Student Stories: Bennett Marcelo
Bennett is currently studying Full-stack Web Development Program
Q: How did you end up joining Altcademy?
Well, I originally pursued Nursing as my first career choice. When I finished the prerequisites for the program, I was put on a wait-list. But, I didn’t want to wait for that any longer. My brother-in-law, who is a software engineer, suggested that I should look into coding because software engineers are well paid and highly sought after. At the time, I had no idea what software engineers were until I did some research. I was drawn to the fact that you don’t need a degree to get a great paying job, so I started looking into some bootcamps.
I originally wanted to do an in-person coding bootcamp but realized they were too expensive and not practical while working. I also live in Bakersfield, California where there are no coding schools which meant I would have to move to a big city like Los Angeles or San Francisco, which would have been even more costly.
I decided on an online coding bootcamp which I paid $6,000 for. But, after two days into it, I had to leave the country due to personal reasons and had no idea when I would be able to come back. I didn’t want to waste my time any longer, so my sister helped me find other online bootcamps to attend and found Altcademy.
I looked through the website, and I really liked the layout of the curriculum and how it was structured. The price was also unbeatable, I paid less than $2,000 for a personalized 6 to 10 month course where I can learn at my own pace. I am also able to contact my teacher through Slack and usually get a response within the hour.
Q: What’s important for online learning?
The feedback and answers to my questions are the most important. I have heard of people learning on their own but I decided to learn from a bootcamp. I knew that, with bootcamps, I would always be able to have my questions answered right away.
At Altcademy, 60% of the questions are replied within 60 minutes, and 100% of the questions are answered within 24 hours.
It was to my liking that we started with HTML & CSS to ramp up my skills and getting my mind introduced to coding. I also knew learning to code was going to be a daunting task, so it was comforting to know that I would be getting support throughout the course.
Ultimately, I want to get a job in software development. I plan to master the skills first and apply for software jobs somewhere in San Jose area or maybe even San Francisco. I also plan on working on my bachelor’s degree in computer science in the future, even though a bachelor’s degree is not a necessity in landing a job in software development.
Q: Any advice for aspiring learners?
When I first started learning, I didn’t know much. Learning new things is always going to be a challenge. Like many others, I sometimes doubt whether I am good enough going into this field. But, I soon realized that I am not alone. Everybody goes through these same struggles and challenges. It’s normal to feel discouraged sometimes. There are times when I don’t exactly know what’s going on.
The advice I have for myself is that: don’t give up; don’t feel stupid; push through all the difficulties!
Altcademy is an online coding bootcamp with 8,000+ students from 90+ cities.
This story is from https://www.altcademy.com/stories/@bennettmarcelo85
