Success Story
City of Bristol College delivered the Gateway Qualifications Level 5 Diploma in Web Application Development, with learning content from Code Institute’s platform, to help adults retrain as software developers.
Learners like Manuel (Manu) Perez Romero have moved from careers outside tech into full-stack development roles, and Manu now teaches the course at the college.
If you want to help adult learners retrain for real tech careers, whatever they did before, get in touch.
City of Bristol College, an FE college delivering nationally online
Manuel (Manu) Perez Romero, from warehouse manager to software developer to college lecturer
Adults who want to change career into tech need an accessible, recognised route
A regulated Level 5 diploma with employer-developed content from Code Institute, funded by the advanced learner loan and delivered online
Learners qualify and move into industry software roles; Manu progressed into a developer job and now lectures at the college
My life changed completely after the course.Manuel Perez Romero, Level 5 Diploma in Web Application Development student
Hear from Manu and the City of Bristol College team how a regulated Level 5 diploma turned a career change into a software job, and then a teaching role.
Plenty of adults want to move into technology, but a career change into software usually means finding a route that is recognised by employers and affordable to take on. Many are balancing work, cost and self-doubt, and a qualification that does not carry weight on a CV, or that is out of financial reach, is not a real option. City of Bristol College wanted to give those learners a genuine, fundable way in.
City of Bristol College delivers the Gateway Qualifications Level 5 Diploma in Web Application Development, using Code Institute’s learning-content platform for the teaching material. Because the qualification is regulated, learners who are eligible can fund it through the advanced learner loan, so cost is not the barrier it would otherwise be. The content was developed with employers, covering the languages, frameworks and technologies a full-stack developer actually needs, and delivery online meant the college reached learners well beyond Bristol. The film above tells this part best, in the college’s own words.
City of Bristol College (spoken in the video)The good thing about having a regulated qualification is it makes it accessible for people because we're talking about anyone who's eligible being able to access the advanced learner loan. The loan gives the students the opportunity to not worry about the financial aspects and see it as an investment in their future.
Learners have come out of the course with the skills to be offered jobs at professional companies. Manu is the clearest example: while finishing his final project he found a job as an email developer and web administrator, went on to facilitate the course for the college, and was then offered a lecturing role, all within a year. What started as a regional programme for Bristol learners grew, during the pandemic, into a national one, with learners joining from Wiltshire, Birmingham, Central England and London.
City of Bristol College (spoken in the video)Several people have come out of this course with excellent work and then been offered jobs in professional companies.
Manu did not just gain a qualification. He changed career, found work in the industry, and is now teaching the course that got him there, and he is one of several learners the programme has moved into professional tech roles. That happened because the qualification was regulated enough to matter to employers, funded in a way that made it reachable, and flexible enough to be delivered to learners far beyond one city.
The same is possible for very different learners, in very different settings. If you would like to explore what a route like this could look like for yours, we’re here whenever you’d like to talk.
We’ll help you find the right qualification and shape it around your learners and the way you deliver.
