Coding my way from Barcelona to Berlin
How one email turned my life upside down
“Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes, grab it.”
— Julie Andrews
I’m sure you heard something about this opportunity that knocks on your door, right? Well, that opportunity just broke through my entire house last year.
April 2017, a normal Tuesday at my work as a graphic designer. We just finished a meeting with a new client, when I receive an email with a link: “Hey Noelia, check this out, it can be interesting for you”. No, it was not spam. Something felt different about this email. How could I know that this was the email that should change my path forever ? It is thanks to that email that today I live in one of the most dynamic and lively cities in Europe and am surrounded by an ultra-motivated and talented team. But let’s start from the beginning.
In that email I was offered the possibility to get a scholarship in order to study at a coding school called Ironhack. The name is difficult to forget, seems like you can do something big and powerful there, and indeed many Alumnis landed great jobs after having finished the bootcamp. But… me? Coding? Can I bring together these two words in the same sentence? Well, why not? With a technology enthusiast like my father and an IT specialist like my brother, my home was the perfect place to be raised in this digital age. Nevertheless, I have realised that all my life I missed some female figure that was feeling comfortable in the tech environment. But hey, that could be me! Ready to learn and to become a reference for the next generations of female developers. In any case, one thing is sure: We need to start somewhere!

A selection process and a few weeks later I received another mail on my way to the airport, “Congratulations Noelia, you won the #WallapopScholarship!”. My legs started shaking before being able to read the complete e-mail. 6.000 applicants, 6.000 amazing women, and only 100 were selected, all the 100 chosen between Madrid and Barcelona. And I was one of them! I couldn’t believe it and I felt so happy!
All of a sudden it was October and they made it clear: “The Web Development Part-Time won’t be easy, it will actually be hard as hell, but Ironhack is here to help”. We didn’t know how difficult it would be (or we didn’t want to believe it). Also, I didn’t know before how long a day could be, switching your mind from work to code and from code to work. Suddenly it was Saturday again and you felt relieved because you could spend all the day focusing just on coding (and going for lunch at Mabel :)).
Part-Time was exhausting, but also fulfilling. It was hard to keep the rhythm during the six months at Ironhack while working at the same time. Breakdowns were part of the game, but it gave us the energy to learn faster and deeper. All of a sudden, I was presenting my own project in front of a lot of people (way more than I ever spoke in front of). Yes, it was me: Noelia aka. “Always-Scared-To-Speak-In-Public”. Only this time I enjoyed it and I was amazed and proud of what I have created!

I’m sure that it was also this pressure that made us become more practical. There is no space for small unknown variables jumping into your life, you grow more decisive and become more solution-oriented. You leave the smallest space to complain about a new problem, and you just solve it. Somehow you realize that this is what keeps you moving. It becomes addictive, and trust me, it does! Just try it and you will know what I’m talking about.
I have to admit that I also cried once. The amount of information is overwhelming and some days you are simply not able to understand the words you are beeing told. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one and that made us stronger. The relationship you develop with your cohort by going from happiness to frustration several times per hour would take years to achieve in another context.
You will get out of the Bootcamp with three projects, job offers and a new family. The closest: your class, your team, your teachers, your campus. The second degree: ranging from Miami and Sao Paulo to Berlin. Suddenly you have something in common with somebody from the other side of the world. You both have been there, you both went through almost the same mistakes, same thoughts, same frustrations and at the end, you both will master it.
If this would have been the end, it would have been worth it 100%, but the story is not over yet. Ironhack did not just gave me the apt tools to develop my coding carrier and self-confidence, but also threw me here, in the middle of Berlin, ready to be part of something bigger. With the opening of the new Ironhack campus in Berlin, a new opportunity also opened up and I could become part of it. It is still hard to believe for me how an international startup manages to keep the same values and working culture throughout all campuses and still makes you feel at your ease, even if you are far away from home.
Today, when I see the current cohort, the future #Ironhackers, I can relive their fears and doubts. I feel amazed by the way they learn and improve. Taking them to the “Aha!” moment and feeling how the pieces start fitting together makes me as a Teacher Assistant feel incredibly happy. Seeing what students are able to achieve after just 5 weeks of bootcamp further confirms my feeling from before, namely that the best has yet to come!

