From Geographic Information Systems to Frontend Developer

I had quit my job doing Geographic Information Systems for County government. My plan was to up my skills and get a better job, although it took me a few months to decide to do software dev, specifically.

I thought I had a knack for learning tech things, and I was tired of having jobs that didn’t utilize my abilities. I looked into Data Science and Software Dev… I thought I wanted to be a data scientist, but while filling out applications for bootcamps and doing pre-work for bootcamps, I came to realize that I like software dev way more than data science.

It was slightly cheaper than some of the others I was considering (Flatiron and General Assembly). But I liked Coding Temple because they offered “live” (on the internet) classes, rather than self-paced pre-recorded content (which I didn’t want)

The concept of Object Oriented Development kinda blow my mind and made me cry out of frustration. The final project was also difficult, but in a good way. It was great to know I could talk to my fellow students, as well as Nicole and Marleen if I was feeling overwhelmed.

Model View Component based web design, learning frameworks and how everything works together. Although I wish we had learned Vue.js instead of React.

ability to ask questions in class

I had never done a job search in tech, and I was quite nervous about it. CT did a great job preparing me for technical interviews. The daily coding challenges at the beginning of class were great practice. As was Code Wars. In terms of being prepared for the job search, interviews, negotiation and stuff, Marleen was a great help to me as she knew the industry inside and out.

I was hired as a full stack developer 3 months after I finished CT, and have been in that position for about 1.5 years now. I like my job, but I am thinking of making a jump to a new company that more aligns with my interests in the near future. I may also choose to focus on backend dev rather than frontend dev (which is what my current job focuses on).

It pretty much met my expectations.

I think it helps to have a little bit of programming experience. I had taken a couple intro Python courses on Coursera. So I wasn’t starting at ground zero. I’d also recommend that the prospective student do whatever they can to make as much time in their day for the bootcamp.