“I always knew he was a bright guy and was impressed with his development,” says Shahyn. “I remember telling him that I wished I was smart enough to do something like that.”
To Shahyn’s surprise, his friend answered that coding is about more than just intelligence - it’s about work ethic and perseverance. Shahyn’s friend brought up the possibility of certain Bootcamp programs that specifically prepare students for jobs in tech - fast.
Shahyn was convinced to try some free online coding courses - and the rest was history! He came across Juno, and was impressed with the community and student outcomes.
“One thing led to another, and 10 months later, there I was doing a coding bootcamp myself at Juno! If all their grads were able to find jobs after graduation, I felt like I should be able to do the same.”
Shahyn was right - after 9 weeks of learning core front-end concepts, he graduated with a portfolio to show everything off, and ready to land his first developer job.
What is it like working as a web developer?
The realities of the hospitality industry are what have pushed a lot of our grads to make a career change similar to Shahyn. Like many others, a big draw of web development for Shahyn was the flexibility of developer jobs - specifically, the option to work anywhere.
“You know when you go on vacation and see hipsters working on their laptops on the beach?” he says. “Many of them are developers!”
Not all developers work behind a desk all day; many choose to work remotely. Working remotely allows you to work from anywhere. Whether it’s home, the beach, or the moon, the choice is yours.
Shahyn’s choice? Barcelona, Spain! He had fallen in love with the city after visiting a few times.
When Shahyn arrived in Spain, he didn’t know anybody there, didn’t know the language, and didn’t know where to find his first job - but at the time, the economy was booming, and so was tech (in fact, the tech industry is still thriving)! After applying to various jobs, Shahyn finally landed a role at a small agency as a front-end web developer.
“I remember getting the email, and honestly, it was one of the greatest moments in my life. It was a reward after 8 months of hard work studying web development.”
His new job wasn’t without its challenges and lessons: “My biggest mistake at my first job was that I didn’t Google enough and tried to come up with my own logic and code,” he says. “I wasted a lot of time with that,” he says. “In the beginning if you are given a task, and you don't know how to do it, don't be afraid to Google it and find examples online to learn from.”
