What I did before becoming a Software Engineer
Before I decided a career change was in order, I dabbled in a lot of things.
After school I joined a PR agency in Berlin, raising funds for non-profit organizations like Amnesty International, the WWF and the SOS Kinderdörfer. After a few successful years, I turned into a professional online poker player and even owned my own small startup for over a year before closing shop.
I did not have any experience when it comes to engineering, although I'm pretty good with computers in general.
Since being a poker professional really can't be associated with stable income and the startup - while being a great learning experience - ultimately failed and we were planning to start a family, I needed to look for something more permanent and stable.
My Next Steps
During this time, I discovered that there were quite a few coding bootcamps that had started growing here in Germany.
Some of them taught web development, some taught Java, all of them cost quite a bit of money and were 9 weeks long.
On first glance this looked like a very good fit for me, it would give me a shortcut into a new industry, allow me to work with a computer and probably get me the job I was looking for.
They all worked with technology that I didn't quite like (funny how that works, I had no idea about things back then but already had an opinion 🤷🏼)
The School I Ended Up With
Still, I registered with one of the bootcamps here in Berlin and was about to start when I learned about Lambda School.
Their program came with a lot of promises that I found interesting.
It focused a lot more on computer science, taught JavaScript, Python and C and best of all there were no upfront costs.
It sounded a bit too good to be true to me to be honest.
As it turned out they weren't even taking international students, so I prepared for the start of my bootcamp in Berlin.
However, all of that changed quickly when Karen Zachary (who is fantastic and in charge of admissions over @LambdaSchool) reached out to me and told me that I was one out of 5 international students selected to join as part of a pilot project.
How School Was Like
During the following 7 months I learned a lot
We started with simple HTTP & CSS projects to get to know web development, but quickly entered the world of JavaScript, then React and then Express to become Full Stack Developers.
A day consists of two hours of instructor Q&A, a project to build, stand ups, pair programming with a sprint challenge every Friday to prove you understand and are able to use what you've learned.
Now, as you may have guessed this wasn't easy.
Sitting down every night from 5pm - 2am (the downside to join a school that is not yet in Europe) and learning foreign concepts, working with them and maintaining sanity at the same time was one of the toughest challenges I faced in my life.
But it was also one of the best. Not only did I learn a whole lot and am a Software Engineer now, but I also made a bunch of friends whom I share this amazing experience with.
How About You?
If you are looking for a way in and are living in the EU or the US I can wholeheartedly recommend Lambda School. There is no upfront cost - they get paid once you've landed your first job and exceed the salary cap - and they have an amazing team of instructors and project managers that help every student become the best engineer they can be.
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