There And Back Again…A Web Developer’s Tale
Perhaps this is something that should have started a year ago, but when you are in the mix of things it’s not always easy to imagine I would be here writing about my epic quest to destroy the One Ring. Wait…wrong story.
Actually, for my first article posted on Medium I wanted to share a little bit about my journey in becoming a web developer. If you were looking for dragons, orcs and swords, sorry to disappoint. Instead this tale has arrays, callbacks, lots of error messages but maybe some dancing too! Oh, and memes. Lots of memes.
The Backstory
Since 2010 I have worked as a high school teacher in Montreal working in adult education. The job was great because I was able to teach math & science (I have a master’s degree in chemistry) as well as a special course on Hip Hop education (I’m also a dancer of 20+ years specializing in locking and b-boying). It was rewarding working with young people and gave me a chance to balance my scientific and artistic side. However, after 8 years I felt it was time to grow and began to wonder what else is out there.
One of my friends actually made a big career change a few years ago from engineering to web development and I was curious to learn a little more of what she did. You see, ever since I was a child, technology and computers were a part of my life. I still remember that day in the late 1980’s when my dad came home with a computer. He taught himself, and then me and my brother, how to use it. A couple years later, he brought home a modem and showed us all about the Internet!
In fact, back in 1998 I had started to learn to break from reading online articles written on early websites like bboy.com. In high school I had a guidance counsellor encourage me to get into computers because “it’s the wave of the future!” I was a bit stubborn and didn’t really know if that path was for me. Partly because I was bullied quite a lot in high school and didn’t want to be typecast as a “nerd” (even though deep down I knew I was 🤓). Instead, I went the science route. Destiny perhaps?
The Buildup: Jan — July 2018
So in early 2018 my friend explained to me how she went to an intense 12-week coding bootcamp and was able to land a new job fairly soon after. Sounded cool, but those bootcamps do not come cheap. And as someone who recently purchased a new home, going further in debt was not the best idea. Instead, I started working on a few free lessons on HTML & CSS, but it was slow, confusing and things didn’t really stick. But there was still something pushing me towards wanting to learn this. By the spring of 2017 Bitcoin and blockchain technology were making headlines and people within my social circles were talking about it a lot. I found it super interesting and the hype around it reminded me of the early days of the Internet. I kinda missed the boat way back when my guidance councillor suggested getting into computers. It seemed the tech world was ever-growing and there were lots of job possibilities in Montreal for it. Maybe now was The Time?
Another friend (shoutout to Alain Wong of Lighthouse Labs) passed along this article to me, written by one Andrei Neagoie. He basically created a roadmap and laid out all these amazing FREE resources for one to learn web development within a few months’ time. The article also included a link at the end to his online courses on Udemy. Now the path became more clear. This was doable! But doable every night after working a full day (which included up to 3 hours of daily commuting through Montreal construction)? Not likely.
Would it be wise to quit my job and study full-time? Well I did have some savings that could take me to the end of the year. And I could make some extra income here and there with dance gigs. But what about mortgage payments? I can’t expect my partner of 10 years to cover the payments on her own (I was too proud to let that happen anyway!) But she was the one that said: “You’re not happy where you are right now. I can see it and it’s affecting our relationship. If you want to make this move, I’m behind you 100%!” That was it. A few days later I put in my notice with the school that I would finish teaching for the summer but not return in the fall. I left work on good terms and they even said if things don’t work out they would take me back in an instant. Never wise to burn bridges. More on that later.
The Journey Begins: Aug — Oct 2018
After almost a decade out of school I was back in student mode (Never a master, always a student!) At first there was a lot to take in: Basics of computer science, computer science history, how computers work, how the Internet works. All this before even writing any code. But when it came to start coding, it was back to HTML & CSS. Maybe things began to sink in from when I first learned it because it seemed to make more sense now. I was confident in my decision to change careers and thought “I’m going to be good! In 5 months time I’ll have a job no problem!”
Then JavaScript happened.
The course went through it pretty intensely and I think I understood 10% of what was taught before jumping into the first big project with React. Wait, what the hell’s React?!
Time out.
Looking back this was the first roadblock. If I’m going to learn this, I need to have a better idea of what I’m actually doing. This is where resources like the Modern JavaScript Tutorial and You Don’t Know JavaScript came in very handy! I took an extra 2 weeks just to review and go a bit deeper into JavaScript basics before getting back to the course.
October was all about working on some big projects while learning more about React in the front-end as well as back-end topics like servers and databases. Once again I didn’t understand everything but kept moving forward. Thankfully, I had some friends who were always willing to help me out in both real life and on Discord. Google and Stack Overflow also became by new BFFs.
Test Your Might: Nov 2018 — Jan 2019
Right around the time I finished Andrei’s first course, he released a course all on coding interviews. I knew this was something I would certainly need to work on because I hadn’t done an actual job interview since I was 15 for a recreational centre. All my other jobs up to this point came from pure luck and being at the right place at the right time.
In this course it was suggested to begin building your resume, LinkedIn, Github and even working on a portfolio ASAP and start applying for jobs you feel are beyond what you think you are qualified for. The biggest challenge here was dealing with the Imposter Syndrome (the psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud"). Was I really ready to look for a job? I had very little coding experience and a CV with a lot of empty space.
Well I sent my CV out to a couple places and surprisingly I got my first interview pretty quick. I went in not knowing what to expect. My interviewer was super nice and even though I struggled answering what the difference is between “==” and “===” he gave me some really good feedback for my CV. He also provided me with a take-home assignment to try working on and if I got it done we may move forward with the interview process. Great! I’m going to knock this thing out of the park!
Nope.
