Taylor Brookes | Code Student Testimonial

Tell us why you enquired with Learning People

I was working in call centres at the time and I just wasn’t interested in it. I was interested in coding though – and really wanted it to be a career but wasn’t sure how to learn it. I saw options for e-learning, bootcamp, and university route, and that’s when I came across Learning People. 

 

Were there any specific skills you were looking to gain or develop by enrolling with Learning People?

It was all very new to me, I knew I wanted to do something creative and I’d heard of HTML and CSS and played around with it a little, but I didn’t know where to go from there. 

 

Was there a particular reason you chose to enrol with Learning People, and did you speak to any other educators or training providers?

I enquired with a couple of other providers, and decided that structured self learning was the way to go because it would help me to really learn the skills for myself, and it wasn’t as costly as university.

There were also so many more benefits with Learning People. I could learn completely remotely and the course came with full career support, which strangely a lot of the others actually don’t. I was also able to keep my paid job at the same time, which was massive. The price was much more reasonable than some of the other courses I found too.

 

Tell us what the career consultation phone call was like for you

My call was with Stuart, and I think he’s a lovely guy. We actually have quite a lot in common in terms of our personal lives and interests.

The main thing I found though was that it wasn’t a sales pitch. A lot of the other providers I spoke to really felt like they were trying to sell you something, whereas Stuart was trying to find out what I wanted and what I needed, and if Learning People could offer me something that I would actually benefit from.

So that was an amazing feeling to know that I wasn’t just being sold a course, but instead I was being asked relevant questions. Stuart also sent me a coding test to complete to see if it was something that I enjoyed, which made me feel very confident.

Tell us about your experience of learning online using our system and the associated tools

I actually really enjoyed it. It was really well-structured. I could see the entirety of the course content from day one. Which meant that I could see how I was progressing by seeing what I’d done previously, and what was left to do. It was all very well structured, well set out, and really easy to navigate.

 

Were you able to gain support from our StudentCare™ team when you needed it?

The main time I used them was when I was ill with COVID about 3 months into the course. I reached out to see if I could get any additional support, and they were massively helpful. 

I also reached out to check dates and project criteria with them and they were always on hand to help. 

 

Did you utilise any of the course mentoring?

My course mentor was massively helpful for lots of things, I remember reaching out a couple of times for coding queries and I got same day responses. 

 

How did you get on with the projects?

I loved building out all the projects and doing everything from start to finish. Coming up with the ideas, having to design it, build it, and then seeing the finished project. It was great. 

 

Tell us about your experience working with our Career Services team

My Career Services consultant was Robyn. And from the very first phone call that we had, she was just so incredibly helpful. She was kind, and caring, which is everything you could want from someone you’re trusting to help with your career.

Everyone I’ve spoken to at Learning People has been pretty incredible, but Robyn really helped me to formulate a great CV. We completely revamped it from having a customer service focus, to completely realigning it to the industry I was aiming for. She gave me great tips on how to market myself to potential employers, and how to push myself forward and get my job in web development.

Without her help, I would have seriously struggled. She really did care and listened, and she was always patient. We changed my CV two or three times and she didn’t just leave me to it – she was always there to help.

 

How did enrolling with Learning People affect your career?

It’s changed completely. I went from working in a call centre and absolutely hating my job, to now working as a front end developer – and I absolutely love it.

Every day I love going to work. Some days are stressful, but you find that in every job. But even on stressful days, I’m still in a good mood when I get home. I don’t wish my life away to weekends anymore. It’s an amazing feeling.

 

Tell us about your new job

This is my second job since finishing the course and both Robyn and Stuart have still been on hand to help, which I really didn’t expect.

My new job is to implement changes and functions on the company website, build new pages and fix any bugs, and any issues that are ongoing. There’s only a few of us and it’s a really good team of people. It’s really good to bounce knowledge off each other. 

 

What has been the best part of your Learning People experience?

There’s probably been two aspects of the experience that have been best for me. 

The first one would be the people. Everyone that I’ve spoken to at Learning People has been incredibly helpful and friendly. And everyone has done everything they can to help me, which is just absolutely amazing.

And the second one would obviously be changing careers completely. It’s exactly what I set out to do when I was enquiring, to become a web developer. 

 

What advice would you give to somebody who is thinking about enrolling with Learning People?

I would absolutely advise you to do it. Learning People are absolutely brilliant, you get all the support you need, regardless of where you are in the course. Whether you’ve just started, are in the middle, or even like I am, a couple of years after finishing, you still get support. Also, the course material is extremely relevant to the job I was going into. 

Everything that I learned on the course I needed for my job. I also developed problem-solving skills and learned how to think like a developer, which has been a massive help when coming into a job and having that mindset straightaway.