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Kickstart your coding career in tech-savvy Berlin

Who says you need to have a programming background to be a part of Berlin’s booming tech startup scene? The Local finds out how one programming bootcamp is helping talent from across the globe make their mark in one of Europe’s top tech hubs.

Published: 10 July 2017 09:56 CEST
Kickstart your coding career in tech-savvy Berlin
Photo: Spiced Academy

Berlin is one of Europe’s biggest and most vibrant cities, with a top-class tech scene that’s churning out a new startup every 20 minutes.

But if you don’t have a computer science or engineering degree, it’s easy to feel left out of the action. 

Learn skills that get you hired

As it turns out, learning to code doesn’t have to require years of training.

Instead, you can learn the most in-demand programming languages – and learn them fast – at SPICED Academy’s programming bootcamps in Berlin.

For Brazil-born Guilherme, a civil engineer who always enjoyed fiddling with computers, SPICED Academy’s Full Stack Web Development course delivered almost immediate results.

“After I finished the bootcamp, I started to look for a job. Just one month later, I was hired by Dots Software in Berlin as a software developer,” he explains. “It’s like a shortcut to get a job and learn how to code.”

Click here for more information about SPICED Academy

The intensive course is taught by skilled professionals who have worked with some of the world’s leading tech companies. Learning is accelerated, so after 12 weeks at the bootcamp you’ll be ready to start a creative and challenging career as a software engineer.

Also — if you are already registered as unemployed in Germany you may be able to attend SPICED Academy’s Full-Stack Web Development course for free. Learn more by clicking here.

Learn to think like a programmer

You’ll get to grips with the most popular scripting language, JavaScript, which is used by all major web browsers, as well as in-demand programming languages including HTML & CSS, MVC Frameworks and Node.js.

Equally important is SPICED Academy’s focus on helping students develop critical thinking, computational, and problem-solving skills.

By building real-world, production-ready web applications throughout the 12 week programme, students graduate with a portfolio of applications as well as hands-on experience applying the critical thinking skills they’ll need to excel in their careers and in life.

With your new skills you’ll be a strong candidate for a tech job in Berlin, or with companies in other cities where coding skills are in high demand.

Dedicated teachers

Working in groups and individually, you’ll tackle real-world problems that prepare you for the reality of your new career.

“The biggest challenge for me was the change of mind set,” says SPICED alum Rafael, an architect who realized he needed coding skills to “make my ideas come to life”.

Now at Pivii Technologies, a Berlin-based startup that makes images measurable, he credits SPICED instructors with helping him better understand how the internet and algorithms work.

“Some particular projects were challenging, but the team was always very helpful and very friendly, and I never went home with a question unanswered,” he adds.

Great instructors at SPICED also helped Mike transition away from an unsatisfying career as a banker into a engineering role at audio streaming platform SoundCloud.

“The dedicated teachers and staff were always available and willing to assist with any issues, be they related to coding or even just settling in,” he explains.

Lean more about SPICED Academy coding bootcamps in Berlin

But the guidance doesn’t stop with your new tech skills and helping you to feel at-home in the city.

Throughout the course, you’ll get advice on your profile, interview, and communication skills, as well as access to SPICED’s business network that’s always looking for new talent. So by the time you’re ready to apply for jobs, you’ll be fully prepped for the recruitment process.

Why study in Berlin?

Having worked in marketing and business development, recent SPICED graduate Karen arrived in Berlin after growing tired of watching software developer colleagues come up with ideas and make them a reality while she simply “sat on the sidelines”.

“It’s a really great programme to go to especially for Americans looking to do a bootcamp abroad; you don’t even have to worry about getting a visa to be here,” says Karen, who now works as a Product Owner and Developer at geeny.io.

“Being from the States, I couldn’t really afford another four years in school and out of the job industry.”

