There are stories that show that learning does not always follow a straight path. That of Camila Manrique Ruiz, a student at 42 Urduliz Bizkaia, is one of them.
Her first contact with the campus came in 2021, at a time when she was looking for a new career direction. With a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s in Finance, she had been unemployed for several months when a friend told her about the 42 Piscine, the selection process for joining the campus.
She decided to take on the challenge. After weeks of hard work, she managed to get through the process and discovered that the greatest lesson wasn’t just about coding.
‘The most important thing I learnt wasn’t how to navigate a black screen. I learnt that I wasn’t alone and that there was a world of possibilities open to me’, says Manrique.
However, barely a month after joining the campus, she had to leave to enter the job market.
A second chance
In 2025, after becoming a mother and following several years in work, she decided to return to 42 Urduliz Bizkaia.
Although her circumstances had changed, she found something that remained unchanged: the collaborative spirit and peer-to-peer learning that characterise 42’s teaching model.
‘I felt that same sense of sharing and collaborating with people you might never have met outside of here’, she explains.
Much more than just programming
Camila’s story reflects a reality that is often seen at 42 Urduliz Bizkaia: people who come to learn about technology and also discover a space in which to grow both personally and professionally.
As the student herself puts it: ‘42 Urduliz Bizkaia isn’t just a place to learn to code. It’s the place where I’ve learnt the most about myself and what I’m capable of.Because, sometimes, the greatest lessons aren’t found in lines of code, but in discovering just how far you can go when you dare to take the plunge.
