Ondine had a creative background in painting and photography, but was drawn to a career in programming. With the help of our Software Engineering bootcamp, Ondine was able to learn to code from home, while maintaining a healthy balance between learning and family time.
She went on to land a job as a Junior Developer in the Bay Area.
We talked to her about why she decided to switch careers, and how her life has changed after becoming a full-time Developer.
What were you doing before Thinkful?
I was a stay at home mom. I ran the gauntlet of groceries, laundry, getting kids to where they needed to be. I used to paint until my husband (who is a developer) turned me on to programming.
Before that I was in Production. I worked for a high end photographer making his backstock of photos available as stock photos.
Why did you end up enrolling with Thinkful?
I actually got a job at a local book publishing company and missed programming. I loved the challenge of it, so I made the decision to take my skills up a notch with a coding bootcamp.
I tried for Hackbright Academy and got turned down. In retrospect, that was the best thing that could happen to me at that point. It really galvanized my determination and led me to look at other options.
I liked that Thinkful was part-time and lasted much longer than the usual 12-week bootcamp. I wanted to learn and Thinkful gave me time to really dive in while still getting me to where I wanted to be in a relatively short time.
How did Thinkful prepare you for your first tech job?
Thinkful really got my head into the code. I was dreaming in code! I had time to research and really understand the concepts before moving on to the next thing.
My mentor (Wilson) was great. As a professional, he knew the industry and gave me a taste of what it’s like to communicate with other programmers.
I also worked in depth on many projects, so I had a lot to show for by the time I was applying for jobs. I learned afterwards that other bootcamps don’t have nearly as much final work.
Thinkful also gave me a good understanding of a the ModelViewController, which was very useful when confronted with a real codebase.
How are you liking your new career?
I love my job! I’m happy to go to work. I have the best coworkers. They are a diverse bunch, friendly, and always ready to help and laugh. I love the feeling of building something together. I love working out how to get the code to work with other people.
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
I work on the API for our application, and so I kind of get my own corner of the code. Nobody else really touches it. Nobody else knows it quite like I do and I get to own it to a certain degree. That and the satisfaction of making it work. I still will throw my arms up in the air in victory when my code finally works.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
I get anxious about being able to do it. I start doubting myself when things are hard and since I’m shy I have a hard time interrupting others to ask for help.
What was the most challenging part of the curriculum?
It was a lot to learn. I wish I had done more Ruby before starting. It went by really fast.
Do you think you got a good return on your bootcamp investment?
Thinkful did right by me. I feel like I was well prepared for starting off as a programmer. Hearing other people’s bootcamp experiences, I feel like I got way more time to learn things in depth and create a good body of work to get the interest of my future boss. I was confident that this was what I wanted to do and that I was capable of learning the things I didn’t know.
I never even interviewed! My future boss offered me an internship after we met at a MeetUp hosted at her company.