The Pursuit of Scrappiness #51 How to learn coding with no background, classes or tuition. The story of Kood/Jõhvi, inside look at the life of the students and what it means to make a 180° career change
Kood/Jõhvi is a coding school in northeast Estonia which was established by several Estonian startup founders, including Martin Villig and Taavet Hinrikus. Today we are joined by it’s Co-director Karin Künnapas as well as two students - Gunta Klava and Georgi Suikanen.
In this episode we talk about the history and reasons behind the establishment of the school, the practicalities of getting admitted, student life, professional growth as well as the future of the school and its funding model. We also talk a lot about making the leap into coding at different points in our careers.
The topics covered in this episode with Timestamps
[03:20] - THE ORIGINS OF KOOD/JOHVI SCHOOL
- 8 Estonian founders set out to solve lack of tech talent
- School with no teachers and no classes
- The learning methodology
- Remote vs. on-site studying
- Choice of school location
- How the school is defined
[09:45] - STUDENTS SHARE WHY THEY DECIDED TO JOIN
- Coding school vs. university for high school graduates
- Jumping into coding from a different career
- Combining Kood with full-time job
[15:40] - LEARNING TO CODE CAN BE A CAREER CHANGE
- Various backgrounds and previous experiences
- All ages welcome above 18
- Multiple coding languages and platforms
- Speed of studies
[19:05] - LIFE OF A STUDENT AT KOOD
- Teacherless studies
- Real-life like study process
- Matching of flexible schedules between students
- Campus atmosphere
[23:45] - HOW TO GET INTO KOOD
- First step - game/test
- Second step - 3 weeks selection spring
- Personality fit
- Demand for women and international students
[28:45] - WHY THE SCHOOL IS FREE
- School is free for students
- Students pay for food and accommodation
- 40+partners pay the school to hire students at graduation
- Possible to work also not for the partners
- Expected salary for graduates
[32:50] - HOW SOON CAN YOU CODE SOMETHING
- Getting to practical tasks from day 1
- Main mission and side quests
- Encouragement for other students
- Reinventing yourself during increasing length of careers
[39:00] - FUTURE OF KOOD AND ROLE OF ITS FOUNDERS
- Expanding in size and geography
- Continuous support for regional development
- How Karin got to become Co-Head of Kood
- Founder engagement - heart project
[44:15] - PRACTICAL DETAILS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO APPLY
Website: https://kood.tech
To reach out to Karin use: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunnapas/
Find out more on https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/
Support for this episode comes from Nexpay > https://paynexpay.com/
Support for this episode comes from Venetor > https://www.venetor.co/
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