questions,
answered.

42 is a global network of tuition-free coding schools built on a simple idea: people learn to build software by building software. The first campus opened in Paris in 2013. There are no professors and no lectures. Students work through projects, review each other's code, and progress by proving what they can do.

42 Wolfsburg has produced over 300 graduates, with 250+ now working in the industry. Together with our sister campus in Berlin, we are part of a network of more than 50 campuses across over 30 countries.

The name is a nod to Douglas Adams. In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Yes, completely. Talent should not depend on what you can afford. Our programme is funded by industry partners, including Volkswagen and other major employers in Lower Saxony, who want a stronger local tech talent pool. There are no hidden costs and no financial obligations before, during or after your studies.

Our graduates are also never required to work for our partners. Admission is based on aptitude alone, and what you do with your skills afterwards is entirely your decision.

You cover your own cost of living: rent, food, transport and everything else. Studying here works best when it has your full attention, so it is worth saving beforehand or arranging support before you start.

You need to be 18 or older. That is the entire list. There is no upper age limit, and your background, education and previous degrees make no difference to your application.

If you are under 18, you are still welcome to apply and attend an introduction. You just need to have turned 18 by the time your Piscine starts.

No. There is no evidence that applicants who already code do better at the Piscine than those who have never written a line. Curiosity and a willingness to work through hard problems matter far more.

Adaptability, persistence and a habit of asking questions. You will need to be proactive, thorough and willing to work with people you have just met. These are also the exact skills the programme develops, so you do not need to arrive with them fully formed.

Because the curriculum keeps escalating. Projects grow in complexity, and each one asks you to work out an approach rather than follow a recipe. Alongside the technical depth, you build the things self-taught developers often miss: code review under scrutiny, collaboration on shared codebases, and the discipline of shipping to a standard someone else will check.

There are no lectures and no exams in the traditional sense. A Computer Science degree leans heavily on academic theory; our curriculum is built entirely around projects and the skills employers are actually hiring for.

We also update the curriculum continuously, in step with the network and with the industry around us. In a city built on engineering, that means graduates who can contribute to a real codebase from their first week rather than spending months catching up.

Non-EU citizens are welcome to apply, but we want to be straightforward about the limits. 42 Wolfsburg is not an accredited academic institution, so we cannot sponsor or support student visas.

In practice this makes the route difficult from outside the EU. For most applicants the only workable path is already holding the right to live and work in Germany. We strongly recommend speaking to a visa advisor or your local German embassy about your specific situation before applying.

We are glad to help with everything else once you are here. Visa and immigration matters are simply outside what we are able to do.

The campus is open 24/7 and step-free throughout, with a lift, accessible bathrooms, and kitchens.

We run regular meet ups for underrepresented student groups, alongside events such as International Women’s Day and Women+ focused Open Days. Staff complete unconscious bias, metal health first aid and diversity training.

You can transfer freely until you start your Piscine. After that, you complete the Core Curriculum at the same campus where you completed the Piscine. Once the Core is done, the whole network is open to you.

To request a move beforehand, sign in to the application platform and create an issue under "Campus Switch Request". Your application then continues as normal at the new campus.

Everything on campus runs in English, including all projects and materials. You do not need to be fluent when you arrive; most people find their English improves quickly here.

German is not required to study with us, though it certainly makes daily life in Wolfsburg easier. Plenty of our students learn it as they go.

No. Peer learning only works in person, so studying here means being on campus. In return the building is yours around the clock, every day of the year.

If you are relocating to Lower Saxony, we can help. For accommodation or questions about settling into Wolfsburg, contact admissions@42wolfsburg.de. We cannot assist with visa applications or immigration matters.

We work with local housing providers and can help you find somewhere, subject to availability. For anything about living in Wolfsburg or our accommodation options, write to admissions@42wolfsburg.de.

Admissions Support exists to make arriving here straightforward: finding somewhere to live, understanding the application steps, and settling into the city. If you are unsure who to ask about something, start with them.

We run Open Days at least once a quarter. You can meet the team, talk to current students and see how the place actually works. Most Open Days are paired with an official Introduction, which is a required step in the application.

You can also book an individual campus tour, though these are short and leave little room for questions, so an Open Day is the better option where possible. To get a look around first, watch our campus tour video.

Email contact@42wolfsburg.de telling us what needs updating and we will take care of it.

The Piscine is the final stage of the application: four weeks of full immersion in which you learn to code from scratch. Think of it as a compressed version of the school, which means it tells you as much about whether 42 suits you as it tells us about you.

