Claire is one of several learners featured in our 2022 Transparency & Outcomes Report who’ve leveraged the power of online education to transform their lives, their communities, and our world for the better.
After earning her BA in sociology in the late ’90s, UK native Claire Davies decided to focus the first 20 years of the new millennium on raising her family. While her children were always her priority, from time to time she took on unique part-time jobs: crafter, social worker, environmental campaigner, exam invigilator. But it wasn’t until her kids were fully grown—and she found herself struggling to get back into the workforce full-time—that she considered a career in tech.
“I felt I had the skills for all of the jobs I was applying to,” Claire says. “But they were wanting more work-based experience. That’s when my husband suggested I might enjoy coding. He knew I was a fairly creative person and loved problem-solving. After he showed me what some companies were doing in tech that aligned with my passions, I decided it was worth a try.”
Through her research, she came across the University of Birmingham’s Coding Boot Camp—an edX Access Partnership that offers tuition assistance to underrepresented groups in tech, including women, to help them break into the field more quickly. The University of Birmingham’s scholarship program covers over 50% of tuition for boot camps in coding and data science.
“The boot camp concept felt like an amazing opportunity to start my reskilling journey,” Claire says. “The fact that it was online meant I could still be around for the family. It was also offered by a well-known university. But the scholarship is what clinched it for me—I’m glad I took the leap of faith.”
Building Her Skills, Network, and Confidence
Once her cohort began, Claire quickly developed skills for popular digital frameworks like JavaScript, MySQL, MongoDB, Git, and more. Group projects simulated a work environment, teaching her how to manage version control with multiple people on a single code base. Deciphering intricate code strings helped her become more resilient and persevere through solving complex problems.
Claire was also relieved to see a balanced representation of genders in the boot camp, thanks in part to the program’s “women in tech” scholarship. She relished the networking opportunities she had with other women classmates, some who were already in tech roles and looking to expand their skill sets.
“The boot camp was probably the most intense thing I’ve ever done,” she says, “but I loved the challenge. Luckily, I met other people who were just like me in the program. It makes you more comfortable when you’re learning alongside others who’ve had similar experiences.”
The career services that came standard with the boot camp were also instrumental resources for Claire. They helped her alleviate her sense of imposter syndrome and feel even more excited about re-entering the job market.
“There was so much to learn about accessing the modern workplace,” she says. “It has moved on a lot since my pre-parent days. Resumes have changed and are now far more concise. And building a brand around yourself was a new concept for me. The career services team took me through the best places to find jobs, prepped me for interviews, and did a great job of cheerleading to boost my confidence.”
Empowered to Thrive—and Pay It Forward
After completing the boot camp and learning how to build a more robust Linked profile, Claire was inspired to find a position in which she could make a positive impact. Two months into her job search, she landed a role as an apprentice software engineer with the UK’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). With her full-stack development experience and abundant enthusiasm, the organization told her she was exactly the kind of person they were looking for.
“The apprenticeship was a great next step,” she says. “I began by helping them create a new product that enables prospective students to search for apprenticeships and employers to showcase their opportunities. That led me to help create the employer hub on the UCAS site. I was excited to keep adding layers to what I had learned in the boot camp on a much larger scale.”
One year later, Claire added another exciting chapter to her story: Through a Birmingham women in tech group she had joined during the boot camp, she was nominated for an Apprentice Award at the 2022 Midlands Women in Tech Awards. But the success didn’t stop there. This past summer, she was promoted to a junior-level role at UCAS after achieving the apprenticeship’s highest grade of distinction. She has also been asked to help start a women in tech group within the organization.
“To be a finalist for the Midlands award was such an honor,” she says. “People kept telling me that retraining into a tech field as a middle-aged woman is ‘inspirational.’ But I would argue it’s simply taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves and not letting age or gender hold you back.”
Looking to the future, Claire is eager to see how the University of Birmingham’s scholarship program will empower even more women to make a change for the better.
“One woman I’ve connected with is literally following in my footsteps,” Claire says. “She also took the coding boot camp and next month is starting an apprenticeship with a big UK company. Having more women in tech, it can only lead to growth, equity, and a more balanced workplace.”
Claire’s next challenge for herself is to become a mid-level software engineer within a year’s time. She loves pushing boundaries and always having something to strive for.
“A few years ago, I would’ve never guessed I’d be a software engineer,” she says. “The boot camp was transformative, as it was my first step into tech. Now it has set me toward a rewarding career that I thought was only accessible via a computer science degree. I proved to myself I could rise to the challenge—and now I feel I can make a real difference.”
