After serving almost ten years in the Army, I found myself looking at a fork in the road...so to speak. One road lead to a continuation of being involved with music for a living by teaching and playing gigs, and the other was something completely different, and I did not know what that different thing was. After a few weeks of looking at potential career choices, I came to the conclusion that web development sounded promising. All the statistics seemed to be in line with what I needed: job growth, workers in high demand, and a decent salary.
At first, I thought the best move was to go back to a four year institution to earn a computer science degree. However, already having a masters degree in music, I decided that another four year commitment at a university was a bit of a stretch and I was anxious to rejoin the work force. I met some folks in the field already and they all suggested a coding bootcamp, or to start teaching myself how to code with resources like freeCodeCamp. Wanting to get my feet wet instead of jumping straight in, I decided to attend a local community college. In two years, I earned an Associates Degree in Applied Science with a concentration in Web Development. I took classes in computer architecture, security, networking, C# programming language, and even some core academics that I haven't had before like accounting and economics. I busted my butt to maintain a 4.0 GPA, all while working to help provide for my family.
Shortly after finishing school, I started applying for jobs and received my first interview with a company out of Texas. There was a screening process and I remember thinking "I don't know what these questions mean, but I'm figuring out the answers just by pasting the code in a google search." Well, the interview was a bit tough. I was able answer most questions regarding HTML and CSS just fine, but when it came to JavaScript, I quickly realized I didn't know $*!%. That's when I signed up for a year long endeavor with a coding bootcamp out of NYC called Codeimmersives..
My year long commitment with Codeimmersives was a positive experience overall. I learned bash commands, git and GitHub, vs code(switching from adobe dreamweaver), more in-depth coverage of JavaScript, the MERN stack, and a foundational knowledge of AWS and how to deploy projects with an AWS account. My GitHub account surpassed 100 repositories over the year and I now have a portfolio deployed, showcasing most of the projects I worked on over this past year.
My journey as a developer has only began and I am determined to break into this industry and continue to grow. I offer full transparency and commitment to see a task through till completion. Knowledge is something that should be shared, so I have every intention on helping others along the way. As I learn more of what it's like to be a developer, I realize it gives me purpose, validation, and direction. I feel overjoyed when I complete things, especially if they are bugs or issues that are difficult to figure out. The community in this field have been so generous and kind and that makes waking up every day worth it even more. If you made it to the end of this introduction, please comment and share. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this. Happy coding!
"There is no elevator to success, You have to take the stairs. " - Zig Ziglar