Progress from software engineering foundations to advanced engineering and quality practice through one connected pathway covering development, testing, architecture, DevOps, cloud and security.
Combine Foundations, Professional and Mastery in one 32 to 36-week engineering and quality journey. Develop increasingly substantial applications with mentoring and practical testing throughout.
What you will develop
- Foundation stage: programming, databases, Git/GitHub, manual testing and engineering lifecycle awareness.
- Professional stage: modular design, APIs, automated tests, containers, cloud awareness and CI/CD.
- Mastery stage: microservices, performance testing, advanced delivery tooling, secure design and AI-assisted engineering.
- Build progressively richer repositories, test evidence and delivery documentation.
- Explain technical decisions and quality risks to stakeholders as part of a coherent project portfolio.
Practical work
Connect a simple application and manual test cases, a multi-tier application with automation, and an enterprise-style application with quality controls. Agree sequencing and intensity with RDE; integrated duration is not the sum of standalone stages.
Career directions
Explore junior engineering or testing roles initially, then develop towards automation, full-stack, cloud and delivery specialisms through experience. The integrated route does not make beginner entry equivalent to immediate architect or head-of-engineering eligibility.
UK salary and contract-rate guide
Evidence reviewed: 6 October 2026. These examples describe named-role markets for career planning.
The National Careers Service software developer profile spans £30,000 starter to £75,000 experienced a year. This is whole-career context, not a junior-only range or an immediate post-course expectation.
Explore the software developer career and salary profile
Test Analyst/QA
Permanent salary: £28,250 to £51,000 a year, the 25th to 75th percentiles in Robert Half’s 2026 UK national guide. The related-position table uses a combined Test Analyst/QA title; this is not a junior-only or manual-tester-only distribution.
Permanent Test Analyst/QA source: related-position table
Junior-specific contract evidence remains limited; experienced contractor figures are not entry-level expectations.
Robert Half annual figures are gross permanent starting-salary projections at the 25th to 75th percentiles in its 2026 UK national guide. IT Jobs Watch figures are advertised UK salaries or daily rates at the 25th to 75th percentiles over the specified six-month period. The sources and employment types differ and do not represent directly comparable pay packages or guaranteed post-course earnings.
Full-stack Developer
Permanent salary: £43,500 to £77,250 a year. Contract rate: £425 to £575 a day.
Permanent Full-stack Developer source: related-position table; Contract-rate source: Full-stack Developer
The contract sample contains 277 daily rates over six months to 6 October 2026. This is not a junior-only distribution.
Test Automation Engineer
Permanent advertised salary: £40,750 to £70,000 a year. Contract rate: £352 to £538 a day.
Permanent salary source: Test Automation Engineer; Contract-rate source: Test Automation Engineer
Both IT Jobs Watch samples cover six months to 6 October 2026: 57 annual salaries and 55 daily rates. These are separate vacancy samples, not a matched pay package or a manual-tester salary range.
DevOps Engineer
Permanent salary: £58,250 to £83,250 a year. Contract rate: £460 to £613 a day.
Permanent salary source: DevOps Engineer; Contract-rate source: DevOps Engineer
The contract sample contains 861 daily rates over six months to 5 October 2026. Operational and delivery experience matters; this is progression context, not an immediate beginner outcome.
Contract income depends on billable days, engagement terms, tax treatment including IR35, expenses and gaps between assignments.
Salary and contract-rate figures are indicative UK market ranges based on publicly available evidence reviewed at the stated date. Actual earnings vary according to experience, location, employer, sector, qualifications, responsibilities and employment type. Course completion does not guarantee employment, promotion or a particular level of earnings.
Mentoring and career support
Mentoring connects technical learning with practical development and professional evidence. Your programme includes six months of job-search support and three months of in-role support. Discuss the arrangements and starting dates with our team, including CV, LinkedIn and interview preparation. Employment is not guaranteed.
Certification and assessment information
The source identifies Python fundamentals, Agile fundamentals and GitHub proficiency learning awards, together with introductory ISTQB awareness. Agree the exact provider and assessment for these generic labels. Testing awareness is not itself ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level certification.
Discuss preparation for ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL). Python advanced and DevOps essentials labels need a specific awarding body and assessment. If an ICAgile route is selected, agree the exact credential and accredited course; the source’s generic Agile Practitioner wording does not identify a single award.
Check official ISTQB Foundation Level certification; Explore ICAgile Agile Fundamentals certification
Agree the appropriate ISTQB Advanced or specialist route for your testing focus. One option is Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Automation Engineering; its eligibility includes Foundation Level certification and relevant practical experience. The source’s AWS/Azure associate, advanced DevOps and secure-coding labels also require an exact credential and provider. AWS Certified Developer - Associate is a possible development-focused option to discuss, rather than an assumed included award.
Check official ISTQB Test Automation Engineering requirements; Explore AWS Certified Developer - Associate
Programme completion is separate from passing a vendor examination. Confirm current preparation scope, eligibility, examination access, additional costs, subscriptions and renewal arrangements before enrolment. No awarding-body accreditation, examination pass or vendor award is implied by attending RDE.
Your next step
Register your interest to discuss your experience, starting point, current delivery arrangements, tools and software access, assessment, certification options, fees and any available funding. Confirm the current intake and support arrangements before making a commitment.
Further specialist career benchmarks
UK market evidence checked on 7 October 2026. These are career progression examples across experience levels, not starting salaries promised by this programme. Architect and leadership roles normally require substantial relevant experience.
IT Jobs Watch ranges below are the 25th to 75th percentiles of quoted figures, covering the middle half of the sample. They are not minimum-to-maximum pay bands. Each dataset covers six months ending on the date shown.
Permanent annual salaryRoleUK rangeQuoted figuresPeriod endingDevOps Engineer£60,000 to £90,000 per year10407 October 2026Site Reliability Engineer£66,250 to £81,250 per year1317 October 2026Software Architect£80,000 to £100,000 per year885 October 2026Contract daily rateRoleUK rangeQuoted figuresPeriod endingDevOps Engineer£462 to £613 per day8777 October 2026Site Reliability Engineer£430 to £600 per day816 October 2026Software Architect£525 to £619 per day186 October 2026Small samples, particularly Data Governance Analyst contract rates (15 quotes) and Software Architect contract rates (18 quotes), warrant caution. Actual earnings depend on experience, location, employer, sector, responsibilities and employment type. Contract rates are not take-home pay or annual salaries; paid days, expenses and tax arrangements vary. Completing this programme does not guarantee employment, promotion, contract work or income.
DevOps Engineer permanent salary source
DevOps Engineer contract-rate source
Site Reliability Engineer permanent salary source
Site Reliability Engineer contract-rate source