support students in the course.
She went in with some reservations and, as a mother of two children, she found the 50 hours a week needed for the course a challenge. But, with the support of her husband, it’s working for her.
Her confidence grew rapidly and, even though she has six months to go, Sportsbet has offered her an entry-level position in its IT team.
Ms Silva said she had always enjoyed understanding systems but had been nervous about her maths, which she studied in year 12 at the basic level.
“But I can see now that you don’t need to be gifted at maths to get through the course,” she said.
“As long as you’re open to learning the handful of concepts you need, and you’re willing to practice thinking in that logical way, you can achieve what you need to.”
Holberton School Australia founder Emmanuel Goutallier said the nine-month foundations course was aimed at career changers and upskillers, and was different to a boot camp.
“The boot camp is shorter, usually three months, it’s intensive, but it doesn’t go under the hood,” he said.
“The learning method is to explore, to explore with your peers, you are assisted but you have to do the exploration yourself.”
Students also get peer support, meeting with fellow students two days a week to discuss their projects. “We all support each other so you never feel like you’re stuck on your own,” Ms Silva said.
At the moment the course is available only in Melbourne but it will open in Sydney in September. From September there will also be a 15-month, part-time version on offer for those who need to keep working while they study.
As well as Sportsbet, three other companies – RACV, Reece Group and REA Group – are scholarship partners, with another, PEXA, expected to join soon.
Mr Goutallier said other companies, including banks, professional services firms and retailers, were also likely to join.
The Holberton course is not officially accredited but, in the IT industry, many courses are not, relying on industry acceptance rather than official mandates.
The University of Melbourne faculty of engineering and information technology says it has reviewed the Holberton course and accepts its curriculum as meeting the programming prerequisite for entry into its master of information technology.