Thanks to an initiative being launched by digital training specialist Code Nation, with funding from the Adult Education Board (AEB), the coding school supports the AEB by providing fully-funded coding and cyber security courses to those currently claiming benefits.

The new courses, ‘Develop: Coding’ and ‘Develop: Cyber’, involve three-weeks of intensive boot camp-style training for which participants will receive a qualification equivalent to a GCSE at the end. Graduates will also have opportunities to further their training to help secure apprenticeships and go on to be job-ready junior software developers. 

‘Develop: Coding’ aims to teach participants the core principles of coding with Javascript for building websites and mobile apps, as well as introducing them to the everyday tools used by pro-developers.

The ‘Develop: Cyber’ course will enable trainees to get to grips with the most commonly used cyber threats, along with the networking principles required to legally protect businesses from cyber attacks.

Code Nation, which has schools in Manchester and Chester, refers to applicants as junior developers, rather than students, and teaches not only the coding skills employers require, but also ‘soft skills’ like teamwork, communication, workload management, problem solving and leadership, to prepare them for work in the sector.

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