TLDR;
This is my rambling post about choosing to chase a career in tech coming from a non technical background.
I’ve had lots of jobs which weren’t technical but I love problem solving and helping people. I found the School of Code bootcamp and it changed my life.
I chose to get into coding because it is incredibly rewarding, creative, and can be applied to whatever you can imagine so seems like a good choice to spend most of your time on.
This year of 2020 has been memorable for all, for obvious reasons, but it holds a particular significance for me personally.
Life will forevermore be demarcated to me as B.C (Before Code) and A.D (Actually Developing!). At the start of the year I quit my job in healthcare and joined a 16 week bootcamp to learn web development.
I’m 29, I was raised in the UK, I have a 5 year old daughter and at the start of this year I had no career. In primary school I wanted to be a Power Ranger (still waiting on Zordon to call 📞), in secondary school I wanted to be a screenwriter (still waiting on Nolan to call 📞), in sixth-form I just wanted to leave home (still avoiding Student Loans Company’s call ☎️).
I never had a clear plan about what I wanted to do in life, I got good grades, so I just let the school system funnel me into university without any real thought. Now I hold a degree in Film Studies (sorry Mum, did get a 1st though 👌) which has been used less than often.
I lived in South Korea for a while after uni which was incredible. I wanted to explore other cultures, and learn more about myself, and the wide world around me. You might say I was… Seoul searching. But I’d rather you didn’t 🤦.
I was watching people around me get stuck into long term careers paths, some realising ambitions they’d held since being small. All I had was the vague notion that I wanted to contribute to something bigger than myself, something which could help people, and the fact that I love solving problems.
Healthcare seemed like a great place to realise this. Armed to the gills with a Film degree and the mantra “I love helping people and solving problems” I was prepared to make my mark.
I returned to the UK and found myself working as a healthcare assistant in the NHS, helpfully solving problems left right and center. I worked mostly between surgical theatres and oncology.
The work was brutal, hours were long, and pay non-existent. It’s incredible and important work, but for everyday that I gave my best efforts I still never felt like I was making the greatest contribution that I could.
Enter School of Code.
I’d recently moved to a new town, when I was told about this FREE bootcamp that taught web development, to people from non-coding background and it was FREE. 🤯
I’d been curious about programming before, I’d looked at html courses on codecademy. But it seemed the real coding was the arcane reserve of old beardy white men and eccentric silicon valley billionaires. A little bit of research into what School of Code were doing and the success of the previous two bootcamps were enough to convince me to apply.
I had no real belief that I’d make it through. Each stage of the application was interesting and fun, and convinced me more and more that this was something I could do, something I wanted to do.
More and more I thought about what technology was doing for the world, the impact that could be made, and how enormously exciting it would be to be a part of that.
I was lucky enough to make it onto the third cohort and left work ready to commit to 16 weeks of full-time study. The pace of the course was quick but never overwhelming and suddenly the doors to this kingdom were flung open. The other side is a world where creativity is encouraged, collaboration essential, and growth is exponential.
I and 20 others started a journey where everyday there is something to learn for everyone, from the most novice to the most senior. And anyone willing to learn can contribute to the community, all people need is a chance and that is exactly what the School of Code provides. They are not only a bridge into the world of tech, organising employment for all it’s students, but they are also breaking dogma, and normalising the idea that anyone can learn the skills to make them a productive asset to a tech company.
I got a job soon after the bootcamp ended and have already been writing code that has gone to production. This is a huge achievement personally but one that can be replicated for anyone with the right support.
I’ve rambled long enough but my point in all this is that having had little direction before I’ve found myself in this incredible place, and I hope to convince a few more people that this is a path worth taking and worth empowering.
