From Court Reporter to Front End Engineer

My career path has changed quite a few times since I graduated from high school. I went to the University of South Carolina and graduated with a BA in Psychology. I never actually used that degree, however. During my senior year, I was looking for a part-time job and stumbled on a posting for court reporting. My minor was Criminal Justice, so it intrigued me. I made a call, shadowed a few depositions and was hooked. I completed a 6 month program to become a court reporter. My job consisted of going to law firms for depositions and then working from home to complete the official transcripts.

I was a court reporter for five years in Greenville, South Carolina before moving to Austin, Texas to help my aunt while she went through treatment for her breast cancer. After she went into remission, I ended up getting a job in a court reporting office. I worked there for about two years. I then started working for a tech company in North Austin called Yodle, who was brought out by Web.com a few days after I was hired. It was there I got my first experience with HTML. I only had a brief introduction with it, as I was a customer service rep, but I went home and started taking free online classes to learn more. I quickly realized it might be something I could make into a career.

A close friend of mine attended The Iron Yard in Greenville, South Carolina last fall, so I called him, and we discussed his experience learning back end engineering. He was honest with me about his time at the school. He set expectations for the amount of work and time that has to be put into it. After doing further research and more lessons online, I decided to apply for the front end classes. The original plan was to go to school in Greenville, but in the end, I’ll be attending classes in Austin.

I’m extremely excited to start this journey. As much as I loved court reporting, it was often unsteady work. Cases settle frequently, so my schedule was constantly changing and sometimes I’d go days without work. I look forward to learning a new skill and having a steady career that has room for growth in it. I’d love to maybe eventually work for myself and/or have the ability to work remotely from time to time. With my entire family back East, I’d enjoy having some flexibility so I could see them more often. I’ve also worked remotely as a court reporter, so I know I have the ability to manage my time and prioritize tasks and projects.

Admittedly, I’m nervous about being in school again. I graduated from college and court reporting school in 2009, so it’s been a while since I’ve been in a classroom setting. I also only have very minimal experience with coding, so I know I have a long road ahead of me. I plan to work hard, keep up a good routine, and make the most of my time at The Iron Yard.