The Intro to Digital Course

A free online course for anyone new to coding, supported by a community of peers and tech professionals to help you get started.

The Intro to Digital Course

A free online course for anyone new to coding, supported by a community of peers and tech professionals to help you get started.

20-40 hours work

Set your own learning pace to meet the Intro to Digital deadline of one calendar month.

No experience needed

The CYF Intro to Digital Course suits all levels and you can start on a mobile device.

Supported by experts

Tech professionals and CYF trainees to guide you to success.

What you will learn:

Generative AI: practice or advance your generative AI skills.

Analyse and visualse data

Basic Programming skills - including HMTL, CSS and Javascript. Take the first significant step towards a tech career.

Build and deploy websites. Practice your programming skills by deploying real projects.

Important to note

For the full schedule of our 2025 courses, including Intro to Digital, click here (Google Sheet).

You have 28 days to complete Intro to Digital. If you can't complete all the steps while ITD is open, you can wait until it reopens and try again.

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility

Are you over 18?
Do you live within 90 minutes on public transport of:
- Sheffield, UK
- Glasgow, UK
- Manchester, UK
- Birmingham, UK
- Cape Town, ZA
Or can you easily and regularly get to London on Saturdays?
Are you on a low income?
And do you want to change your life with a career in tech?

Suitability

And have you experienced one or more of the following:

Refuge/Asylum
Forced Migration
Disability
Prison
Long term unemployment
Homelessness
Single parenthood
Social care
Poverty

Then you are welcome at Code Your Future.

The Intro to Digital Course is open

You have until April 28th to complete this self-paced course.

Register and start Intro to Digital

< Return to the Programme overview page.

Meet CodeYourFuture graduates

Natalie

Natalie became a refugee because of war in her homeland. She found her previous qualifications didn't help her find a good job in a new country. After CYF, she was able to start a tech career.

Read Natalie's story

Luan

Luan was working in a warehouse before CYF. He had to improve his English to graduate from CYF and get a job in tech. With support and hard work, he gained the confidence need to start his tech career.

Read Luan's story

Douglas

Before CYF, Douglas worked in as manual labourer in Cape Town. He dedicated himself to learning to code and with support from the CYF community, he graduated and started a career in tech.

Read Douglas' story

Deniz

Deniz had never written a line of code before CYF. She struggled during the course but used all the support offered at CYF. After graduation, she got a job as a project manager.

Read Deniz's story

Frequently Asked Questions

If you face barriers to starting a career in tech, we recommend you just start the Intro to Digital course.

We don't have a single number representing low income for ITD and ITP.

At CodeYourFuture, we know that everyone's circumstance is unique.

We don't have a simple single number that accurately defines low income in the UK or South Africa.

We want our programmes to be inclusive and fair.

That is why we say that if you believe you face any barriers to getting into tech, you are welcome to take the Intro to Digital Course. The same applies to the Intro to Programming Course.

Why should I complete the ITD Course?

By completing the ITD course, you can significantly enhance your employment prospects. This is because the ITD Course equips you with basic programming skills (variables, loops, control flow), improves your CV and helps you deploy a website in the cloud. These are all important steps in progressing into a tech career.

If you believe you are on a low income and have completed the Intro to Digital programme, you are welcome to continue with the Intro to Programming (ITP).

Will you check eligibility at any point at CYF?

Yes. If you complete the Intro to Programming (ITP) Course and aspire to join our Software Development Programme, we will assess your eligibility during the Piscine.

CYF will check your eligibility around low-income using a bespoke method.

To progress past Intro to Programming, your income eligibility will be calculated in relation to your household income size and your dependents.

Eligibility

Are you over 18?
Do you live within 90 minutes on public transport of:
- Sheffield, UK
- Glasgow, UK
- Manchester, UK
- Birmingham, UK
- Cape Town, ZA
Or you can easily and regularly get to London on Saturdays
Are you on a low income?
And do you want to change your life with a career in tech?

Suitability

And have you experienced one or more of the following:

Refuge/Asylum
Forced Migration
Disability
Prison
Long term unemployment
Homelessness
Single parenthood
Social care
Poverty

Then you are welcome at Code Your Future.

If you are uncertain about your eligibility, we suggest you start the course and email us at contact@codeyourfuture.io. We try to help everyone facing barriers to learning the skills they need to get a good job.

You will need a laptop or computer for the Intro to Digital course.

There are many ways you can get access to a laptop or computer. Graduates of our programme have done the following to get access to a laptop or computer.

