Hello to anyone reading this. Last year, I successfully changed careers, from teaching to being a junior front-end developer, in what I think is a relatively short time (6-7 months).
When I decided to change career path, I did quite a lot of research, wanting to know how I could make it happen. Now that I’ve found myself working full-time as a dev, I would like to share my experiences in the hope that others may benefit.
Reason for choosing coding
Last year I was a teacher and doing well in the profession. However, I didn’t want to do it forever and found myself getting frustrated with the working hours. I had always been intrigued by coding and after discovering FreeCodeCamp, started to teach myself some basic HTML and CSS. After a few weeks I realised I was hooked and my mind made up. Despite having close to zero experience and no knowledge on the subject I was going to leave teaching to become a front-end developer!
When I broke the news, my family were concerned and my friends bemused. There was a sense that I was throwing away my livelihood and that after a few months of being unemployed, I would come crawling back.
Obviously, I wanted to prove them all wrong but I needed to have a plan so that I didn’t sound clueless whenever I was asked to why I’d left a decent career.
I needed to strategise.
I dabbled with taking a bootcamp and looked at some Udemy courses, but instead focused almost entirely on the FreeCodeCamp website. The reason I stuck with FreeCodeCamp is because I recognised early on that it has a thorough curriculum which underpins so many principles of Front-end development. If you can achieve all the end-of-unit challenges, independently, then you are in a great place to progress onto documentation, Udemy courses or YouTube videos to expand your knowledge.
The initial stages involved a lot of making contingency plans, as I didn’t want to get in to financial hardship, but I never let those doubts cloud my self-belief and commitment.
This is what my process looked a bit like:
• Learn HTML, CSS and keep practicing them as often as possible. No copying and pasting!
• Use the FreeCodeCamp curriculum to practice and learn important concepts of JavaScript.
• Practice, practice, practice… (repeat infinitum)
• Use YouTube/Udemy to add extra context to any areas you are unsure about.
• Stay disciplined and focused on your goals.
• Once you have a broad understanding of HTML, CSS, JS focus on learning how to use text editors and learn to traverse the DOM (if you want to be a Front-end developer). Using Event listeners with JavaScript, CSS and HTML is amazing because you can actually use what you’ve learned and see the results in real time.
• Create your own portfolio website. Upload your projects and sell yourself on it. Make it look professional because it will be HR who will see your website first. They probably won’t know what a div is but they’ll recognise a quality User Interface.
• Get some evidence of freelancing – even if it’s charging your mum five pounds for a website about cats.
• Create a professional looking CV no matter how limited your experience – you need to sell your qualities/experience
• Send out loads, and loads, and loads… (repeat infinitum) of applications and get in touch with recruiters.
• Don’t stop practicing HTML and CSS, even if JS is your passion. You may not forget, but it surprising how quickly you become rusty
• Be prepared for rejection. That’s just part of life unless you’re some sort of mystical unicorn.
• Celebrate your successes no matter how small they are.
Throughout this journey, I would also recommend having a good philosophy that will support your self-belief/determination.
There have been plenty of times while teaching myself code that I have doubted myself or questioned whether I am really able to do it. Fortunately, I have come from a teaching background and have learned from some amazing students. They all have the same trait in common – they are all doggedly determined to learn!
I figured that if a six year old child can learn countless computations of graphemes and read fluently, I think I can work out how a for loop works. I figured it may take longer for me than other people, but didn’t let that discourage me. I always believed that with enough time, I would learn.
Of course, I also know my limits. I am by no means bad at maths, but put me in a job interview against people who have degrees in computer science, and I figure I’ll be in a dire situation. That was my reasoning, rightly or wrongly, for not choosing to go down the back-end dev path just yet.
Another thing I would suggest is not getting paranoid by googling whatever you are learning or want to learn. Literally every Google search throws back an article about how the technology you are learning is dying and will be extinct in a few years time. Become a good programmer and people will want to hire you for your problem solving ability and work ethic. Also, don’t underestimate being a good team player and communicator. If I hadn’t have promoted those traits, I wouldn’t have gotten a job.
After about 6 months of following my plan I felt confident enough to send out some applications and get in touch with recruiters. Suddenly, I had two job interviews within a month, happening in the same week. Then, to my complete surprise, one of them offered me a job as a junior dev.
The work and commitment had paid off - result! Time to brag about it to my family and friends!
I hope there may be some nuggets of usefulness in this. Without a doubt, I was in a good position to change careers. I’d made sure I had plenty of savings so I wouldn’t live like a pauper. I was able to study for several months without working. I don’t have children but do have an understanding partner who didn’t resent me for spending several hours a day glaring at my laptop. After a few months, I could do temp work to keep me afloat and I also live in a city with plenty of opportunities.
I do believe I have been incredibly fortunate, but I have also had to work hard to earn that luck to an extent. Without a lot of hard work, there won’t be much success.
FreeCodeCamp is an amazing resource and it did help me to find a career. I wish success to anyone who uses it to find a new career themselves.