From Fashion Model to a senior tech support job in 4 months - everything IS possible

Hi Duraldi!

I think that for everyone there’s a different way to learn and a different pace to do it on. But what I think that’s important is that you should have a positive mindset. If you think that it is too difficult, it probably will be because you don’t see the challenge as a possibility to improve but as a possibility to fail. If you see ever little think that you learn as a small step towards your goal and don’t ask to much from yourself, you should be more positive while doing the challenges. Even if you feel like it takes too much time to solve them, lets say you solve one javascript challenge in a week, it doesn’t mean you’re too slow. It means you’re making improvements and you learnt something after that week. If you keep on doing it, trying to figure out ways that work best for you (which was for me looking up solutions on youtube and then do it myself) you will feel super proud one day! You will see that you can do it and that you grow in your learning process.

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Hi Atoder!

There are so many videos out there about the JavaScript challenge! Actually I didn’t feel like there was something missing but if I would have to say something, I would say a more step-by-step tutorial where they make you do it yourself, but more segmented. In educational science we call this scaffolding.

(“In education, scaffolding refers to a variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process.”)

If there would be lecturers out there that are willing to do this in a tutorial for every javascript challenge, I think that would be really helpful.

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Wow! Congratulations!

You can start with Codecademy first, there is everything explained in simple way but very slowly. After you learn some basics on Codecademy you can get back here

Curiously enough, I’m following a very similar path (except for the modeling part, I definitely can’t afford that! :slight_smile: ). I’m trying to change my carreer path, and coding was always an interest of mine, although I’m not very good in math too. I started a while ago with Udacity, then moved to freeCodeCamp and finally I bought that same Web Developer Bootcamp on Udemy (great course, by the way). I even lost my confidence with the JavaScript exercise session, but thanks to Cole (you know him :wink: ) I’m enjoying coding again.

All of this started one month ago, so I’m a couple of steps away from beginning my first projects, even if I submitted my portfolio on freeCodeCamp already.

Considering these facts, you can trust me when I say that your story inspired me a great deal. More than you can think.

Keep us posted, if you can (and want). I wish you all the best for the future!

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Many congratulations on your success! I’m Irish myself (living in America), so this gives me hope of being able to relocate home someday. Good luck with the damp Irish winter, but enjoy the Christmas! The Irish Christmas is a lot of fun, and if your company is like most companies in Ireland/Europe, you’ll probably get ample time to visit your family either way.

Like others who have replied, my path is similar to yours. However, mine is even more similar than most in that I too have a Masters in Education (I agree with your scaffolding comment BTW, and I think Quincy and others are working hard to ensure that FCC Beta is scaffolded better than the current version).

Anyway, I was wondering how much of a part your education background played in helping you get this current position if any. Do you plan to use your coding skills in the field of education at some point? Also, what tips do you have regarding tweaking your LinkedIn profile to attract the interest that you did? I’ve been wondering about that for a long time.

Last question, I promise - did you include projects that you did from Colt’s course on GitHub, or was it all unique personal projects? I’ve always been on the fence as to whether I should include stuff I’ve done from following courses like that, which is a great course BTW.

Anyway, congratulations again! I’m sure you’re overwhelmed with moving, training, etc., so thanks for taking the time to fill us in on your story.

Hello,
can you give me more information on the job? type of contract, duration, fulltime-parttime. How big is the company? Is the company an agency that does body rental or is it the final company in which you will work. Do you think the salary is adequate for living?

Best luck
m

Thankyou Johnny!

We’ve got a similar background then! I do actually think that all my experiences helped me BUT the educational science. I don’t really see any relevance of this master course in my current job…
My bachelor, on the other hand, shows that I have a little experience with computerscience (Information- and Communication science, where the computer part is more in the name than in the practice).

But my educational background was definitely a part of my motivation. I always wanted to change real world problems, and I feel that we can change a lot in schools. I for example would love to build apps for schools to innovate them. I am still having that in the back of my mind, to do this in the future.

On LinkedIn I put that I was very interested in developing websites and made it visible for recruiters (there’s an option in Linkedin: make my profile visible for recruiters). You can put it in your title too and add some recruiters to your network. From then, I got some messages from recruiters that asked me about my specific interests and experience. The recruiter that linked me to my currentjob found my resume on another webpage, which is called toplanguagejobs.

I built the yelpcamp with the developer course and changed it into a travelblogapp. I put this app online on my Github, together with my own website (which is similar to a portfolio page) and the javaScript pages.

It is quit overwhelming but I luckily have some time to respond to all your questions.

