In this featured blog, Juno College Bootcamp student Fiona Freemark shares her thoughts on changing careers from arts administration to web development.
Making the decision to change my career was not an easy one. In fact, there was a very slow ramp up period that collided in perfect timing with a nudge, and a natural shift in my life. I think there is a lot to be said for hard work, but I also think that there are just certain moments in life where the stars align, and I definitely feel that about this opportunity.
I graduated from art school ten years ago and immediately began working multiple jobs to support my dream of creating and exhibiting my work. While working at my beloved gallery administration job, I also took up a sales advisor position at an art store. Within a year I transitioned into the framing department where I quickly fell into a groove and felt like I was spending my days being creative and building unique, collaborative projects.
All the while, I was also working on my art career — mounting exhibitions, maintaining an online presence, doing residencies and working on submissions. Queue: burnout. I didn’t realize it was happening but a lack of structure and managing three different work schedules took its toll. As an exercise in relaxing, I started listening to audiobooks and podcasts. That was the first shift. A curiosity returned to me when I was able to get out of my head for a moment.
It would be a number of years before I was nudged in the direction of coding (i.e. the slow ramp up I mentioned). Last year, after dabbling in free online courses, I thought I’d give coding a real shot. It was during Juno College’s Intro to Web Development course that I really felt like I’d found something I didn’t even realize I’d been looking for.
I really felt like I’d found something I didn’t even realize I’d been looking for.
It seemed like a sign that my final project consumed my waking hours and I didn’t even realize it. I was so interested in building and problem solving that time flew by. Even though it was a part-time night course, I got a taste of how welcoming and supportive the web development community could be. Then, another year later, when I was in the right position to make the leap, I felt like Juno’s Web Development Bootcamp would be the best move for me.
As so many friends shared with me when I was just beginning to get curious, there is a lot of overlap in creating art and building code. I can already see so many opportunities for each to benefit the other. Though they may seem like entirely different paths, I’m starting to see web development as an extension of my art career and vice versa. I’m not really leaving my art behind, after all.
Though they may seem like entirely different paths, I’m starting to see web development as an extension of my art career and vice versa.
We are only one week in, but I am feeling very lucky to have this opportunity to explore, and I look forward to sharing all that I’m learning.
A woven photograph I created in early 2022 during a period of experimentation and learning in my art and coding career. The process in creating these works feels very akin to building code - with design, development, testing, presentation and a lot of attention to detail.
This article was originally posted on Fiona's Medium blog. Check out Fiona's website here!
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