Imagine this: Despite having worked various roles in numerous fields, you haven’t quite landed on something that lets your true potential come to the fore. So, while in your mid-thirties, you commit your entire life savings—around £7,000—to an intensive, well-regarded bootcamp that’ll train you as a software developer.

Though challenging, you begin learning the fundamentals of coding through the programme, which requires undoubted and constant dedication. After a while, you successfully showcase your first coding project alongside your fellow students. You all celebrate that night at a nearby bar, where you bask in the glow of hope and possibility.

However, the very next day, an email lands in your inbox: It tells you that the company providing the course, CodeClan, has gone into liquidation and ceased trading with immediate effect. Your instructors no longer have jobs; in fact, everyone who worked there no longer has a job. As a result, your course can’t continue, signalling the end of the road.

If that’s too difficult, perhaps try imagining this instead: You’re working as a chief product officer for CodeClan, a not-for-profit with the mission of helping career pivoters change their lives for the better through learning new, digital skills. Every day, you witness the efforts of dedicated software development and data analysis students, who afterwards go on to secure jobs at technology companies both in and outwith Scotland.

But due to a perfect storm of various factors, and despite significant efforts to turn things around, the company—after eight years of existing as a talent pipeline for the Scottish tech ecosystem—falls apart. You’re without the job you love, and without the opportunity to be a cheerleader for people who put everything on the line.

For Stuart Ure and Ceri Shaw, they don’t need to imagine these difficult scenarios: it’s their very recent lived experience. To hear about their stories—and get more of an understanding of what happened leading up to, in the midst of, and post CodeClan’s collapse—we’ve spoken to these two people at the centre of the ecosystem-rocking event.

The following isn’t an investigation of who to blame following a situation that was incredibly complex and nuanced. Instead, it’s a lamentation for what happened—despite the efforts for it not to—and also a testament to human resilience in the face of adversity.

A Primer on CodeClan

CodeClan, for those without prior knowledge, was founded in 2015 with around £2.1 million in financial backing from the Scottish Government. At its Edinburgh and Glasgow campuses, it offered 16-week-long, rigorous software development and data analysis courses and, by virtue, a safe environment for people to upskill, reskill, and forge more fulfilling, fruitful career paths. Due to its key differentiator—not being a college or university, but an alternative route for determined individuals at any stage of their life or career—the not-for-profit attracted people from an array of different backgrounds.

To make its courses more financially accessible to students, CodeClan had a somewhat atypical business model: the courses were run at a deficit. To break even, the skills provider would charge a fee for businesses that hired graduates through them, roughly 10% of the employee’s starting salary. To further increase accessibility for underrepresented people in tech—not least women, LGBTQ+ folks, and those from minority ethnic backgrounds—it also had an initiative where businesses could help fund places for such students via a pay-it-forward model.

However students funded their places, whether through their own savings or sometimes via philanthropy, the value of a CodeClan certificate was certainly recognised by Scottish employers and those further afield. Before it was taken down, CodeClan’s website pointed out that 84% of its software development graduates between 2015 and 2020 gained relevant employment after completing their course. Further, 40% of these people secured a role within one month, while around 35% were hired within a span of two to three months.

For Stuart Ure, an Edinburgh-based 35-year-old, it was credentials such as these—as well as the overall positive reputation that CodeClan built for itself—that ultimately led him to study software development with the skills provider, just as countless others had done prior.

“It Seemed Like the Perfect Fit at the Time”

Wanting to continually learn, develop, and grow is innate to Ure. His decision to pivot careers was rooted in the fact that he felt intellectually stifled by the repetition of the jobs he was working—for instance, student coordination roles at universities and business advisor positions for governments. “I wanted an industry and career where you always have to learn and develop,” he explained, acknowledging—but also excited by—the fact that software development has many difficulties.

After an undeniably thorough evaluation process, which involved creating a spreadsheet of various bootcamp options, sifting numerous social media platforms to gain qualitative insight, as well as visiting CodeClan’s premises in person and speaking to people there, Ure decided to make the leap. “It seemed like the perfect fit at the time,” he said.

In April 2023, Ure officially joined “E64”—CodeClan’s 64th software development cohort based at its Edinburgh campus. Immediately, he found the atmosphere to be an energising one. “Going back into a learning environment, getting stuck into group work together, being around the instructors and other staff—it was a really positive, supportive place to be,” he recounted. “You had all these people who invested a lot and for many different reasons, and we were giving it our all.”

Around a month or two into the programme, and despite instructors telling him he was doing perfectly fine, Ure chose to defer down to E65—the cohort starting a few weeks later, as to gain a better grasp on some knotty technical concepts. During the interim, the staff supported Ure, helping him to continuously learn until the next cohort kicked off.

