Many countries have a new policy with an aim of involving computer programming earlier in the compulsory school curricula. In Sweden this should be implemented as a part of secondary school mathematics and technology. This reform has created a nation-wide need for teacher professional development with programming courses given by universities. For the universities this is a new learner group with a higher average age and different learning needs than the traditional younger students. The aim of the study was to identify and discuss opportunities and barriers for increasing the pass rate and learner satisfaction in programming courses for secondary school mathematics and technology teachers. Main research questions in the study were, 1) Which factors for increased pass rates and participant motivation could be identified for teacher training courses on programming? and 2) How might these identified factors be related to course participants learning needs? This study was carried out as a case study involving triangulation of multiple data sources. Data has been gathered in a combination of self-assessment questionnaires, course evaluations and essays written by course participants from three different course instances. A content analysis was conducted to find and group themes in the data that are relevant to answer the research questions. The analysis has been partly inductive, and partly deductive with adult learning as the theoretical lens. The study identifies 8 main themes that are important to consider as factors for course pass rate and participant motivation. The identified themes are: 1) Exchange of experience, 2) Practical work, 3) Help and support, 4) Alignment to prior knowledge, 5) Required time and commitment, 6) Level of difficulty, 7) Clarity and structure, 8) Participant expectation. Dependent on how these are addressed in teacher professional development courses, they can be opportunities or barriers for increased pass rate. The next step will be to apply and evaluate the identified themes in future course re-design.