Cracking the code: inspiring stories from our Code First Girls partnership

Last year, we announced our collaboration with Code First Girls to recruit even more female coders to ClearBank. Code First Girls (CFG) is the largest provider of free coding courses for women in the UK and has placed thousands into the tech industry. It has placed thousands of people into the tech industry, and these companies are seeing the impact of employing a more diverse tech workforce.

In October, we welcomed six new associate software engineers to the bank after they graduated from the CFG degree course. We recently caught up with them to discuss their varied journeys into coding, their experiences at ClearBank so far and whether there had been any surprises along the way

I had never come anywhere close to coding before. I did a degree in philosophy, then worked in the music industry for a few years before switching to the food business and opening a restaurant.

But running a restaurant left no room for life outside of it; it was all-consuming. I thought I had time for one more career change, so I considered what I could do that would both challenge and stimulate me, while offering personal development, growth opportunities and far more of a work-life balance.

I started speaking to developers I knew, which gave me the confidence to do some YouTube tutorials. I didn't really know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to find my brain light up with all this new information – I felt like I’d hit on something great. Around this time, I got served an ad for Code First Girls and discovered the CFG Degree. I put a pin in it and thought if I keep teaching myself, the aim is to get a place on this course.

Eight months later, I was in the ClearBank office interviewing for a role. Everyone I met on the day was so warm and welcoming – it really set the tone for the whole process. As soon as my spot on the degree was confirmed, the HR team got in touch, and I heard regularly from them throughout the 4 months of the course. Knowing I had the job at ClearBank at the end made all the difference.

When I started, despite having completed an intensive course, I found there was so much more to get my head around. But ClearBank’s development framework and Associate’s Guild have provided me and the other CFG alumni with a way to develop and acquire skills at our own pace alongside our day-to-day work.

I’m now working in developer experience, so my customers are the other developers, which is cool because I'm solving problems for my colleagues. I’m enjoying the work and have found the human aspect of it both surprising and interesting. I particularly enjoy the discussions around the work – being totally new to this, it’s certainly helpful!

I’m now working in developer experience, so my customers are the other developers, which is cool because I'm solving problems for my colleagues. I’m enjoying the work and have found the human aspect of it both surprising and interesting. I particularly enjoy the discussions around the work – being totally new to this, it’s certainly helpful!

I'd spent my whole working life as an audio engineer. I loved the tech side of the job but hated the lifestyle of hundred-hour weeks and constant travelling. I got to a point of burnout and didn’t want to do that anymore.

My dad mentioned Code First Girls, so I checked them out, did a few of their short courses and really enjoyed them. I kept an eye on their degrees done in partnership with firms for about a year or so but, none of them grabbed me. Then, I saw the ClearBank advert. I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s the one. That’s exactly what I’m after’.

I did a lot of research to figure out what a clearing bank does, and I was impressed by how ClearBank are pioneers in their space. Many companies have a lot of legacy technology. I wasn’t interested in working on old technologies; I wanted something innovative, fresh and exciting.

After securing one of the ClearBank-sponsored roles, there were many hours of studying (in addition to a full-time job and the usual day-to-day responsibilities). The course was intense but extremely rewarding.

Upon joining the bank, I came in with expectations of what I would be doing. Most of them were accurate, but, there was a large part of the role I had no idea even existed. This might sound odd, but there’s not as much coding as I thought!

My team is working on portals and ops tooling. As the months have gone by, I’ve gradually realised the complexity of it - it’s not just about knowing a programming language, it’s also understanding how everything fits together and why it’s relevant to the bigger picture. It’s fascinating and really keeps me on my toes!

I knew I wanted a career where I could develop my skills, and I wasn't getting that where I was working. I'd dabbled with writing code as a teenager and had enjoyed the process but didn’t know if a career change this big was possible. After seeing a Code First Girls ad on Instagram, I did one of their short courses while also doing YouTube coding tutorials and decided to take the plunge and apply for the degree.

It was challenging because there’s a lot to pack in within four months, and you’re also working on weekends because there are assessments, group projects and so on. But that’s the ‘cost’ of a free course that allows you to learn while still working full-time.

Then, transitioning to the role at ClearBank, I’m on a team working on some exciting and strategic projects. I feel like I've already learned so much in just a few months.

I had this vision that software engineers write hundreds of lines of code each day. What was unexpected was how thoughtful the entire process is before a line is even written. You quickly appreciate just how much more there is to the role than just coding, for example, with DevOps or Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), alongside the ongoing discussions with the product team and product owners.

ClearBank has been incredibly supportive, and the senior engineers are so helpful. They appreciate and understand that it’s quite a jump with so much to learn, always being on hand to help answer my questions.

As others have mentioned, the Associate's Guild runs sessions every other week for more structured learning and a safe space for us to ask all manner of questions. We all have mentors and buddies within our teams that helped us get settled in and provide ongoing support.

It’s also been a lot of fun being with the CFG associates and having our own little community, as we know each other and can help each other out on this journey.