I’m pretty sure that there are opportunities here in Ireland, with so many big IT companies here! Good luck!!

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Hi shadow-lighter,

im sorry but I cant really answer all your questions in depth since I feel like this is very confidential information and my story already gives away a lot of personal information.
But I work fulltime at the moment at a big company. I dont want to share much more about it.

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Congratulations! inspirational story
if you have time, a good way to learn is also to develop a simple project that you like, practice with codeschool or codecademy and code every day.
good luck!!

ok no worries. well the company is on your Linkedin profile anyway…

I wish you the best of luck. Take care and I hope your employer treats you well.

Thank you Soooo Much for sharing your amazing story. You won’t believe how much i am happy after reading your experience. i feel like a i still have chance to find a Job after i drooped from school to learn Programming. i Just bought the “the web developer boot-camp” you mentioned and i m willing to learn hard. Thank you so much again and i feel like if everything good happens to me in the future it’s because of you

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This is so beautiful. Thank you so much! <3

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so can anybody answer the questions she was asked in the interview? what would you say?

Wow amazing! It’s really hard to believe that you’ve made it, I am on my way too right now and this is very inspiring

Thank you for sharing your inspiring story!

Have you started working by now? If so- how is it going? And how was it to move so suddenly to Ireland?

Hello Everyone! Thanks so much for all your positive comments and support!

I promised to give an update about the Job now that I started working, so here it comes.

First of all, I am extremely happy! The job is great for several reasons.

When I typed my story, I was in the airplane without knowing anything about how it was going to be. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t have a house, and I wasn’t sure how I would find working fulltime in an office.
After one week, I moved into my own small flat, met a couple of people and got to know my new environment. Even tho the first week was very hectic, I was able to create some stability and was getting more comfortable and ready to focus on the actual work in the second week.

During the training, I learned so many new things. I am surrounded by a lot of great programmers. The work that I am doing is not necessarily a programmer job (I am giving technical support to Dutch companies to implement analyzing tools on their websites, so it is adding scripts/functions/datalayers to custom websites and CMS-built websites), but the more knowledge we have about HTML,CSS,JavaScript, Jquery and Datalayers and all the different CMSes, the easier the task and the better our results. That’s the reason why a lot of good programmers are working here. Some of them have their own freelancer jobs as well.
We do our job and during the free time we work on our own websites/apps/etc. I have access to great tools, such as additional courses, example websites of every CMS, specialists that I can ask questions, and a stable environment (something that I really missed during my time as a model).

I was also very happy when I received an invite for a Tech event for people that work in Tech in Dublin. I went there by myself and got to meet some very experienced programmers, but also people who started their journey on Freecodecamp and are now employed as programmers as well.

So, the thing that I love the most about it is the fact that it doesn’t interfere with my learning process but it enhances it.

Where there are pro’s, there are always cons as well , and I don’t want to come across overpositive (even tho I am, haha), so I will also state some of the cons of the job:

  • I am not used to sit down all day, while this job makes me sit 40 hours a week. After, I don’t want to do more on my computer because I have seen to much of the computer screen already.
    Therefore, When Im busy at work I don’t get to do my freecodecamp/udemy challenges. I’d rather go for a run/walk/gymsession.

  • Since a lot of my colleagues are so experienced, I feel like I lack behind on programming knowledge and skills.
    I also sometimes have to talk with webmasters and advise them. It makes me feel like I don’t know nearly enough to consider myself as a programmer.
    (But at the tech event, they told me that almost all programmers have this constant thought, since technologies are evolving so quickly and there are so many different things that you can learn. Therefore, Im trying to keep myself from putting too much pressure on myself).

But that’s basically all I can think of…

Overall Im super happy about how everything is going so far, and I feel like it can only go up from here since Im still learning new things everyday and now that Im used to my new environment, I can start enjoying it even more.

I think it is very important to be surrounded by people who are in the same position as you are or have been there before. So visit some tech events, start to talk with people and share your story. One thing that a lot of programmers have in common is that they are so much willing to help!

Good luck and Merry Christmas everyone!

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Thank you! It was very informative and honest. Regarding the imposter syndrome. I think it is natural. After 10 years doing my job I now realize more than ever how ignorant I am. After a degree in engineering I realized that I also knew nothing about the work environment. Considering you did a switch in 4 months, I think it is fair and honest not to consider yourself as a programmer. Keep working! Merry Christmas and Happy NY.

Awesome testimony. Glad you broke into the industry so quickly. I will share this with my girlfriend (who happens to be a former model in the Philippines) because she is also interested in Web Development & Computer Programming.