About three years ago, I decided it was time for a career change. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next. I just knew there was not much room for advancement where I was at the time. I had been with my company for eight years and I had done just about everything there was to do there. The corporate ladder was more of a step stool.

One day, I decided I had enough. I calculated my expenses and savings, walked into my boss’ office and handed him my letter of resignation. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do next. I ended up trying a few different things but nothing that was quite the right fit for me. I never expected it would take me three plus years to find a new career path and honestly, it’s been rough going.

Today, I feel as if I’m finally headed down the correct path. A few months ago I left Los Angeles, my home for the last thirteen years, and ended up in Raleigh. I tend to do a lot of research and love the Internet for the access to information that it provides. One day, I came across coding boot camps and something just clicked. As it turned out, I was in close proximity to a couple and continued my research.

Tech Talent South seemed like a good fit for me and I began the application and interview process. I was pretty stoked when I was accepted. The right time, the right place, things were starting to line up and my future didn’t look so foggy anymore.

The time between being accepted and my cohort starting was a very exciting and slightly scary time. I didn’t have much coding experience. I took an HTML class once in the ’90s. That’s about it. I started to learn as much as I could in preparation for class. I figured even if I didn’t understand everything, just reviewing it would help me familiarize myself with the material and be more prepared, come class time.

I’m sure glad I had that time before class, it has definitely been beneficial. Learning to code isn’t easy and every bit helps. It also helps having an instructor that is patient and will answer all of your questions. Walid has been amazing in this aspect.

I feel as if TTS is really preparing us for success. We are only two weeks in and we have had two great speakers. I’ve also been to two events outside of class where I have learned a lot and met many people in the industry. A big thanks goes out to Jackie, our Community Organizer, for setting these up and informing us of the events in the Raleigh community.

I’m very excited about the future and what I’ll be able to do with this new skill set I am learning.