Taking the plunge.
Let's start this with a little story. I first became interested in working in tech when I went back to school at age 30. I was lucky enough to have a great teacher in my intro to programing class. I loved solving those first problems, and thought if I could do this for a living I totaly would, I had not yet learned what direction I was going to go for, so I started planning to go for the long haul and get a CS Degree.
Long story short, I took an internship as an IT Help Desk Technician and I have been working in the field ever since. At many times I have been close to my goal of working as a Developer full time. There was the time I used my skills to figure out how to automate emails to new hires at my company, and help the hr department track all the odds and ends needed to bring on new people. I currently work for an IT service center where the stress and work load are very high and I have been working very hard to leave that behind. There was the time I was hired by a local agency as a freelance front end Developer all the while scrambling to keep up with my fulltime day job. And I made it all work, somehow, subjected myself to the late nights, and finally worked my way up to be able to work one day a week on the website project at my current job, its good experience sure.I don't exactly know how many years of experience I act have since it's not fulltime but hey I have been doing this stuff for over five years all told.
So what did I decide to do. I ended up applying for and getting accepted into a fulltime bootcamp. I had always considered them as completely outside of the realm of possibility. But I started thinking about how I might make it work, without any real savings, I could not afford to pay upfront, or take out a loan. I found an online bootcamp with a deferred payment model and started trying to figure out how to make it happen. I have a family with a wife and two kiddos, so it is extremely important that I keep them in mind in making any decision that affects them. Luckily my wife has a fulltime teaching job, it doesn't pay much but it covers some bills and healthcare. I will continue freelancing for the IT firm I work at now on the website but that will be hit and miss. And I guess I will cash in on my small retirement to make ends meet.
This is an extremely difficult thing to do, a gamble and could end up being disastrous for my family. I question whether I am doing the right thing often, but keep coming back to the benafits of having all the time to devote to writing code. I know I can build things pretty well, and I know how to work with people. I honestly can't wait to take the next step on this journey. Am I not considering something? Would love your feedback or questions.
Thanks to the Dev.to community for all its collective support.
Top comments (3)
Funny thing happened while I was waiting for my cohort to start. I ended up getting multiple competing offers. I ended up excepting an offer that will be completely life changing. I am looking forward to starting at a place that equaly values my IT experience and Development experience. I will write more about that when I get my feet underneath me.
Good luck, John!!
If you learn best through a classroom setting, I definitely recommend bootcamps.
Hey, thanks for the feedback. I learn best by building. I took some time to try and focus on learning deeper concepts and fundamentals. But found it incredibly difficult on my own. So that is what I am hoping to get out of my journey. Trying to not freak out about it. And the interview requests keep rolling in. It's weird, being a part-time experience mostly self-taught person.