Noel was thrilled to be accepted, and after lots of hard work, he graduated from Juno’s Bootcamp in April 2018 with new skills, new projects, and a new portfolio to show them all off!
And he really did change his life: only one month after graduation, Noel began a 6-month contract role at Jonas Software as a Content Designer. Using his HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills, he helped the Web Design team migrate content from their previous platform to their new Content Management System.
After Noel’s contract ended, Jonas Software signed him on to a full-time position as a Web Designer. He now spends his days building and deploying new websites from scratch, designing prototypes for apps, and consulting with clients to make their website’s styling and information architecture align with their marketing objectives.
“Overall, I love what I'm doing now because I'm working in tech and applying the skills I learned from Juno, and it's a hybrid developer/design role - so I still get to be creative and use the art direction skills I learned at Seneca and the Adobe Suite fundamentals from UofT.”
Noel’s advice for those looking to make a career change into tech? Learn the basics, and find your focus.
“The tech field has a lot of different avenues you can follow, whether it's UX, front-end development, back-end, graphic design, and so on - and even those avenues have their own sub-categories. A lot of them overlap, so it's good to get a basic understanding or solid foundation of everything, but once you do that, then figure out where you want to focus.”
Noel knows that sometimes this isn’t a conscious decision - for instance, the first job you get might steer you in a specific direction.
“Once you feel yourself going that way, ask yourself if this is something you want to continue with, and if not, then speak with someone at your company so you can figure out how they can help steer you there. Either way, once you know your lane, follow it. It's good to be a jack of all trades, but at the same time, you want to avoid becoming a master of none. That was my problem after UofT. While I learned the basics of everything there, I didn't have any idea of where I wanted to focus and it took me some time to align my strengths with my passions.”
What’s next on the docket for Noel?
“My current responsibilities are preparing me for a future that combines development with UX and UI, and I would love to be in a role where my marketing and design experience can help mentor others. Through it all, and maybe this is the advertiser in me talking, but whether copywriting or coding, every line is the bottom line.”
Noel’s also keeping his skills sharp by continuing his learning journey at Juno!
“Ultimately, I learned the hard way before Juno that it’s important to keep your skill set up-to-date and relevant, and I don’t want to make the same mistake again.”
Noel will be taking Juno’s UX Design, React, and Custom Theme Development courses that will help him excel at his job even more than before. When asked why he’s excited to continue learning at Juno, Noel shared:
The overall atmosphere of Juno: there’s no judgement, everyone is helpful, and there’s a very positive culture that makes learning fun. In the past two years since graduating, I’ve always been welcome back, and the staff have been proactive in extending a support system, advice, and resources to alumni. So it was a no-brainer to continue my path as a designer and developer in the Juno network!
