LEARN BY BUILDING
You grow into a software engineer by learning the fundamentals, writing code, and building applications. The Hive Helsinki curriculum makes you do exactly that, through projects that get a little harder every time.
The curriculum
The program runs in three modules. You build the fundamentals in Go, then widen out into full-stack application development, then go deeper in the areas that interest you. Each module builds on the last, and the content evolves as the industry does.
You start with Go, a modern, efficient language used across the industry. Unix command line, version control, data structures, and algorithms. By the end of the module, you can take a written specification and turn it into a working, deployable web application. This is the foundation everything else rests on.
Breadth, flexibility, and integration. You pick up JavaScript and TypeScript quickly, because learning new languages fast is part of the job. You build single-page applications, real-time systems with multiple user roles, multiplayer browser games, and your own frontend framework from scratch.
You choose where to go deeper while staying a generalist. In mobile application development, you pick up a new language and framework (Flutter and Dart) and build five apps, each with new mobile-specific features. In DevOps, cloud and systems administration, you go beyond the basics of deployment into running, monitoring and maintaining real services, through three large projects that each build on the last. Either way, you finish with both broad and deep knowledge of the profession.
You leave with a portfolio of real projects, each one with a working demo and design decisions you made and defended in review. You join a community of 400+ alumni, and Hivers have been hired by 200+ companies across Finland. And you know how to keep learning on your own, which is what employers say matters most.
Skills developed in the program
The technical content is necessary, but it isn’t the whole point. Every project also trains the practices that make a software engineer effective at work: reading and translating specifications, reviewing code on both sides of the table (at least 50 reviews by graduation), writing documentation for people who weren’t in the room, and deciding what to build and what to leave out. Above all, you learn how to learn. Technologies change. That skill doesn’t.
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Programming fundamentals in Go
Start with Go, a modern, efficient and proven language used by industry leaders. Learn the basic syntax and semantics, such as variables and control flow, before moving on to more complex concepts.
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Data structures and algorithms
Learn to translate abstract, human-readable requirements into the concrete world of machines. Train how to represent, store and manipulate information, and how to break problems into step-by-step instructions a computer can execute efficiently, until it becomes second nature.
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Backend and API development
Discover how applications work behind the scenes. Write software that runs in the cloud, connects to databases, and provides the business logic your app needs, in a performant and scalable way.
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Network programming
Explore communication protocols and enable multiple devices and programs to transfer data across networks while keeping an eye out for potential security vulnerabilities.
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Front-end and web development
Build interactive applications for the web. Start with JavaScript, HTML and CSS, then move on to TypeScript and modern web frameworks. Design and implement practical, beautiful user interfaces.
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DevOps and Systems administration
Configure computer networks and learn about deployment and application isolation through virtual machines and Docker.
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Work practices in software organizations
Get familiar with everything that surrounds the programming itself, because it will be a significant part of your work in a dev team: code reviews, iterative development, version control, automated testing, continuous deployment, maintenance, and bug fixing.
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And more…
Alongside the curriculum: hackathons, workshops, short projects, and industry events bring the latest tools and thinking directly to campus. You’ll experiment a lot with AI, build fast, but also learn from the best people working in the industry.