If you had told me 5 years ago that I would be doing an intensive 8-week coding bootcamp, my first response would be, “What is coding?” Ever since I was at the age of 10, my entire life has been classical music and opera performance. That is all I ever wanted out of life, and I didn’t bother to focus on anything that didn’t pertain to music.  It wasn’t until my senior year of college whilst studying opera performance that I realized I wanted to do more with my life other than just perform. I went through different ideas of what I wanted to do and each time I would tell someone what I thought I wanted to do with my life, I would get the same response: “Aren’t you supposed to be smart to do (insert career here)?” It was in those moments I came to the conclusion that I was going to prove to every single person that told me I couldn’t, that I could AND that I can do more than what they thought I was capable of.  *cue “Eye of the Tiger” song*

So, here I am. I finished my first week at Tech Talent South and I have already experienced about every single emotion you could imagine. From the first day of class thinking, “I am in way over my head. I can’t do this,” to sitting at my desk crying because I don’t understand something, to actually creating a small program at the end of the week that legitimately worked and realizing that I can do this and that I will be successful. For me, this is going to be a career change. I will not accept any other outcome other than that I will finish this with flying colors. I realize that it’s going to be tough and that I (more than likely) will cry and have breakdowns, but I also know that I will have successful moments where I will be proud of myself.

I dedicate the next 7 weeks of this Code Immersion program to self-empowerment and self-growth. It’s going to really suck but at the end of this program it will be worth it. I won’t accept anything less for myself. #hollaatyogirl