You can’t find passion in playing small. It is not worth settling for a life less than you are capable of living.
Technology is constantly evolving by its very nature. Technology is constantly evolving, but many of its core principles have remained constant since the days when computers were small and punch cards were small. It’s as simple as learning new languages and tools to stay current. Mary Pearce, a Bellevue Coding Academy alumni, recently discovered this.
Mary received a computer science degree in 1980 and has had a 35-year career within the tech sector. After achieving success as a project manager she felt the need to return to her problem-solving skills as a developer. Mary was a programmer during the boom years of the internet, but felt a bit disconnected as a project manager.
With all the excitement around me, I realized that I didn’t like coding and the challenge it presented. I reached that point and quit my job as project manager. I looked around and realized there were many skills I wasn’t proficient in. I tried going online to take classes from Udemy and other pay as you go classes. I tried to learn as many skills as possible. But I had trouble putting it all together and I didn’t have the confidence or skills to market myself as a developer of software.
Mary discovered Coding Dojo’s website and visited the Bellevue campus during an open-house night. She immediately saw the potential in Coding Dojo’s group dynamic, and learning environment. The promise was realized when she began working with people from all walks of life, ages, and professions. Mary enjoyed the group experience of learning new languages and working through algorithms together.
She discovered that her previous experience in databases and tech background was still relevant, even after all these years. She needed a download on modern programming languages and to learn what developers need to know in order to succeed in the current market.
Dojo’s research on which tools are most marketable and how to best learn a specific library or tool is what makes it so special. All the research and work is done for you. It’s as simple as putting in the work and letting the instructors show you what to do. You are highly marketable and well-informed on the latest technology.
The team atmosphere was supportive and helped her realize that everyone faced the same problems, and that finding the right solutions was a victory. Coding Dojo’s 20-minute rule was especially helpful. It states that if you don’t understand something, you should spend 20 minutes working on it before asking for help. If you still need assistance, you can ask your classmate for 20 more minutes and then the instructor if it’s still not clear. This is to help you develop the self-reliance and problem-solving skills necessary for the modern workplace.
This is a great learning experience and often enough time to find out what’s wrong. Programming is fraught with frustration. Things almost never work the first try, then suddenly they break. Knowing that I will struggle for 20 minutes helps me overcome many problems. You learn, but you can also move on to other skills.
Mary and her cohorts learned each of the three programming stacks in Coding Dojo’s 14-week bootcamp. Then, they set out to create their own ventures for Project Week. Mary’s favorite part of the program was the culmination of each stack in which students design and create their own web projects.
People don’t fear failure, which is great because we have a week to work on something. It’s actually four and a quarter days because we do the project presentation Friday afternoon. Although it’s not perfect, everyone appreciates the hard work that went into this. It was great to share in their laughter and to see the pride they took in the work they did. That is something I will definitely take with me. That was quite special.
Project Week provided Mary and her coworkers with a real-world example of what they could do. It was proof of their ability to work together and execute their own visions. Mary was encouraged to discover that Coding Dojo would help to land a job for her newly acquired skills and that there was a network of fellow graduates she could work with on other projects.
There are a few people whose job it is to help us find jobs.
