Hi, my name is Evgeny and here is my story.
My past
When I was a kid, I used to always like to spend my time with computers and do all the technical stuff, but my parents decided that a Business degree would be better for me. And so not knowing what I really liked, I applied to some business school in the USA (I am originally from Russia).Studying abroad was quite an experience in itself and deserve another topic, but unfortunately (or fortunately) with time I started to understand that business, and more specifically Marketing, is not what I wanted to do. But I couldn’t change anything, I had to finish the super expensive degree to not disappoint my parents and to not appear as a failure. I guess I was afraid of that.
First line of code
While studying business, I continued to mess around with computers and even started to learn Java on YouTube, which was quite hard for me and I burned out within the first week.At that time I really wanted to code but coding seemed so difficult that I started to think that it is not for me, that I am not smart enough or I don’t have what it takes. I jumped from language to language to find the one that I would be able to learn. At that time I didn’t understand that the problem wasn’t the language but the way I was learning. So… I burned out again and this time it was for almost a year, I proceeded with my business studies and stopped learning any programming.
Introduction to FreeCodeCamp
In 2015 right before my graduation, I stumbled upon FreeCodeCamp. And I decided that this time I will take it seriously and surely finish the whole course before moving on to something else (Spoiler alert. I didn't). I started coding daily, I even did the whole #100DaysOfCode challenge. And then I was hooked. I loved everything I do. I loved JavaScript. I was joining almost all of Quincy Larson's Twitch streams where he was building FreeCodeCamp.I moved quickly through the FreeCodeCamp curriculum. The thing that I loved the most was the feedback. I was tweeting all of my finished projects at FreeCodeCamp and receiving some feedback that made me overcome that feeling that “I am not good enough”. I don’t remember if we had a forum at the time, but Twitter was the way for me.
First "coding" job
After graduation, I found a job as a Junior Marketing Specialist in a very small company (so small that it was me and, well, the owner of the company).On my first day at work, I noticed how horrible the website of the company was. So as a Marketing specialist I suggested that we need to update it to “provide a better user experience and potentially better client retention”. Because of the small budget of the company I also suggested that I can update the website with my newly acquired skills (smart move huh?). And this is how I become “Junior Front End Developer”, well kind of, not officially.
I worked for the company for 6 months, mostly working on web site and doing some technical staff. The company wasn’t big enough to sponsor my visa so unfortunately, I had to return back to Russia. I guess this was that failure moment that I feared the most.
First coding job
When I moved back, I learned the hard way that marketing is not a very popular profession in Russia. I couldn't find ANY job with my experience. I continued to learn FreeCodeCamp and finally received my Front End Developer certificate. This was a very good achievement for me because with this certificate I could start applying to Front End positions.Ooff… I think I applied to at least 100 open positions, I was applying to every open position in the COUNTRY. I had many interviews though. it was pretty embarrassing at first because of a lack of knowledge. But with every new interview, I learned what I was lacking and improved my skills. And finally, after about 20 - 30 interviews I got an offer! YAY!
Career upswing
From there on my career started rolling and today after 5 years I have moved to the UK, working as a Senior Software Engineer in one of the top startups in Great Britain. What a journey that has been.I am really thankful to the FreeCodeCamp and personally to Quincy Larson for all the help and inspiration. I hope that this story will inspire some of you. Keep doing what you doing. Consistency is the key.
I am ready to answer any questions you have. You can comment here or DM me on Twitter @Dzheky
We can learn a lot from you.