It is genuinely intense and asks for real commitment. There is no fixed number of places and no ranking against other applicants, so nobody is competing with you.

If you can no longer attend, act as early as you can. Submit an unsubscription request for your current Piscine on the application platform, then email us so we can approve it quickly. Once approved you can sign up for a different date. This has to be completed before the Piscine begins.

If something happens after it has started, speak to the Pedagogy team. Switches are handled case by case, and are usually only possible in the first few days, for health reasons or genuinely unforeseen circumstances.

The programme is designed to follow straight on, so we recommend choosing the Kick-Off closest to your Piscine. If you need time to relocate or wrap up other commitments, you can skip one cycle and start at the next one.

Yes. You can attempt the Piscine twice in your lifetime, with a 300-day wait between attempts. Plenty of people get in on their second try.

Not straight away. You complete the Core Curriculum at the campus where you completed your Piscine. Once the Core and your first internship are behind you, you can move to any school in the 42 network for your specialisation.

The Core Curriculum is roughly 2,000 hours of work. Studying full-time, most students across the network finish it in about 18 months. You can pace it anywhere between 12 and 24 months, with a two-year limit on completing the Core.

Working at your own pace means adjusting your speed, not disappearing for weeks. 42 works best as your main focus.

The full programme, including two internships and a specialisation, takes a little over three years and leaves you at a level comparable to a Master's degree. Whether you move fast or slowly matters far less than what you can build at the end.

During the Piscine, realistically no, and we would strongly advise against trying. The Core Curriculum is designed as full-time study but is flexible enough to sit alongside part-time work if you plan carefully.

Neither. Students learn from the work and from each other. Our pedagogical team designs the curriculum, maintains the standards and keeps an eye on progress, but nobody stands at the front of a room. Teaching something is the fastest way to find the gaps in your own understanding, which is precisely why the model works.

Every student is both a learner and a reviewer. Rather than an instructor handing down answers, you work through problems with people at different stages and defend your approach to them.

Evaluating someone else's code, and explaining your own decisions out loud, turns out to be one of the fastest ways to understand a concept properly. It also builds the review habits that engineering teams run on.

You learn by building things rather than by memorising them. Each project sets a real problem, and working out how to solve it is the lesson.

Completing projects earns experience points, which unlock levels, new projects and new branches of the curriculum to explore.

You start with C and the fundamentals of programming, alongside a substantial block of projects in Python and AI. Before your first internship you can branch into UNIX, graphics and web development.

After that the curriculum goes deeper across computer science: object-oriented and functional programming, mobile development, web security, reverse engineering, malicious code, kernel and network programming, artificial intelligence, 3D graphics and more. A second internship completes the programme.

Your peers, working from grading scales written by the pedagogical team. You will evaluate their work in turn. Exams, which you can sit twice a week, are marked automatically by the Moulinette, a program built by 42.

The 100+ projects are laid out as a tree. Completing one opens the next, and at each split you choose which direction to take. No two students finish with quite the same path behind them.

No. We are not an accredited academic institution, so we issue a certificate of completion rather than a state-recognised diploma.

What you leave with instead is a portfolio of working projects, a network across more than 50 campuses, and a qualification employers in this industry already recognise. For most tech roles, what you can demonstrably build counts for more than a certificate.

By teaching you how to approach unfamiliar problems rather than how to use one particular tool. Our graduates arrive in teams able to read a codebase, ask the right questions and work out what they do not yet know.

We deliberately avoid tying the curriculum to a single language or stack. Frameworks come and go; the underlying techniques do not, and those are what keep your skills relevant a decade from now.

Finding both internships is part of the programme, and part of the point. We give you the ground to stand on: conferences, hackathons, workshops and direct access to our partner companies. Making the approach is your job, and doing it once makes doing it again far easier.

Always. Alumni keep access to the campus and are welcome to pick up new projects whenever they want. Many come back to run sessions or mentor current students, which is exactly how the community stays useful.

Our scholarship programme is currently open to enrolled students only. Scholarships are not available during the Piscine.

Yes. Our Piscines are recognised as professional development under § 10 (1) of the Lower Saxony Educational Leave Act (NBildUG), by decision of the Agentur für Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung dated 12 August 2025.

Bildungsurlaub will not cover the whole Piscine. Most people have five days, or ten if their employer agrees, and cover the remainder with annual leave.

To apply, request a confirmation of registration from contact@42wolfsburg.de. Your certificate of participation follows once the Piscine is complete.

Not at the moment. We review this regularly and will announce it through our official channels if that changes.