"2020 is going to be my year!" I exclaimed, as I submitted my application to a coding bootcamp.
It was December 2019. After much thought and internal debate, it was finally time to pursue a career change. Hell, at 31 years old, I felt like it was now or never! Since graduating from university in 2011 with a 2:1 in Illustration and Animation, my life had been a whirlwind of passion projects in my spare time, whilst working full-time in call centres to pay the bills. I got trapped in the vortex of my customer service job, with the hobbies I did in my spare time being the main thing that kept my creative heart ticking. For a while, I thought I could perhaps make a living as a freelance artist. As a digital illustrator, I enjoyed drawing characters and designing merchandise. I attended many comic cons and events around the UK with my little artist booth. It certainly was a fun time in my life and I made many good friends and acquaintances in that circuit. However, after a time, I just wasn't feeling the same passion for it as I once did. It was time for a new challenge.
I spent a lot time thinking about what kind of career would make me happy. I love to learn, I love to create, but I also wanted stability. I remembered that during my previous creative exploits, I always enjoyed customising layouts for my websites and online shops. I thought about even further back when I would spend hours designing Myspace layouts (what a time to be alive!). "That's it!" I thought. Coding seemed to allow me to expand on my creativity in a way that I never thought was possible. This was what I had been looking for.
So back to 2019. I'd submitted my application for bootcamp, which would be approximately 12-15 weeks of full-time on-campus learning; essentially everything you need to get a job as junior developer afterwards. Shortly following my application I was sent some homework to do. I had to learn the basics of JavaScript in preparation for an assessment to see if I would be a suitable candidate for the course. I gave myself around a month to learn as much as I could before booking my assessment.
image by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
I PASSED THE ASSESSMENT! 😃
Phew! That was nerve-wracking, but it meant that sh*t was getting real now!
The start date for my cohort was 23rd March and I had coursework to complete before then. I was still working full-time, so this kept me very busy!
The end of February came around. I'd been off sick for around a week with really terrible flu (looking back now it was probably Coronovirus, but back then we were advised that if we hadn't been travelling then it probably wasn't). Anyway, I handed my notice in, ready to quit my job in March and study full time. Never in my life had I quit a job before without having a new job to go to, so it was quite terrifying, but also quite liberating. My leaving date rolled around, I said my goodbyes and I prepared myself to begin bootcamp.
*WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC ENSUES* 😐
Just as I'd finally decided to sort my life out, the world shuts down. COVID-19 spread rapidly across the world, forcing most workplaces and businesses to close, as social distancing and work-from-home measures were advised. This of course also affected my bootcamp, so my start date has been pushed back until...well, we don't know yet.
image by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash
Trying to think positively though, I literally have all the time in the world to learn right now. I finished my coursework and I'm now working through as many resources as possible (I'll write a future post about the different learning resources that I am using) to give me a head start when we do have the go-ahead to attend bootcamp. I've already learned the fundamentals of HTML, CSS and JavaScript and had a go at building some mini projects.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! Going forwards I'll be blogging about my progress, as well as sharing knowledge on some code-related topics. Until then, stay safe, or for anyone else in exactly the same position as me...
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