From Finance to Programming and why I ended up in a programming boot camp
I wish I could start this article by telling you how I made the transition from a career in finance and sales to doing software development. But right now I’m still learning. And rather than telling you how overwhelmed, frustrated and far behind I feel sometimes, I would like to share my thoughts on how I decided to change careers and what conclusions I came to at the beginning of this journey.
With a decent amount of work experience and 7 years of study in university behind me, making a decision to change careers and start from scratch was no cakewalk. First it felt stupid to walk away from a profession I have build my life and identity on, it was scary to start from the beginning, this can be a terrifying position to be in. And I knew it would require an enormous amount of investment in terms of time, money and energy in learning a new skill and prove myself in a new role. But I was also very excited about the idea of joining developers´ community and being able to do all this programming magic myself so I decided to take the leap.
You may think that I was tired of my job and I felt unhappy. But no, I enjoyed my job and I’m still very interested in the financial field I’ve been working in all these years.
You may think that programming was my hobby or something that fascinated me as a child. But no, I’ve always considered myself as one of those non-technical people who doesn’t even realize how little they know about software. And from time to time when I had to accidentally hit F12 on the keyboard, I was frightened by what appeared on the screen. I have also heard people say that to become a professional developer you have to have talent and you have to start doing it as a child, just like with music or sports. In my mind, a software developer was someone born with a keyboard and I am not even interested in video games. Moreover, I am in my 30s… I could mention dozens more reasons why I thought programming was not for me, but believe me, it’s all a misconception.
I have had to work with many programmers throughout my career, and all I could do with this misconception in my head is admire all the magic they do with the code. And you can’t even imagine how powerful I felt when I wrote my first “Hello, World!” program. It is a very simple computer program that displays the message “Hello, World!”. I felt as if I had been sent from another planet and I had a special power to make computers to do what I wanted. I think once you learn how to do that it becomes quite an addictive thing. It happened in May 2020 and in September 2020 I sent an application to join a 24-week programming boot camp of Technigo in Sweden.
In fact, I had already started to prepare documents to apply for Computer Science degree studies in university. However, I wasn’t entirely sure if I was ready for another 3 years of study in university, so I started to research alternatives and found out about boot camps.
Of course, I had my doubts about the boot camp concept, so I talked to a number of people, including programmers, employers, tech recruiters, and boot camp graduates, what they think of boot camps, and here are the main conclusions I came to:
1. The most obvious advantage of a boot camp is that graduates have hands on skills when they leave. You expect someone with a Computer Science degree to be able to code, but that might not always be true as the majority of the course is theory. Don’t get me wrong, theory is very important, but what these people acknowledged is that with boot camp you will get the basics to be ready for work and then you will learn more on the job.
2. In companies there is a wide range of work for developers and most of them do not require you to have a masters degree (from a complexity view). But of course there are a number of companies that still want the classic engineering path.
3. Not all boot camps are created equal. Do your research! I contacted many Technigo graduates on LinkedIn and asked questions about the education they received and how it helped them to get a job in the industry. And I didn’t get any feedback that would make me doubt the Technigo boot camp.
4. Do your homework and spend hours learning to code before you join. The reason: 1) getting to a level of skill where you are hireable is a lot of work, and you need to know if you have the interest. Spend time coding and experimenting until you understand whether you like it or not. 2) it is a very intense period of learning. And showing up with a mindset that they are going to teach you everything you need to know. It would be like signing up for a marathon and not doing anything to get in shape before the event.
The decision to change careers and join Technigo boot camp was one of the most challenging life-decisions I’ve ever had to make. But since I joined (I am half way through now), there has not been a single day when I have doubted or regretted my decision. And no matter how difficult it may be sometimes, I always keep in mind my goal — a satisfying and rewarding career and the opportunity to make the world better through technology.
With that said, for those who want to take on a great challenge that could alter the direction of your life and are willing to put in the work — then by all means go for it.
Thank you for reading!
Irina
