This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Michael Chang
“I can’t code!” — Yes you can, you just haven’t learned to yet.
Six months ago, I was working out with my software engineer gym buddy, talking about wanting to change careers, but unsure about what to do.
I have a diverse background — studied marketing, became a hairdresser, ended up working as a project manager in a tech consultancy company — but hadn’t found my passion yet.
“Why don’t you become a front-end dev?”, she asked. “It’s fun, the pay is good, and you’ll constantly be learning and evolving with the industry.”
…
“But I can’t code. And I don’t want to go back to school for three and a half years. I’m 31!”
I had a thousand reasons and excuses prepared in my mind as to why I couldn’t do what she was suggesting.
She told me that in tech, nobody cares about your education if you can code. She gave me a list of boot camps to check out, as well as a Udemy course to try out before making any sort of commitment.
The Udemy course cost 18 euros. Screw it, I might as well dip my toes in the waters.
As soon as I started the first modules on HTML and CSS, memories started coming back. Making my first WordPress blog when I was 15. Using in-line CSS to customize my MySpace page with trippy cursors and tiled gifs.
I started with no idea what a <div> was, but all of a sudden I found myself having fun while learning in a way I hadn’t experienced since primary school.
The next week, I signed up for Technigo’s remote front-end dev boot camp which takes six months. To be honest, I was scared. I don’t usually like group work when it comes to learning. The fast pace worried me- would I actually be learning what I needed to, to change careers?
Three months have passed since then, and now I’m fetching data from APIs and building web apps with React. I have a rival in the boot camp who I compete with every week, and we push each other to be better devs. I found my bestie who I gossip with on Slack. My team is spread out all over the Nordics, and we’ve never met in person, but we uplift and support each other every day, and I’ve come to love working in a team.
I won’t lie to you and tell you it’s easy. It takes time. It takes effort. It has a cost — financially, socially, and emotionally. At times you won’t understand what you’re doing, or why you’re doing it. Then the pieces fall into place, and you start seeing what’s possible.
“I can’t code.”
Neither could I. But now I can, and if you want, so can you.
Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash.
Find me on LinkedIn here.
“I can’t code!” — Yes you can, you just haven’t learned to yet. was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Michael Chang
Michael Chang | Sciencx (2022-04-18T01:00:02+00:00) “I can’t code!” — Yes you can, you just haven’t learned to yet.. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/04/18/i-cant-code-yes-you-can-you-just-havent-learned-to-yet/
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