Cohort 4 after Demo Day
The Call to Adventure
I am coming from an automotive engineering background and for the last 7 years I worked as a CAD Design Engineer. In 2017, I challenged myself and I moved to the UK to work for one of the most iconic brands in the automotive industry.
But even after achieving this, I felt that automotive engineering wasn’t my call anymore, so I started to think and research the idea of changing my career into tech. I never thought that could be possible without a computer science degree, but School of Code has demonstrated the opposite through their massive success in placing people with no previous coding experience into tech roles.
In June 2020, because of COVID-19 pandemics, my journey with the company I was working for came to an end. This was the moment when the School of Code opportunity came into my attention, and I suddenly knew that it was time to take action and start something new...
Lessons Learned on My Transformation Journey
The most important lesson that I’ve learnt along the School of Code journey, and not only, was to never underestimate myself and believe more in my own ability and strength. Reflect on my past mistakes and failures and learn from them . It is never too late to learn new things in life, you just need a bit of courage, will and determination. And if for some reason you are overwhelmed or you feel that you can’t do it anymore just talk yourself up and erase any self-doubt you have in your mind, because I can’t explain in words how pleased and proud you’ll be when you’ll see yourself graduating. This amazing team is there for you to support and help you, and the only focus for them is for you to succeed.
If I could go back in time, there are a few things that I would change and one of them would be to take the advice of not coding after 9 pm. Even if you feel that you are falling behind, allow yourself to take breaks and don’t be too harsh with yourself. Have patience because everything will make sense in the end. Another thing that I regret not doing, was to document my journey. Often we get caught up looking at where we should be and where others are in comparison with us, that we forget to appreciate where we’ve been and where we’ve come from. This bootcamp has been the most intensive learning course I have ever been part of, and by keeping a diary would have been the perfect reminder of how far I’ve come in only 16 weeks.
Ready for the New Normality
Being connected to a Zoom meeting from 9-5pm can be exhausting, but what was there left to do when the pandemic time was upon us and keeping each other safe it was more important than ever… But again, like everything else, the School of Code team was taking care of everything and besides teaching us tech skills they were making sure that we are taking regular breaks, stretching and having some fun every day. And yes, maybe it is harder over Zoom to build connections or get to know the person who you work with better, but this experience has taught us to adapt and be prepared for what is going to be from now on our normality.
Tech Community is awesome
During the course I discovered that the Tech Community is incredibly supportive, and I had the chance to meet exceptional people from industry.
Starting from week 3 of the Bootcamp, I was mentored by the amazing Jump24 Team who was helping me not only with the code issues but also to stay positive and realise how much I progressed in a short period of time when the imposter syndrome came in.
Jump24 Team
Excited About the Future
We live in a digital era that is rapidly changing and progressing and the School of Code team and its community has given me the chance not only to be part of it but also to contribute to change. The continuous learning represents the future of work. It is all about the constant expansion of skill-sets through learning and increasing knowledge, and the thought of working in a continuous learning environment is what excites me the most for what will come next..
This is something that I would never have hoped to achieve if it weren't for the amazing School of Code community.
I will forever be grateful to all the people who have made it possible.. Thank you Chris & the entire School of Code Team, Joe Trodden, all the bootcampers, all my mentors from Jump24, the Spinks Team, all the guest speakers and the whole Birmingham Tech Community who supported and believed in the School of Code bootcampers.👏👏👏
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