3 months ago beginning from the time of this writing, I landed my first tech-related full-time position as a Software Developer near the Washington, D.C. area in Arlington, VA. I would like to share some quick background about me—
I was originally born and raised in the New York area. I am a student at Northern Virginia Community College majoring in Computer Science.
I was originally born and raised in the New York area. I am a student at Northern Virginia Community College majoring in Computer Science.
While tech has been on my periphery, I did not begin pursuing this field as a career in a serious manner until around 2020. Before tech, I was a retail trader that often earned money from swing trading stocks, options, and cryptocurrencies for a living. I will always be grateful that this allowed me the opportunity to visit many areas in this country and witness first-hand what different parts of the United States are like, as well as breaking my New York upbringing bubble through moving to Tampa, FL and Chandler, AZ. However, I did not like trading because I hated dealing with the necessity of waking up in the middle of the night to execute crucial trades due to price alerts, the unstable & volatile earnings, and not feeling like I was building something substantial.
I took a personality assessment from Traitify and its results stated that I had high compatibility with a career in web development & software development. After I discovered and read the book, Automate the Boring Stuff with Python by Al Sweigart, I knew a career in tech was for me and began easing out from trading as time went on.
Eventually, I discovered CodingPhase, signed up for the Diamond Membership, and incorporated its lessons into my self-study. Albeit I had progressed through the lessons slowly, I completed the career paths for Content Editor and HTML Email Developer. While I have studied web and software development through various sources, CodingPhase was a contributing factor that helped me land my new current role for two reasons. Firstly, the projects we built from the lessons allowed me to share and demonstrate personal code for my resume and interview. Lastly, CodingPhase was the key that significantly improved my understanding of JavaScript thanks to their JavaScript-specific lessons, which I had trouble comprehending and grasping from other sources. This is important because, during the time I interviewed for the role, our upcoming project was expected to have a significant focus on JavaScript.
Eventually, I discovered CodingPhase, signed up for the Diamond Membership, and incorporated its lessons into my self-study. Albeit I had progressed through the lessons slowly, I completed the career paths for Content Editor and HTML Email Developer. While I have studied web and software development through various sources, CodingPhase was a contributing factor that helped me land my new current role for two reasons. Firstly, the projects we built from the lessons allowed me to share and demonstrate personal code for my resume and interview. Lastly, CodingPhase was the key that significantly improved my understanding of JavaScript thanks to their JavaScript-specific lessons, which I had trouble comprehending and grasping from other sources. This is important because, during the time I interviewed for the role, our upcoming project was expected to have a significant focus on JavaScript.
Thank you for putting in a ton of effort creating these lessons, Joe! Your work has helped many people, even among those you have not seen and realized, because some people do not bother to publicly share their achievements.
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