I was basically interviewing many different bootcamps when I happened upon a class posting that said something along the lines of "learn to code and get a free laptop." I was in the process of transitioning from insecure housing (homelessness / shelter)... Read More and looking for more challenging work. I will evaluate my participation in the following programs. In my first meeting I met with the program's Executive Director and we went over my needs, obstacles (present, past, and I also stated ones that I could potentially foresee in the future). In this meeting, I explained my priorities, capacity to participate and support needs I would like to explore. We outline a primarily remote participation experience (this was pre-covid) which at the time I believe I was the only student participating in this manner. Went over the type of mentors I would like to be paired with (I was paired with two and, later down the road, three mentors as I wanted more flexible access to technical people while remote). There was no judgement whatsoever, in fact there was quite a bit of relatability, and insight into what the program could offer to assist me with what I outlined (i.e. bus passes, connection to housing and mental health resources, job search clothes, etc). I agreed to come into classes two days a week out of five and typically did so with both of my children as I did not have childcare at the time. Having my children attend classes with me, was definitely irregular, but never an issue, in fact there were a few times when the staff and volunteers would off to help with their snacks or other means in which I could free up my attention and hands for coding. Job Readiness Program (JRP): At first I felt that this program was redundant for me as I was already pretty versed in networking, job searching and resume design. However, this program actually helped to update some of my working knowledge about the job market that I wasn't privy to before (i.e. power of longterm relationship networking, how to work within scope of keyword recognition, moving your profile to the top of LinkedIn lists, self-directed marketing context expertise, etc). I also found it refreshing that this program took us onto frequent site visits where we went to various HQs. While 70% of this program was review and 30% was wildly new and quite relevant to how I pivoted my job search. Furthermore, the program also went over the significance of understanding socio-emotional / inter- / intra-personal piece of working with others, entering new work environments, as well as being exposed to new intersectionalities different from our own. It was in this program that I noticed the amount of industry connect the organization has and the relationships that I would now have access to. Pre-Code Ramp: I would like to preface this with saying I went into this organization having taken a codeacademy.com course on HTML and CSS, which in truth left me feeling like I understood extremely high level concepts of how the languages work, but I wasn't ready to utilize the language or build any websites without handholding. That said, this piece of the program definitely helped to fill that gap in addition to learning the foundations of JavaScript. I was confidently able to build websites using functions and exhibiting knowledge of build in methods. Code Ramp: I began to apply the foundational skills I had learned to some traditional project building, and worked collaboratively with either mentors, tutors, or classmates. Code Ramp++: This course definitely leveled me up! I was answering questions similar to those used in first and second round technical interviews, I was thinking about end to end problem solving techniques, and actually building projects with minimal support. At this point, I began to think about features I could add, and confidently build out to the projects I built in Pre-Code Ramp and Code Ramp, as well as began to craft my own non-tutorial projects. I was confidently "bootcamp ready" at this point. After these programs (which I want to say took me about 5 months complete with self-paced involvement) I began interviewing bootcamps to decide which worked for me and eventually found one! Fast forward to my internship, my mentors from CodeTL were still accessible and checking on me, we would even still do some pair programming, technical interview prep (to keep me relevant to the job market for when my internship was complete), and they even made recommendations on what I could discuss in my 1:1s with manager and above. When finally at a place of negotiating offers, these same mentors worked with me to understand my personal and career priorities to plan an approach of how to retort and get a better package that met my needs. This continued support (a year plus later), showed me how impactful CodeTL is and continues to be in people's lives. In these conversations, these mentors went over potential tax considerations, assessed my offer with respect to my current and future responsibilities (i.e. parenting, home purchase), my desire for flexibility, and gave me the run down on equity. All things prior to tech, I never considered while working wage jobs. I always negotiated a few extra dollars and possibly a few remote days, but I'd never negotiated thousands of dollars at once which was intimidating - they truly helped my confidence with this. I think this organization is filled with staff and volunteers, top down, that genuinely care about the mission and your experience, working with you to build a plan that minimizes obstacles, but also want to make sure you secure a competitive job and establish a career. After I completed the Code Ramp++, many of my cohort mates that weren't considering bootcamp, but still coding were offered to work in partnership as Microsoft Fellow. This sort of access to community projects allowed us all to experience an environment similar to a production team, understand working sprints and typical enterprise tooling. Overall, Code Tenderloin's ability to problem solve, provide solutions, deliver in technical education and access to opportunity is quite un-matched. I'm in the industry now, it's been three years since I began their programs and I still use their network of ongoing support, albeit I call them a family now. I know that I always have a place I can get help answering some of my "transitioning into tech"questions or just brush up on my technical skills (i.e. interviewing, knowledge of new tech usage, etc). Moreover, I try to contribute often and make myself accessible to the current participants of the program.
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