Shifting into a career in tech

In a month I will be celebrating my one-year anniversary as a Junior Software Developer. Just typing that sentence is surreal for me! These past couple of years have been a journey, to say the least, and working in tech was not even remotely on my radar before 2020. I have a diverse background. I spent years working in the culinary field as a cook with aspirations of becoming a chef. I studied fine arts focusing on painting, sculpture and art history. In and around these two passions, I have worked more odd jobs than I care to remember.

When the pandemic hit, I was helping to manage a unique little shop that sold art, books and other rare items. Dealing with customers face-to-face everyday was becoming very stressful with so many unknowns about the looming pandemic. I was strangely relieved when the shop owner informed me he had decided to close up and that I was being laid off from my position.

I had been there for six years and suddenly everything changed within just a few short weeks. Not knowing if there was a job to come back to, the ground was shifting beneath my feet. However, this was not the first time I have faced change and I took comfort in knowing that if I had done it before, I could do it again.

Over the next few months, like many others at that time, I was more than happy to be at home during the early days of the pandemic. I was privileged to be in a position to take my time and consider my options. I never wanted to be put in this position again. I needed to find a career that would allow me to be flexible with the freedom to work remotely. No matter what happened with this pandemic, I would have the stability I had lacked with my previous employment.

I reached out to friends and family asking for advice and more than a few suggested that I look into web development. This piqued my interest. They really seemed to love their work and believed that I would be a good fit. I have always loved problem-solving and creative thinking. I love collaborating with others and it seemed like a constantly evolving field, so the opportunity for growth and learning seemed to be limitless.

I decided to go for it.

I began to research different schools, programs, courses and internships. I had recently finished studying Fine Arts the previous year and I was still sitting on top of a considerable amount of student debt. I was unsure if I was ready to go back to school again for another two to four years to study computer science or web development and wanted to avoid acquiring more student debt. A friend suggested I look into some high-intensity programs known as bootcamps. They had friends that were able to find a job right out of these courses.

Upon looking into bootcamps I realized how intense the programs were. The course was three months long and consisted of around two to three hours of lectures each morning, followed by around eight to ten hours of focused work and exercises. Every day, weekends included. I was unsure if I could handle such a workload, but I figured the best time to do it would be when the world was locked down. It seemed like a great opportunity, so I decided to go for it!

The bootcamp was beyond intense. I was living and breathing web development every day. I was in a cohort of around 30 students and we were all working remotely. I would roll out of bed, stuff some breakfast in my face and make my way to the office. After a couple of hours of live lectures, we would be given daily challenges and exercises to work through. Most of the work was done on our own, but we did have access to virtual mentorship when we were stuck with a particular problem. We were also encouraged to reach out to our peers and work together to solve problems.

I’m not going to lie, there were times I felt I wasn’t going to be able to get through it. However, I put my trust in the work and stuck with it through the good and the bad days. To get through an intensive course it helps to have a good support system and I was lucky enough to have my partner, friends and family encouraging me. The three months flew by and I was amazed at all that we covered in such a short time. I was ready to hit the ground running and find my first job in tech!

I soon realized that this was as much work as the bootcamp itself, so I turned it into a job. I would aim to apply to at least two or three jobs a day. If I found a position that interested me, I would research the company, check out their LinkedIn and see if there were any close connections I could reach out to. When I would finally apply, I had a custom cover letter, a polished resume and had ideally reached out to connect with people at the company. After I finished my daily applications, I would dive back into coding. I wanted to stay sharp and continue to learn after the bootcamp. I created little side projects, including an app that gives you a Haiku every time you click a button and another that tells you the next five possible times the International Space Station will be over your location. The point was that I was staying focused on the skills I needed to break into this field.

At times, keeping motivation up was very difficult. Days when I was struggling, I found that changing my routine really helped. Start with coding first and try to do applications after. Connect with fellow alumni from the bootcamp to vent or talk about how things had been going. Take a walk, go for a bike ride. If I couldn’t muster any coding or put out a single application, I would take a break or go for a walk or a bike ride to clear my head. It is important to cut yourself some slack sometimes.

Five months after I finished bootcamp and over 300 job applications later, I got an offer for a position as a Junior Software developer. I was beyond excited! Not only that, the position was in the renewable energy field which aligned with my values. It presented an amazing opportunity to grow and learn as a developer, and I could feel positive about making an impact in the community by contributing to renewable energy.

I took the next couple of weeks before I started my new job to relax and reflect on the past year. I had been laid off from my previous job, decided to take an intensive course in a new field and applied for hundreds of jobs. The pandemic was still going strong but I managed to adapt and shift my career and find work in a remote environment. It was a wild ride, to say the least!

One year later and I am still learning, still growing and loving every minute of it. I couldn’t be happier in my position and I am lucky to have such great colleagues. If you are considering making a shift in your career, don’t ever feel like it is too late to take on a new challenge. The results could be life-changing.

Related posts:

Learn in depth what Functional Tests are and meet the AAA(A) method and the Trinity of Tests that increase their maintainability.

Digital identity is a concept that is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly aligned with allied areas, such as security, privacy, and management of identity-related data. Within the…

Kedua teriakan nyaring itu menggema di dalam rumah besar milik keluarga Halden. Para pelakunya tentu saja adalah Felix dan Hansa. Sedangkan Lino, pemuda itu hanya menggelengkan kepalanya setelah…