How I changed my career path from a dead end to having endless opportunities

I was unemployed with a sparkling new degree in an industry that provided little opportunity. Although joining the masses of millennials with art degrees serving as baristas at Starbucks did cross my mind, my drive for learning, freedom, and exploration refused to let me settle for anything less than a career with endless growth opportunities. I had my heart set on the tech industry.
Now, nearly 4 years later, I still receive messages across all your favourite communication tools asking how I made the career change to programming.
Since my momentary thoughts of becoming a barista, I’ve worked as a front-end developer for small and large local startups, a large entertainment enterprise, and remotely from Thailand for up-and-coming startups in Dublin and the US. I also had the opportunity to contract as a UX designer for many exciting companies, and now work as a Product Manager at an early-stage startup in Vancouver.
So here are the steps of my initial career change to web development. Keep in mind that I did not have a degree in computer science, no prior coding experience, and that there are many different ways to take this journey.
Immerse yourself in a full-time bootcamp
With zero prior programming knowledge, I learned to code by attending an 8 week (now 10 week) immersive coding bootcamp in Vancouver called Lighthouse Labs.
Lighthouse Labs provided the intense career change I wanted. It was 8 intense weeks of learning how to code, making connections, and being immersed in the tech and startup community. A perfect place to get started.
They have a 7 to 1 teacher assistant ratio, which means you’re never alone. I made some amazing connections with TAs that inspired me and helped me learn the material and push through the program.
You do have to be 150% committed. Whether you have a coding background or not, the program with provide you with everything you need to start your progress toward a career as a developer. The catch is that you have to do all the work.
Immersive means checking out of life for 8 weeks and dedicating every day, the entire day, to learning. It’s safe to say when you graduate from the program, you will have built multiple web applications and will be able to start an internship as a junior web developer.
Lighthouse Labs runs multiple hiring and networking events for its students, during which many tech startups and other companies come to scope out and hire new talent.
I was hired as a junior developer intern right out of the program. In fact, I made such strong connections during this event and my internship that I still work with my former boss now, despite both of us having left the initial company.
Additionally, not only did Lighthouse Labs connect me with a job opportunity, they also contracted me to build the front-end of their website.
Commit to self-teaching and exploration
For those who don’t have the time, money, or resources to commit to a coding bootcamp, or for those who aren’t yet sure if they want to, there are many other resources out there.
Part-time programs
Lighthouse Labs also offers an introductory web development course that takes place two nights per week. During this program you will also learn how to build a web application. It’s a great program to test the waters before committing to the bootcamp.
Alternatively, try taking a course with Ladies Learning code (men are welcome too :)). To kick off your introduction take a course on HTML & CSS and move on to an introductory course to Javascript or Ruby.
The benefit of taking local courses is that you meet others in the community that are on the same path as you. If you’re looking to become a developer, making connections will be key.
Online schools
Free online code schools such as Codeacademy or Code School provide lessons to start off your introduction to code. Lighthouse Labs has also started offering free online courses.
Team Tree House is also great online source to learn from if you like videos, but it does have a monthly fee. I personally enjoyed the diversity and quality of learning materials provided.
Subscribe to weekly emails for what you’re interested in learning. For example, Zell Liew, Web Tools Weekly, CSS Weekly, [insert your favourite language] Weekly ;).
Make connections in the community
Immerse yourself in the tech industry! Go to meetups (e.g. Code & Coffee, Tech Talent, HackerNest) go to Lighthouse Labs demo days, and meet people who can mentor you, ask them where they learned how to code and if they have advice for you.
Practice, practice, practice
Make sure to practice your newfound skills. Build more and more and more. The best thing about coding is that you can learn so much in a day that you can outdate your prior day’s work in 12 hours.
For example, if you build an online resume, rebuild it the following day or week and apply all the new things you’ve learned. Practice making your code cleaner and more maintainable.
Use text editors like Sublime to code and practice using the command line.
Some say being a developer is all about being lazy, and while some of them are lazy, being a developer is actually about being efficient. It’s about saving your time by automating tasks, creating shortcuts, writing clean, sustainable code, and taking full advantage of your tools.
Show off your hard work
Once you’ve gained all the skills, put them online. Showing people what you’ve done and what you’re capable of building will be the key to getting you a job as a junior developer.
Create a github account and learn how to push your code to your profile. If you need more examples of work you’ve done, follow some tutorials and build on them.
Make sure you have a polished LinkedIn profile, and check out other sites like Angel.co where countless startups are looking to hire.
Summary
To wrap up your question of how to become a developer: go learn, either by yourself or by bootcamp. Embrace self teaching, motivating yourself by sharing your work, connecting with the community, and keeping a mindset for constant growth. Best of luck!
