After hundreds of hours, countless labs, and 5 big portfolio projects, I am finally done with the Flatiron School's self-paced software engineering program, and can call myself a bootcamp graduate.
My journey throughout this course was full of some ups, and lots of downs, but I pushed through the labs and readings to get where I am now. Overall, I think this 'career change' was 100% worth it, and I would definitely recommend to anyone that is interested or on the fence.
When I started the program, I had zero knowledge of coding/programming, but I have always been very tech savvy, so I was confident I could learn. Never could I have imagined that I would be capable of developing entire web applications from scratch in such a short time, yet here I am.
My original life plan was to become a doctor, but after shadowing a doctor and seeing how the lifestyle is, as well as hearing from countless family friends about what they deal with on a daily basis, I decided to switch to dentistry. I figured that as a dentist, I would basically be working a typical 8 hour job, setting my own hours with my own practice, making good money, and having a sustainable work/life balance.
However, after weighing my options on going to dental school for 4 years and going another $250k+ into student debt, or enrolling in the Flatiron School for a fraction of that, I decided to take the leap and switch to software engineering. I am so glad that a family friend told me about Flatiron and that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and went for a career in software, especially since my friends in medical/dental school are constantly complaining to me about how miserable they are! A huge motivating factor for my career change was that I want to start making money as soon as possible so that my parents can retire sooner and enjoy life, since they risked everything by coming to the US with nothing, and built such a blessed and privileged life for me and my sister. The Flatiron School has streamlined the path to my goals, and I could not be more grateful for that.
I have a bunch of regrets in my life on career decisions I made during high school and college, but the Flatiron School is one the few decisions that I am genuinely happy about and it has definitely restored my hope for the future and what my software career will bring me. If anyone reading this is considering a career change into software, I highly recommend you do it ASAP, especially if you choose the Flatiron School!
Top comments (1)
Congratulations 👏