The SPICED programme is intense, but when you're not busy coding you can spend time soaking up the city’s history and culture in the wide assortment of bars, restaurants, cafes, and shops you’ll find on Berlin’s atmospheric streets. Berlin is packed full of must-see museums, world-class galleries, and some of the best attractions anywhere.

It's also cheaper to live in Berlin compared to many other big cities across the globe.

“Berlin is a fantastic location,” adds Karen. “You can actually afford to enjoy your Friday night.”

Think you’re ready to kickstart your coding career in Berlin?

Visit SPICED Academy for more information about upcoming courses and application deadlines.

This article was produced by The Local's Client Studio and sponsored by SPICED Academy.

 

TECH

Cookie fight: Austrian activist in tough online privacy fight

Five years after Europe enacted sweeping data protection legislation, prominent online privacy activist Max Schrems says he still has a lot of work to do as tech giants keep dodging the rules.

Published: 16 May 2023 16:52 CEST
Cookie fight: Austrian activist in tough online privacy fight

The 35-year-old Austrian lawyer and his Vienna-based privacy campaign group NOYB (None Of Your Business) is currently handling no fewer than 800 complaints in various jurisdictions on behalf of internet users.

“For an average citizen, it’s almost impossible right now to enforce your rights”, Schrems told AFP. “For us as an organisation, it’s already a lot of work to do that” given the system’s complexity due to the regulators’ varying requirements, he added.

The 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes strict rules on how companies can use and store personal data, with the threat of huge fines for firms breaching them.

While hundreds of millions of euros in fines have been imposed following complaints filed by NOYB, Schrems said the GDPR is hardly ever enforced. And that’s a “big problem”, he added.

He said the disregard for fundamental rights such as data privacy is almost comparable to “a dictatorship”. “The difference between reality and the law is just momentous,” Schrems
added.

‘Annoying’ cookies

Instead of tackling the problems raised by the GDPR, companies resort to “window dressing” while framing the rules as an “annoying law” full of “crazy cookie banners”, according to Schrems.

Under the regulation, companies have been obliged to seek user consent to install “cookies” enabling browsers to save information about a user’s online habits to serve up highly targeted ads.

Industry data suggests only three percent of internet users actually approve of cookies, but more than 90 percent are pressured to consent due to a “deceptive design” which mostly features “accept” buttons.

Stymied by the absence of a simple “yes or no” option and overwhelmed by a deluge of pop-ups, users get so fed up that they simply give up, Schrems said. Contrary to the law’s intent, the burden is being “shifted to the individual consumer, who should figure it out”.

Even though society now realises the importance of the right to have private information be forgotten or removed from the internet, real control over personal data is still far-off, the activist said. But NOYB has been helping those who want to take back control by launching
privacy rights campaigns that led companies to adopt “reject” buttons.

 Shift of business model 

Regulators have imposed big penalties on companies that violated GDPR rules: Facebook owner Meta, whose European headquarters are in Dublin, was hit with fines totalling 390 million euros ($424 million) in January.

One reason why tech giants like Google or Meta as well as smaller companies choose against playing by the GDPR rules is because circumventing them pays off, Schrems said.

Thriving on the use of private data, tech behemoths make “10 to 20 times more money by violating the law, even if they get slapped with the maximum fine”, he added.

Contacted by AFP, both companies said they were working hard to make sure their practices complied with the regulations.

Schrems also accuses national regulators of either being indifferent or lacking the resources to seriously investigate complaints. “It’s a race to the bottom,” Schrems said. “Each country has its own way of not getting anything done”.

Buoyed by his past legal victories, Schrems looks to what he calls the “bold” EU Court of Justice to bring about change as it “usually is a beacon of hope in all of this”.

Meanwhile, the European Commission is considering a procedures regulation to underpin and clarify the GDPR.

In the long-run, however, the situation will only improve once large companies “fundamentally shift their business models”. But that would require companies to stop being “as crazy profitable as they are right now,” Schrems said.

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