The first major milestone for the E65 software development cohort was a Python-based project, which served as a chance for the students to individually showcase their newfound knowledge and skills. (Ure, for instance, created a sports event tracking app that doubled up as a social media platform.) Following the successful showcasing of E65’s projects, Ure and his new cohort—and some instructors, too—celebrated at a local bar, letting off steam following an intensive stretch of weekdays and weekends spent coding.

The next day, a Friday, was supposed to be a lighter, more relaxed study-from-home day. But at around 2 or 3pm, Ure’s phone started buzzing incessantly. “I had a bunch of missed calls from people in my cohort, and our Slack channel had a lot of notifications and messages. I thought, ‘This is odd,’” he explained. “Then, the first thing I saw was a message from CodeClan’s head of student support, basically saying they’d just found out that CodeClan had been liquidated with immediate effect, the course would not be running anymore, and further information would come.”

Ure’s reaction was entirely what you’d expect for somebody in his position. “I was completely numb,” he described. “Then that numbness turned to anger, and then disappointment and sadness—not just for the students who had invested so much, but also the staff because they’d lost their jobs.” Among the flurry of emotions was also the realisation that, if he hadn’t deferred, he wouldn’t’ve even been in such a position: He would’ve graduated the week before.

“It Was Just Absolutely Heartbreaking”

Ceri Shaw, who uses they/them pronouns, joined CodeClan at a time when they sought a much-needed change in their career. Although starting out as a developer, and then moving on to engineering lead, technical lead, and head of department roles, Shaw wanted to pivot to a role and career that resonated with them more. Luckily, in 2021, a chief delivery officer position opened up at the skills provider, enabling Shaw to head up its software instructor team.

Reminiscing about their tenure at CodeClan, in which they served as chief delivery officer and then its chief product officer, Shaw mentioned how they felt a real sense of meaning and purpose at the organisation, but also “most if not all the staff would have felt that way—because you’re interacting with the students, talking to them every day, and you hear the difference CodeClan makes and all the positive stories,” they explained. “I knew it was a good thing.”

Shaw’s feelings towards CodeClan echoed Ure’s: that it was a truly beneficial, helpful, and supportive talent pipeline and place. And for Shaw, it was these reasons that made the collapse of the company even harder, not least because of the sheer amount of background work by the few who knew of the company’s financials to help secure its longevity. But what factors, exactly, had contributed to the folding of the not-for-profit, in Shaw’s view?

They said that post-COVID, in around 2022-23, staff attrition at companies was incredibly low. “Nobody left, which meant companies didn’t need to backfill with junior roles. When somebody senior leaves, a company might promote somebody and then hire a junior. But that wasn’t happening,” remarked Shaw. “I think that was one of the big things that hurt us.”

However—and as with all things—there wasn’t just a singular reason, but rather multiple factors. For instance, Shaw mentioned how, amid economic headwinds, companies no longer had the budgets for CodeClan’s bespoke training offering—in which instructors would go in and help (re)train a company’s staff. This meant large contracts were consequently pushed back, impacting cash flow during a difficult time.

In response, and in a push for longevity, CodeClan started launching a number of new initiatives such a self-paced, on-demand learning option to bring in more and different kinds of students. Efforts happening in the background also involved speaking to the likes of the Scottish Government for additional funding. “We were doing everything we could to make it work,” expressed Shaw. “It was just absolutely heartbreaking.”

In the lead-up to the liquidation announcement—which couldn’t be discussed with the vast majority of staff due to legal reasons—Shaw “hadn’t eaten properly for many, many days just from the stress,” they recounted. “The stress was unbelievable. And you can’t talk to people about it.” However, being the resolute and altruistic problem-solver that they are, Shaw couldn’t help but think once everyone knew: “What can I do?”

First on Shaw’s to-do list was reaching out to staff members who were on holiday, and therefore in different timezones, to ensure they were up to date with the news. They then explained to confused staff members all the background attempts to stabilise CodeClan, and why they couldn’t know beforehand. There was also the gathering of helpful resources—“I started compiling lists of all the resources that would help people, like recruiters and companies that I knew were hiring—just getting anything down that I could,” Shaw said—on top of making themselves available to support staff who quickly had to find another job. “I think that helped me feel I was at least doing something,” they remarked.

Amid the turmoil, and while staff were simultaneously doing their best to support the students, the students themselves were also displaying an inspirational amount of gumption and resolve—not least Ure himself.