I was working as a Part 1 Architect for a development company when I got the opportunity to make some website updates. This was my first time coding, and it immediately got me looking for further tutorials and courses, leading me to a CFG Kickstarter.

Within my current role, I had started to feel stuck. I knew that to progress, I would have to go and work at another practice to gain the experience I needed and do a further 4 years of studying. So, I decided to take the leap and enrol on the CFG degree.

Initially I didn't see myself going down the backend coding route at all. And at the beginning, just trying to understand the different types of job roles was one of the harder parts of getting started.

ClearBank caught my interest because, of all the companies that were offering CFG degree sponsorships, it felt like they'd put the most care into the process. They also seemed to offer more in terms of learning opportunities and career progression. Plus, the finance sector appealed to me as a fast-paced and exciting industry to be a part of.

Interviewing at the bank before starting the course was so nerve-wracking, but I also appreciated how lucky I was to have it this way round, as it meant I'd have a job secured after the degree, which wasn’t the case for everyone.

Looking back, the first few weeks of working at ClearBank were overwhelming, and as a career switcher, you feel like you've got more to prove. You feel like you need to get stuck in and show you’re capable. And I'm the kind of person who wants to learn everything straight away.

A few months later, I appreciate that you can’t rush it, and you have to accept that it will take time, and that you learn as you go. Just getting to know all of the finance acronyms alone is a mountain to climb! I'm lucky that my line manager and team have been incredibly supportive, taking the time to ensure things are clearly explained and answering all my questions.

It’s been a jump from the degree to the day-to-day job, and whilst it’s daunting and an adjustment, you really need to trust the process. I’m grateful to be at ClearBank, and to have made the career switch.

I had set up our university’s esports society, which was a passion of mine and another male-dominated field. Everyone else in the society was studying computer science, and I snuck into their lectures and found it fascinating.

While I went into teaching biology, they all became software engineers and kept saying I’d enjoy coding. And while I loved being in the classroom, everything outside of that and the life of a teacher no longer appealed to me. So, I did some basic Python lessons and then came across the CFG Kickstarter courses that are really catered towards career switchers. I did one, then signed up for another and then another.

Ultimately, I decided to apply for the CFG degree, and when looking at sponsorship options, ClearBank really appealed because it was modern and used the latest tech stack. I was worried about joining a firm with a lot of legacy technology and rigid working methods where I'd feel constrained.

The in-person interviews really sealed the deal for me. Everyone I met, from the HR team through to associates and the head of engineering, was friendly, engaged and approachable. I left thinking, ‘I really want this job’, but knowing there were so many talented women they’d interviewed, I hoped I’d make it.

Since starting at ClearBank, the big thing I've come to appreciate is that it’s a genuine team effort where everyone’s voice matters. It’s not about hierarchy. I’m the associate in the team, but people have said they’ve learned from me and appreciate the questions I'm asking; honestly, that feels amazing. Everyone is always improving and learning from each other. Nobody ever makes me feel like the associate. I’m a valued team member, and I'm really grateful for that.

I also didn't appreciate how much of it would be aligning on objectives, planning what the solution could look like, or perhaps examining how we could link things together. We don’t necessarily hash out how we’ll get there with the code that part comes later.

Looking back, I would tell myself not to put so much pressure on myself. Everyone is helpful, supportive and understanding that this is a learning path. I’m already a lot more comfortable that I don’t need to have all the answers and that no one expects me to know everything just a few months in.

I was initially a law graduate, and my best friend who had gone on to be a DevOps engineer was telling me about her journey from psychology into tech. I attended some tech events with her organised by Black Girls in Tech (another org similar to CFG) and tech fairs. So I got to network with other women trying to transition into tech.

That’s how I found CFG. I really liked that they offered a balance of learning within an accelerated 16-week degree process and the possibility of being accepted into one of the sponsored slots, meaning you’d have a job at the end.

I applied and did so much prep for those interviews to understand what CFG was about and what they were looking for. I initially didn’t know much about fintech, so I needed to learn more about the sector generally and then about ClearBank specifically and where it worked within that sector.

The degree itself was hard work but fun, particularly the first half, where we were learning the basics and building with SQL and Python. For me, doing those mini-projects and activities was the most rewarding element because I was always creating things, and I got to see the output of my work.

Since joining ClearBank, I've had a great experience. My manager, for example, oversees many different things, but he appreciates where I'm coming from as a newbie and that I’m at the start of my tech career. He's enabling me to go at my own pace.

I’m thankful for that because there's so much that I need to understand before I can get my hands on some of the tasks that my team manages, as we work in international payments, which as I'm discovering, has a lot of complexities. I'm also currently working on my associate project, which is a lot of fun. It covers all the basics that I'll need to better understand what my team is building and how they’re building it.

Another positive thing is how sociable my team is as well. It’s not just the big things but the little things like starting meetings with personal conversations around what we’re up to and what we did at the weekend. Our last in-person team day was so much fun, we went out for drinks and had a nice dinner in the city. I'm really excited for the next one!

You can discover more about Code First Girls and the courses it offers, from Kickstarters through to degrees here.