On 31st July 2018 I made the decision to leave behind a career in law and take the plunge into my passion, software development.
After completing a Masters in Law and whilst trying to secure a job within the legal industry, I took an interim job as a recruitment consultant specialising in the technology market. It was my role to source software developers and place them in roles in London. This included all types of developers such as: JavaScript, Node.js, Python, Java and Scala.
Working as a recruiter was an eye-opening experience into the world of technology. It was only through working as a recruiter I began to realise how much technology is integrated into our daily lives. Moreover, I discovered the depth of work required to develop such technologies.
The part I most enjoyed about recruitment was meeting with developers and talking about the latest technologies and their personal projects. I have always been entrepreneurial and once I discovered the capabilities of technology, I began coming up with solutions to everyday problems. Naturally, I did not have the skills or finance to build these ideas; having worked in recruitment I know how expensive building websites and apps can be. I also thought given my age (26 at the time), it would be too late to learn how to code. I decided to put these ideas to the back of my brain and focus on my career in law instead.
Eventually, I managed to secure a paralegal position at a highly respected law firm which has been involved in some of England’s most notable cases in the last 30 years. After a few months in my new role, I noticed I was more interested in reading about the latest technology news than legal. Furthermore, business ideas kept coming to the forefront of my mind. I have always wanted to start a business and all of my ideas have technology at their core. Therefore, in order to make these ideas a reality, I believe the best approach is to immerse myself in the technology industry. Hence on 31st July 2018, I began completing the pre-requisites for the Founders and Coders course.
I have since completed TeamTreehouse and FreecodeCamp’s HTML, CSS and JavaScript courses as well as achieving over 560 points on Codewars. I have also created multiple Katas and an image carousel. Through these challenges I have discovered a passion for coding and have a talent for solving coding challenges. My Dad is a carpenter and perhaps this is where I get my passion and satisfaction for building things.
Although it is my ambition to turn one of my App/Website ideas into a viable business, I understand that I still have little experience within the technology industry. Therefore, I believe the best approach is to secure a junior developer position at a start-up. This will hopefully give me firsthand insight into the challenges of running a start-up. I hope that it will also provide me with broad software development experience. I am currently 28 years old and would like to achieve the below within the next three years:
I first heard about FAC through my role as a recruitment consultant. During my time as a recruiter, I spoke to a number of FAC graduates and was always impressed with the quality of their experience and the companies they had work for since completing the course. Within my recruitment firm, FAC graduates were always regarded as the best graduates over other similar boot camps.
What attracts me to FAC more than any other boot camp is the culture, ethics and reasons behind the organisation. FAC is a place where everyone is welcome, equal and supported, and I am so grateful that such a scheme is in place. FAC has already taught me so much through the Monday classes and pre-requisites.
For example, I have seen firsthand the power of pair-programming and would relish the opportunity to improve my development skills within such an environment. Throughout the Monday classes, whilst working on various Codewars challenges with either: Sam (pictured above), Tom (pictured above), Freddie, Richard or another applicant, I understand how effective pair-programming can be when learning. There have been many challenges where, for example, my knowledge of objects combined with Tom’s knowledge of for loops has solved the challenge. Without the other person it would have been a lot harder and taken a lot longer to solve the challenge. I also find that when a challenge is solved and your programming partner teaches you something, it sticks with you and you do not forget it. Prior to that particular Monday class, I struggled with for loops but thanks to Tom, I now find them simple. Equally, I was able to help Tom understand how to access objects.
I have made some good friends through the weekly meetups and will stay in touch with them regardless of whether I gain a place on the course. However, if I am lucky enough to get a place on the course, I would love the opportunity to work alongside them further.
Finally, I am very interested in the organisation’s potential lecturing opportunities in the Middle East and Africa after completing the course.
To view my image carousel scroll down or check out the code in Github
The code for the above image carousel is available at Github or on Codepen