Recommended reading

• CodeClan Announces Sudden Liquidation
• Crowdfund Campaign Launched in the Wake of CodeClan Liquidation
• Final CodeClan Cohort Graduates from CodeBase

“I Don’t Like Sitting Back”

Unsurprisingly, Ure said that he “didn’t really sleep” on the night of the announcement. But by the next morning, he was redirecting his energies into action. “I don’t like sitting back; I’ve always been somebody who likes to do something,” he explained. “So I began reaching out to a couple of instructors—one, to check in with them, and two, to see how they felt about me starting a fundraiser to pay them to help the cohorts get over the line and complete their courses.”

After some dialogue with instructors, students, and staff, Ure launched a crowdfunding campaign on the JustGiving platform. The aim was for £50,000 to be raised to pay instructors and secure in-person workspace, thereby enabling the students to deservedly finish their education.

In the following days, the Scottish tech ecosystem’s rapid response caught Ure off guard. Both individuals and businesses alike were significantly contributing to the pot, and it quickly became apparent that the £50,000 goal would very likely be raised. “Every time I checked, it jumped by £1,000, £2,000, £3,000—it really did take me by surprise.”

Other, non-financial forms of support were widely being offered, too. “I had hundreds and hundreds of messages on LinkedIn from people and businesses in the tech community saying they’d happily offer mentoring, as well as services like code reviews, or talks on coding methodologies,” Ure mentioned. FanDuel, the Scottish tech unicorn, also supplied office space for affected students and their instructors to use—because, at this stage, the tutors were volunteering their time for free so the students could keep on learning.

“A Lot of Emotion Was Released”

Much like the liquidation announcement, the next event also came out of the blue for Ure: days after the crowdfund’s launch, he was given a heads-up from Mark Logan, the Scottish Government’s chief entrepreneurial advisor, that a plan had been formulated in the background.

Specifically, it involved the Scottish Government providing funding to see the student learning process through, and for CodeBase—the tech and entrepreneurial support organisation and adjacent neighbour of CodeClan’s Edinburgh campus—to buy the not-for-profit’s training materials and assets from the liquidators.

In practicality, this meant the impacted students would be able to finish their courses—and a group of instructors selected to teach them would be compensated, too—without the need for crowdfunding. Soon after informing Ure, Logan made a public statement explaining the forthcoming measures to a concerned ecosystem, and Ure later returned the JustGiving donations.

Fast forward some weeks, and after working out of FanDuel’s offices, Ure and his fellow students returned to CodeClan in person to complete the final stages of their programmes, after Logan et al.’s efforts. While Ure noted that it was good to be back at CodeClan, the stress of the complex, stressful situation had taken its toll. “By the end, people were drained. It felt like an absolute age that a very intense period had been going on for.”

In October, Ure and the rest of E65 finally graduated as new software developers, despite the significant hurdles in their way. The following graduation ceremony, which was hosted by FanDuel, served as not just an acknowledgement and celebration of their resilience, but also as a crucial opportunity for catharsis. “The graduation was quite an emotional one,” Ure recounted. “A lot of emotion was released on that final day. But everybody’s really close now; we have a bond.”

“You Don’t Realise How Stressful Something Is Until You Get Past It”

Following graduation, Ure returned to the CodeClan campus to receive some CV support. But after that, he took some much-deserved time away from coding—and preparing for the job application process—for his mental health. “I couldn’t think about opening my laptop,” he said. “I switched off for a few weeks.”

Now, in early 2024, Ure is navigating an undeniably tough job market. “It’s difficult,” he stated. “There’s not many junior or graduate roles at the moment.” Despite the lack of entry positions currently available, Ure is tapping into the same resilience that helped him navigate the prior turbulence: “You just keep going.”

Shaw, too, took some time out shortly after the upheaval due to its mental and emotional ramifications. “I was lucky in that I had a pot of savings, so I knew I didn’t have to immediately get a job—because there was no way I could’ve done that,” they explained. “I needed a lot of downtime afterwards. And you don’t realise how stressful something is until you get past it.”

They’ve since launched their own consultancy, Thistle Labs, helping to provide fractional CTO advice to tech startups and entrepreneurs; they’re also assisting some UK-based education providers with their offerings. This has allowed them to continue cheerleading those they want to get behind, albeit in a slightly different capacity.

CodeClan 2.0

But what about the CodeClan-shaped gap left in Scotland’s technology ecosystem? In the coming months, it’s expected that “CodeClan 2.0” will be launched by CodeBase and industry partners, with Logan previously stating that the new talent pipeline “is being designed from the ground up” and with a “robust business model.” And it sounds thus far like the overall mission—which is an important, necessary one, on so many fronts—will remain the same: to help determined folks in Scotland gain practical skills, forge new career paths, and ultimately improve both their lives and the lives of those around them.