Spaces are limited and Free for Rochdale borough residents who are looking for work · Part of Trailblazers at The Lighthouse Project!
PLEASE make sure you turn up if you register. It is an 8 hour course split over 2 days. Monday 11th May, 4 hours and Wednesday 13th, 4 hours.
This course is built on a simple belief: you are the teacher. We are the facilitators — providing access to the tools, components and space you need to educate yourself through experience.
There are no lectures here. No passive listening. No waiting to be told what to think. From the moment you sit down, you're doing — and the doing is the learning. This is constructivism in practice: the idea that genuine understanding comes not from being given answers, but from building them yourself.
Computer science education was hollowed out in schools for over a decade, replaced by IT training that taught people to use software rather than understand it. This course is part of putting that right — getting practical, creative, physical computing back into the hands of people who were never given the chance.
"If you tell somebody something, you've forever robbed them of the opportunity to discover it for themselves." — Curt Gabrielson
That's exactly why they're valuable.
Most people assume this kind of thing isn't for them — that you need a technical background, a certain kind of brain, or years of study before you can touch a circuit board. None of that is true. Electronics and programming are learnable skills, and the best way to learn them is by doing.
The tech sector in the North of England alone had over 280,000 job vacancies back in 2016. That number is estimated to be closer to one million today. The average salary in the sector is well above the regional average — and it's rising. People who can work with physical technology, who understand how sensors, microcontrollers and code fit together, are genuinely hard to find. This course gives you a real foothold in that world.
Rare in the job market
Physical computing skills are genuinely scarce — and employers across the region are actively looking for people who have them.
No prior experience needed
We start from scratch, together. Your curiosity is the only qualification that counts.
Hands-on from minute one
No lectures. No passive listening. You're building something real from the moment you sit down.
A springboard, not a dead end
This course opens doors — to further learning, careers in tech, and making your own ideas real.
Atom Valley is one of the most significant economic developments in Greater Manchester's history — and it's happening right here, across Rochdale, Bury and Oldham. Work has already begun on the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre (SMMC), a 30,000 sq ft innovation hub located next to Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale. It will house laboratory space, workshops, design studios and flexible workspace for start-ups — a place where new technologies are pioneered and companies scale up their ambitions.
The skills Atom Valley needs span advanced manufacturing, smart systems, electronics, automation and digital technology. An industry-informed skills strategy is already being developed in partnership with local colleges. That strategy needs people who are ready to step into it. The journey starts somewhere — and it can start here, on a Monday afternoon in Middleton.
20,000New jobs projected across the Atom Valley cluster
£107mProjected economic contribution of the SMMC alone
RochdaleHome of the SMMC — next to Kingsway Business Park
Learning tends to happen on a need-to-know basis — and that's exactly how this course is designed. You don't need to see the whole path before you take the first step. But it helps to know the path is there. Here's where the skills you build here can lead.
Next step
Move from Arduino to ESP32 — a more powerful microcontroller with built-in WiFi. Start connecting your projects to the internet and building genuinely smart devices.
Local opportunity
The SMMC at Kingsway, Rochdale will need people with electronics and digital skills. An industry-informed skills pathway is being developed across local colleges — this course is a first step onto it.
Career pathway
Hands-on electronics knowledge is exactly what employers look for in technical apprenticeships. Your finished project gives you something concrete to show and talk about.
Career pathway
Programming hardware is a highly specialised and well-paid skill. Embedded systems developers work on everything from medical devices to smart home technology and industrial automation.
Creative pathway
The maker movement is thriving. People who combine electronics knowledge with creative ideas are building products, businesses and communities around their work.
Business pathway
Understanding how to prototype hardware is a significant advantage if you want to bring a product idea to life — and a compelling differentiator for funding applications and start-up programmes.
Complete both sessions and your working electronics project goes home with you. Not a printout. Not a certificate. The actual thing you built — circuits, code and all. It's yours to tinker with, show to people, and build on. That project is proof of what you're now capable of — and a conversation starter in any job interview or apprenticeship application.
Free for Rochdale borough residents who are looking for work · Part of Trailblazers at The Lighthouse Project