Cursus - Photographie d'une étudiante de 42 Nice entrain de travailler.

The curriculum

42 Nice offers an innovative, flexible and gamified program, in line with the needs of IT companies. No classes, no teachers, you progress at your own pace!

Introduction

An IT training that makes sense

The training offered by 42 Nice doesn’t follow the norms of traditional education. On the contrary, at 42 Nice, we promote an IT training that’s out of the ordinary. Our values and concepts provide an innovative environment for our students, and enable many of them to pursue an education they could not get elsewhere.

Here at 42 Nice, everyone has a chance to make or remake themselves.

The format

A complete IT training

Calibrated over 3 years, the 42 Nice course is divided into two distinct parts: the common core and the post common core. The first allows our students to acquire a solid base in all the key areas of IT. The second focuses on specializing the skills acquired in the first part, and on helping our students find their place in the professional world.

We have estimated that the course lasts 3 years, because students need this time, on average, to enter the job market in a sustainable way. However, not everyone learns at the same pace, which is why the duration of the 42 Nice curriculum is extremely flexible. The fastest learners will have already joined a company after just one year at 42 Nice, while others may need to return after 3 years to deepen their knowledge. The curriculum adapts to the needs of the student in question.

The common core: about a year and a half to learn the basics.

The 42 curriculum begins with a common core. This first part of the curriculum is identical for all 42 campuses. Projects are based on C language: this is a language that enables you to understand all the basics of programming and learn to adapt to any other language later on.

The core curriculum is built around a variety of projects that give a broad overview of what can be done in programming: graphics (2D AND 3D), networking, classification, C++, etc.

The post common core: specialization and professional integration.

It emphasizes group project work and collaboration, as well as neutrality with regard to brands, technologies and languages, in order to develop our students’ ability to adapt and avoid obsolescence on the job market in 5 or 10 years’ time. The choice of specialization is up to the students, who will be able to acquire complementary skills through a variety of experiences. At this stage, there’s no time limit on projects and you can choose which field to work on!

This is the time to specialize or experiment with a number of other specialties. This part of the curriculum can be combined with an internship and/or an apprenticeship. Students themselves decide when to stop their studies and become alumni.

Cursus - Le HolyGraph : une infographie circulaire représentant les divers projets relatifs à chacune des étapes du cursus, tronc-commun et post-tronc commun.

The content

A project-based learning

Illustration d'une femme flottant dans une piscine.

Piscines

Throughout their course, students can learn specific notions or a particular language of their choice very quickly via small piscines. As with the selection piscine, the format includes: modules, rushes in groups of 2 to 4 people, corrections between students in the piscine and automated corrections by the famous Moulinette.

Regarding the concepts or languages covered in these piscines, 42 Nice offers a wide variety of piscines – from Swift iOS to Python-Django and OCaml: you’re bound to find what you’re looking for. Naturally, the list of available piscines is updated over time to meet the demands of the job market.

Illustration d'un bonhomme et d'une calculatrice géante : représente l'algorithmie.

Algorithmics

During your common core at 42 Nice, you’ll be asked to carry out an algorithm project called push-swap. This project involves using computer algorithms to sort a list of numbers as efficiently as possible. Of course, there’s no single best way to do this: there are many different sorting algorithms, each with its own implementation.

For the more persevering, there is a post comme core specialty entirely dedicated to algorithms. The first project is called lem_in and involves solving a maze as quickly as possible using graph traversal algorithms.

Illustration d'un homme en pleine conception artistique : représente le graphisme.

Graphics

The 42 Nice program offers a number of graphic design projects.

Among them, you’ll find :

  • Fract-ol: As the name suggests, this project involves the creation of a fractal, allowing you to concentrate on the graphic programming of images while immersing yourself in a psychedelic universe.
  • MiniRT: This project is an introduction to raytracing, a method of calculating images on a computer.
  • Cub3D: This project is inspired by the first FPS of the 90s: Wolfenstein 3D. The aim is to create a mini-game in which the player must navigate a labyrinth based on the concept of raycasting.
Illustration d'un groupe d'individus en pleine réalisation d'un projet web.

Web

The first web project you’ll be asked to complete comes at the very end of the common core and is entitled ft_transcendence. In this project, you’ll learn how to recreate the 1979 classic Pong, integrate it into a website and turn it into a platform for competitive play.The site must be able to offer the possibility to launch a game between different players and include a system of registration, victories and losses, a ranking system, a spectator mode and a chat system consisting of channels and private messages. It’s good to play a video game, but it’s even better to program one!

