Full-Time or Part-Time at McTaba: Choosing Your Track

The most important thing to know: full-time and part-time marathoners learn the same material and build the same 8 apps. Nobody gets a watered-down version. Nobody misses the M-Pesa module or skips the AI project because they are on the shorter track.

The difference is how the hours are distributed across weeks.

Full-time marathoners cover the curriculum in 4 months of intensive, nearly all-day sessions. Part-time marathoners cover it in 6 months of evening and Saturday sessions. The content is identical. The experience of going through it is different.

Think of it like reading the same book. One person reads it in two weeks by spending every evening on it. Another reads it over a month, fitting in chapters during lunch breaks and weekends. Same book. Same ending. Different rhythm.

Schedule: Monday to Friday, roughly 9am to 5pm, plus self-study evenings

Duration: 4 months (approximately 16 weeks)

Weekly commitment: 40+ hours

The full-time track is for people who can treat the marathon like a job. You show up in the morning. You code until the afternoon. You go home and study or work on projects in the evening. Repeat for four months.

Who it suits:

• Career changers who have saved enough to live on for 4 months without employment income.
• Recent KCSE leavers or university graduates who do not yet have a job to manage around.
• People who tried part-time learning before (YouTube, free courses) and know they need full immersion to stay on track.
• Anyone whose family or living situation allows them to disappear into code for 4 months.

The upside: Compression. You finish faster. The intensity creates momentum. When you are coding for 8 hours a day, concepts stick because you use them immediately. You do not lose context between sessions because there is no five-day gap between your Tuesday evening class and the following Saturday.

The downside: No income for 4 months. If you are supporting a family or paying rent without savings, this track creates financial pressure that can sabotage your learning. Stress about rent does not help you debug a Daraja API callback.

Schedule: Weekday evenings (typically 6pm to 9pm, 3-4 evenings per week) plus Saturdays

Duration: 6 months (approximately 26 weeks)

Weekly commitment: 20-25 hours of scheduled sessions, plus self-study

The part-time track is for people who cannot press pause on the rest of their life. You keep your job. You keep your income. You code in the evenings and on Saturdays.

Who it suits:

• Working professionals who need their salary while they transition into tech.
• University students adding practical skills alongside their degree.
• Parents who have daytime responsibilities and can only study after the kids are in bed.
• Anyone who tried to "just quit and learn to code" and discovered that financial anxiety makes learning impossible.

The upside: You keep earning while you learn. The financial safety net reduces stress. You also get to immediately apply what you learn to real workplace conversations. If your employer mentions "we need to add M-Pesa checkout," you can speak to that after your evening session on Daraja API.

The downside: Fatigue. After a full day at work, sitting down for a 3-hour coding session requires discipline. Saturdays disappear. Your social life shrinks for 6 months. Some part-time marathoners report that the pace sometimes feels slow because they are eager to move forward but have to wait for the next session.

Forget which track sounds more impressive. This is a logistics question, not a personality test.

Choose full-time if all three of these are true:

1. You have enough savings or financial support to cover your living expenses for 4 months without working.
2. You do not have daytime commitments (a job, university classes, caregiving) that you cannot step away from.
3. You learn better with full immersion than with spaced repetition over a longer period.

Choose part-time if any of these are true:

1. You have a job you need to keep for financial reasons.
2. You are currently in university and cannot take a semester off.
3. You have family responsibilities during the day that cannot be rearranged.
4. You would rather spread the learning over 6 months than compress it into 4, even if you have the time for full-time.

One more factor worth considering. If you have never coded before, the part-time track gives you more time to absorb fundamentals. Concepts like asynchronous JavaScript, database relationships, and API architecture need time to sink in. Full-time does not give you that breathing room, and some beginners find the pace overwhelming in the early weeks. If you have some coding experience already, full-time compression works better because you are not processing every concept for the first time.

"Is part-time seen as less serious by employers?"

No. Employers do not know or care which track you were on. Your portfolio, your deployed apps, and your interview performance are what matter. A part-time marathoner who built a solid M-Pesa integration is a stronger candidate than a full-time marathoner who coasted through projects.

"Can I switch from part-time to full-time mid-programme?"

No. The cohorts run on different schedules, and switching mid-stream would put you out of sync with your peers and the curriculum pacing. Choose carefully at the start.

"What if I lose my job during the part-time track? Can I accelerate?"

The part-time schedule stays the same because you are moving with a cohort. If you suddenly have more free time, use it for deeper self-study and more polished projects. But the session schedule does not change.

"Is the part-time track just the full-time track stretched out?"

The content is the same, but the sessions are designed for the part-time format. Evening sessions are structured differently from full-day sessions. The homework and project timelines account for the fact that you have a day job. It is not just "same class, but at night." The pacing and assignment deadlines are calibrated for part-time life.

"I work shifts. Can I mix evening and daytime sessions?"

Not currently. If you work rotating shifts that conflict with the evening schedule, talk to the admissions team before enrolling. They can help you figure out if the part-time track actually fits your rotation.

Regardless of which track you pick, here is what you get:

• The same 8 production apps: Portfolio site, business landing page, full-stack task manager, M-Pesa integration, USSD menu, WhatsApp chatbot, AI document assistant, and your capstone project.
• The same mentor access: Code reviews, debugging help, and career guidance.
• The same career support: Portfolio review, interview prep, and introductions to hiring partners.
• The same community: You join the McTaba alumni network, which includes graduates from both tracks.
• The same cost: KES 120,000 for either track, payable via M-Pesa with instalment options.
• The same certificate: Your McTaba completion certificate does not mention which track you were on.

The only difference is the calendar. Four months of intensity, or six months of steady progress alongside your existing life. Pick the one that sets you up to actually finish, not the one that sounds better on paper.