By the time I turned 30, the most coding I had done in my life was in middle school changing the HTML/CSS on my MySpace page. I didn't even know it was called HTML or CSS. I just knew it sparkled.
As I got older, though, I knew some programmers. I was working in education, and I wanted some of the things engineering seemed to offer:
- More flexibility with my day-to-day schedule
- More financial stability as the sole provider for my family
- The opportunity to build and create things without any classroom distractions
In 2021, I decided I was going to get a job as a programmer by the end of 2022.
The first question was, "Where do I even start?" If you're asking yourself that right now, I'll tell you what I did.
I started working through lessons on Codecademy and solving challenges on Exercism.
Then I applied to LaunchCode.
Like four times.
Eventually, they let me in.
I completed their full-stack engineering program while continuing to learn on my own. I earned LinkedIn certificates, posted about my journey, attended coding events, built projects (check out freecodecamp.org if you need inspiration), and asked my programmer friends to review my code and give me feedback. I did all the things.
Mostly, I just kept going. I won't lie, it took some tears and some head banging, but there was a lot of joy in building things and seeing them work. It was (and still is) a beautiful thing.
Then, in July 2022, someone I had worked with during the summer of 2012 reached out about an open position. I interviewed.
And I got the job.
Now I write code professionally. Sometimes I code outside of work, too, depending on how much time I have.
I feel incredibly fortunate that things worked out the way they did, and I try to pay that forward whenever I can.
So if you're thinking about learning to code, try some of the things that worked for me or talk to someone who codes. It doesn't have to be the perfect resource or the perfect plan. It just has to be a start.
And if there's any way I can help, my contact information is below.
P.S. I didn't go through The Odin Project, but if you want something like LaunchCode, it seems like a great resource.