Yea it was tough. Let’s just say APIs are complicated. This is where I began to see gaps in my knowledge. But that’s actually a good thing and that first interview was such a learning experience. I realized it was time to go back to the lab and focus on those knowledge gaps.
The Long Winter: Jan — March 2019
Winters are intense in Montreal. Thankfully I got to work from home during this time. I spent most of the winter working on Andrei’s Junior To Senior course and building up my CV and Github with other projects. Lots of rejections or lack of responses from companies. One interview actually went really well but they eventually turned me down because I had a month-long trip to Europe previously planned and they wanted me to start immediately. Another delay but the trip was a good opportunity to reassess and even though I thought I’d get some work done on the road, I didn’t. Things basically got put on hold for the month.
The Battle of Helm’s Deep: April — June 2019
Back from Europe, I was determined to get a job before the summer. My savings were getting low so time was of the essence. Andrei’s Advanced JavaScript course got released around this time and I completed it fairly quick. I was reading how it was difficult to get out of “tutorial purgatory” and felt I was starting to get trapped. I had some projects in my Github but one key item was missing that could have helped boost my standing for recruiters: a portfolio website! This was one thing I know I should have started working on sooner so it was time to get to it. It took about 2–3 weeks from initial design to deployment. Check it out here!
Around this time I was starting to go to more meetups and job fairs. Met a few recruiters and submitted some resumes. Managed to land another interview but I got ghosted hard after the first meeting. A recruiter on LinkedIn reached out one day and said there was another company looking to hire a junior developer with a lot of requirements I possessed. It turned out to be one of the companies I met at one of the job fairs I had previously attended. Score!
After a phone conversation and completing an online live coding challenge I got invited to meet several members of the company for the final step of the interview. To me it seemed to have gone well. The questions seemed simple enough and I didn’t even have to answer any tough whiteboard questions. It seemed like this was going to be it! The next day I got feedback from the hiring manager that they were not going to move forward because they felt I lacked confidence.
It was like a truck hit me from the side. I honestly didn’t see that one coming. Now that I reflect on it I can understand why I came across that way. They were looking to hire someone who could hit the ground running and I sold myself as someone looking for mentorship and it gave the impression I was unsure of my abilities.
At this point I had applied to over 30 companies. Half of them were rejections, the other half never replied. I got a total of 8 interviews on various stages but not a single successful one. I felt defeated.
The Battle For Middle Earth: July — Aug 2019
This was the turning point. With very little left in the bank, a shattered sense of confidence, and just plain frustration I had to make a decision. Do I give up and go back to teaching? Or do I put my nose to the ground and fire out some more projects and apply for jobs? I did what any sensible person would do. I did both!
Two steps forward one step back, still gets you ahead. So I went back to the school to teach a 6-week summer session. The principal was very happy to have me back. And it was a bit of a relief since I wouldn’t have to stress over bill payments for the summer. However, my nights had to be completely dedicated to coding. Within those 6 weeks I managed to produce 3 more projects! One was a Twitter clone (with both front-end and back-end design), another was a site that printed bus schedules from an external API, and the third was actually a remote group project. The group project was arranged through a website called Chingu, where after doing a small pre-work assignment and filling out a questionnaire you get paired up with another coder somewhere around the world to build a website from scratch. This was an excellent opportunity to gain some real experience and I highly recommend it to any coder. It was less about making something complicated but more about being able to communicate effectively with team members and working together to solve problems/challenges that would arise during development. We ended up making this pet care application, kind of like a Tamagotchi!
To do all this in 6 weeks meant sacrificing quite a lot over a very beautiful Montreal summer. But I knew if I focused all my energy on this, it would pay off. It had to!
Sure enough, at the start of August I somehow managed to land 3 interviews at the same time! I went in confident, ready to show what I’ve accomplished over the past year and to prove that I would be the best candidate for the job. I had been through so much that I was not going to take any more rejection lying down. It would be a fight to the end!
A year to the exact date in which I started this journey, quitting my job of 9 years and basically turning my life upside down to pursue a new career as a web developer, I received my first job offer.
Towards The Future: Sept 2019 — ???
It’s still sinking in. I’m set to start at the beginning of September and I have no idea how it’s going to go. But that will be material for another tale. For now, I really wanted to take some time to document my journey into the unknown and provide some insight to anyone who may be looking to make a similar career change. I also wrote this to prove that it is possible to make a change in your life. You are never too old to make a change or learn something new. It may not be an easy road, but you will look back and be amazed as to what one is capable of doing within a relatively small amount of time if you are motivated.
In total, I applied to over 40 jobs. Out of those 40, 17 of them were rejections. The other 22 companies I never heard back from. From the 17 rejections, 6 of them made it to the in-person interview stage. That ONE offer is all that mattered though. Everything else was just a stepping stone to get to that next level.
Even though I took a “self-taught” approach this is something I would have never been able to do on my own. Without the support and encouragement of family and friends, this would have been impossible. A special shout out to the following individuals who helped me along the way:
- Alain Wong, Long Nguyen, Melinda Yeoh, Jonny Linton and Ivan Vukovic.
- Andrei and the whole Zero To Mastery team
- Tina and everyone at Chingu
- DJ Renegade and the whole Crypto Masters In Training group
- My parents and brother
- My partner in crime: Julie aka DJ Ruby Jane (listen to her music! It got me through a lot of nights!)
- My cat Smokey. She was my “rubber duck” who I would explain coding problems to.
Since this article had a Tolkein-based theme, let me end with my favourite quote from The Lord Of The Rings:
The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the road has gone
And I must follow if I can
Pursuing it with eager feet
Until it meets some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet
And wither then? I cannot say.
Thanks for reading! If you liked it click the “clap” button and leave a comment below. Don’t be afraid to reach out via LinkedIn if you have any questions.
And if you want to see some dancing? Follow me on Instagram!
