Hello everyone. My name is Brian Salemi and I am currently enrolled in Flatiron School’s Online Software Engineering Boot Camp. Since this is my first post, I figured the best way to kick this thing off is to answer a question I’ve been asked countless times since beginning my coding journey.
****Why did I decide to change my career and jump into coding?
Well, let’s start at the beginning. I graduated college with a degree in English and believed my degree would present far more career opportunities than it did. I ended up finding work as a writer for a couple of websites but began to feel stagnant and unfulfilled after just a couple of years. As I didn’t see much room for growth in my career path, I knew I had to make a change.
As a kid, I was a bit of a gamer (to a lesser extent, still am) and always wondered how such vast, immersive worlds were created and stored in those little, compact cartridges. As I got older my intrigue grew and I became inspired by the seemingly limitless possibilities achievable through programming. Despite my curiosities, I never really considered a career in coding because my inner saboteur convinced me that I wasn’t intelligent or tech-savvy enough to learn how.
**Enter Flatiron School:**
I first found out about Flatiron School through a friend who was attending the In-Person Software Engineering program. She, too, had no prior experience with coding and sought a career change. When I expressed my indecision about taking the plunge and enrolling in a coding boot camp my friend alerted me to Flatiron School’s free prep course. This prep course allowed me to get my feet wet with coding and really figure out if this life changing decision was right for me.
Although there were several moments throughout the prep course that I was ready to pull my hair out in frustration, I (slowly) began to learn how to code. Making my way through the prep work I noticed a sense of accomplishment from completing each lab that I never felt from writing. It was in that moment that I knew enrolling in a coding boot camp and changing my career was the right path for me.
In summary, I decided to get into coding because I felt stagnant in my career. This fact, along with my lifelong curiosity of how games worked under the hood, the sense of accomplishment I felt during the prep course, and my renewed sense of confidence in my abilities, helped solidify my decision to get into coding. Oh. And such cool, prospective job titles like Programmer and Developer are a nice perk too.