 

Of course, there are numerous other web projects to explore: there’s a specialization devoted to this.

Illustration d'un ordinateur et divers éléments faisant référence à la sécurité (des cadenas, des empreintes ou encore une caméra de surveillance).

Security & viruses

Once you’ve completed the common core, you’ll have access to a specialization dedicated to security, and another dedicated to viruses.

The former will enable you to discover security through different sub-fields, familiarize yourself with several languages, develop a certain logic to understand unknown programs, and thus become aware of the problems linked to simple programming errors. The second, dedicated to viruses, will help you discover the full extent of how viruses work through practical case studies. In fact, in this branch, you’ll learn how to code viruses – of course, these viruses are intended for educational purposes only, and precautions are taken when creating and evaluating them.

Conferences & Meetups

Discover inspiring stories, innovative companies and current Tech topics.

Technical workshops & coaching sessions

Learn or perfect yourself in a particular technology, improve your CV or even prepare yourself for a job interview.

Hackathons & challenges

Work on concrete problems and find innovative solutions to address current needs.

Forums and recruitment events

Virtual recruitment forums, company visits and presentations, sponsored events: the curriculum at 42 Nice gives you plenty of opportunities to grasp!

Professional Insertion

Internship & Apprenticeship

At the end of the common core, each student is required to complete a 4-6 month internship. Following this, students can choose to complete their course with an apprenticeship contract in the IT field – a contract that can be completed over a period of 1 or 2 years. This option will enable those who follow it to reach level 21. Students who do not decide to undertake an apprenticeship will be asked to complete an additional 6-month internship.

First part

Projets

Second part

Projets

&

Périodes d’insertion professionnelle en entreprise

Stages, apprentissage, jobs

Targeted Skills

What 42 Nice has to offer

The training at 42 Nice is designed to give you all the skills you need to enter the professional world while meeting today’s demands.

Software development refers to the entire process of building all types of reliable, high-performance computer applications, from the study of the customer’s needs, through design and implementation, right up to application maintenance.

  • Imperative programming: C ;
  • Functional programming: Lisp, OCaml and Rust;
  • Object-oriented programming: C++, C#, mobile development, Java, Python and Swift;
  • Graphics programming: image processing, games, Metal, OpenGL, Unity, Unreal Engine and Vulkan;
  • Algorithms and artificial intelligence: generic algorithms, deep & machine learning, graph traversal and neural networks.

The acronym ICT (which stands for “information and communication technologies”) refers to all the technologies used to process and transmit digital information.

  • Adaptation and creativity: Innovation and lateral thinking;
  • Web: Back, front or full stack development, Django, Frameworks, Node, Rails, React and Symfony;
  • Technological integration: Complex, heterogeneous environments and enterprise projects.

An information system is an organized set of resources used to collect, store, process and distribute information, usually via a computer network.

  • Operating systems, programming interfaces and embedded systems: Low-level, Kernel, Posix and UNIX;
  • System and network administration: System administration, network architecture, Cloud, DevOps, Docker, continuous integration, Kubernetes, Lan and Wan addressing schemes, network services and virtualization;
  • Security: Packet analysis, Man-In-The-Middle attacks, countermeasures, exploits, firewalls, rootkits, backups, Trojans, IP address spoofing and viruses;
  • Data and databases: Data Lake, data mining, MySQL, NoSQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL, data structure and data visualization;
  • Parallel programming: Cuda, Mutexes, OpenCL, concurrent and GPU programming, semaphores and threads.

Team management and communication are based on a person’s ability to organize and coordinate his or her team around tasks to achieve a common goal. People who master this art support and motivate their team members while developing their sense of belonging.

  • Rigor: Code style and regression testing;
  • Organization: Personal organization and project management;
  • Work experience: Internships, work-study programs and part-time work (optional);
  • Group and interpersonal skills: Group management and communication.

End of training

The 42 certificate

The 42 certificate is issued to students when they decide to end their training – it should be noted that it is not possible to end their training before the common core has been validated. This certificate attests to the final level obtained by the student: it ranges from level 9 (validation of the common core) to level 21 (validation of several specialization branches available in the curriculum, and which may include periods of work experience).