Use a computer in a local library:

All UK public libraries have computers for public use. In England and Wales: Book internet access in your local library (This is popular, so you should book in advance.).
For Scotland: Find your local library
For Cape Town: There are 101 libraries with computers / work stations (please check if you need to book).

Use another free computer centre:

The Digital Inclusion Project in the UK is a network of online centres that are free for everyone to use.1. Consider borrowing a computer from a friend or a relative.

Buy a computer or find a non-profit that can give you a computer for free:

You can buy a computer in the UK at prices starting from around £200. You can find the specifications for a suitable laptop or computer for CodeYourFuture ITD here.
Here is a list of profit organisations that could provide a laptop in the UK, there may be others near you - search the internet or ask around.
If you know of a non-profit that provides free laptops in Cape Town - please let us know!

CodeYourFuture may offer extra financial support in the following courses (with agreement):

Intro to Programming Course after the first module
Piscine
Software Development programme

The extra financial support we offer is childcare, laptops, internet and transport*. You can apply for extra financial support once you make it into the Intro to Programming Course.

To qualify to financial support,

You can easily and regularly get to London* on Saturdays, or
live within 90 minutes of the cities listed below:
- Sheffield, UK
- Glasgow, UK
- Manchester, UK
- Birmingham, UK
- Cape Town, ZA

*Transport costs are capped to £20 per Saturday / class day

All of our courses are in English.

The ITD Course does not have an English requirement. At the end of ITD course, you will be able to check your English to see if you can progress.

We use the CEFR system to grade English levels from the Intro to Programming course onwards.

To join Introduction to Programming, the lowest level we can work with is B1. If you continue in our course, you will be expected to have level B2.

You can read this document on how we define a good level of English for the various courses we offer.

Intro to Programming is 12-16 weeks, part-time.

We say 12-16 weeks as there is some flexibility built in.

You can see the entire course details here: programming.codeyourfuture.io

The objective of Intro to Programming is to give people with no prior software development experience an introduction to programming and thinking about data.

This course focuses on teaching programming concepts in JavaScript and Python and data concepts in SQL in spreadsheets. We also focus on professional development skills such as communicating effectively and working well on a team.

A prerequisite for this course is completing Code Your Future’s Intro to Digital course, which teaches the basics of HTML and CSS.

After completing Intro to Programming, you may be able to get an entry-level job in tech or IT, and/or, to continue learning more advanced software engineering techniques with CodeYourFuture to prepare for a software engineering job.

The Software Development Programme is 12 weeks, part-time.

The Software Development Programme (SDC) has shifted focus from traditional web development to prioritising systems engineering, infrastructure, and operations.

This involves challenging participants with more complex tasks in areas such as systems work, Linux, troubleshooting, data structures, and algorithms. Regular demonstrations allow participants to showcase their progress to the community, while the integration of existing systems courses provides additional learning opportunities.

The ultimate goal is to cultivate critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will help you stand out as a developer.

CodeYourFuture's Intro to Programming course is a comprehensive, self-paced program designed to equip you with essential programming skills.

This course will give you a solid foundation in programming, preparing you for further learning and real-world projects.

The course is 12 weeks like, with the potential for extra tracks.

The course divided into 4 modules, each containing 3 sprints.

By the end of the course, you'll be able to:

Predict and explain program execution
Refactor code based on new requirements
Write composable functions
Turn business requirements into test cases
Design applications based on user stories
Work with datasets
Verify web application accessibility
Understand processes and file descriptors
Use GitHub effectively, including pull requests

And you'll also achieve Codewars level 5!

To see the full ITP curriculum, visit https://programming.codeyourfuture.io/

CodeYourFuture's Piscine is an intensive 22-day assessment course designed for trainees who have completed the Intro to Programming (ITP) and wish to join the Software Development Course (SDC).

By completing the Piscine, you'll gain hands-on experience in project development, teamwork, and independent coding. You'll also improve your ability to articulate technical concepts, a crucial skill in the tech industry.

Here's what you'll encounter:

During the Piscine, you'll work on three projects: two group projects and one solo project.

For each project, your tasks will be to:

Build a complete project that meets all requirements, including tests
Develop a thorough understanding of all the code in your project, as you'll need to explain it

The Piscine aims to identify candidates ready to train as professional software engineers. The program assesses your ability to:

Collaborate in a team to build working software with tests
Write simple code independently
Clearly explain your work in English

These core goals reflect the skills needed for success in the CYF Software Development Course and as a future software engineer.

This course serves as a bridge between your initial programming knowledge and the more advanced training in the Software Development Course, helping you and CodeYourFuture determine your readiness for the next step in your tech career.

To see the full Piscine curriculum: https://piscine.codeyourfuture.io/