Laura Salgado changed careers in under a year, graduating from Juno College's Web Development Bootcamp in 2016. She's since coded for cool clients like Celine Dion, Toronto’s Fiesta Farms, and more! Today, she works as a Front-End Developer at Hypenotic, a certified B Corp design agency.
Get inspired by Laura’s journey into tech below:
Laura's Career Change Journey
What was your job before breaking into tech?
I was working as a receptionist at an orthodontist's office. My day-to-day mostly revolved around being on the phone. Scheduling, payments, cleaning, and running the instrument sterilizers.
How did you feel about your job?
Over time, I really felt out of place surrounded by the types of families who could afford expensive aesthetic procedures. Working in this setting brought out some big class anxiety feelings for me. I didn't feel that I belonged in the community I was serving.
Why did you decide to make a career change?
I was motivated to make a career change because I couldn't imagine a future for myself in my current job. Taking a big leap felt like a necessity, and not really like a risk because it felt like I didn’t have anything to lose.
Why did you choose a Bootcamp program over other learning options?
I chose Bootcamp because of the compressed timeline as compared to a longer college program. I would have needed to keep working full-time throughout a traditional college program to be able to care for my basic needs. I could afford to take a few months off work to learn something new, but not a whole year or more.
Why did you choose web development in particular?
I actually never considered tech as an option for me until I started Juno College’s part-time Web Development course. Growing up, my brother was the hacker nerd one, and I was the artsy music and painting one. Once I was able to use CSS to make things happen on the screen, that's when it clicked for me that this is actually a visual art.
Laura's CSS art, made entirely with code - check out her non-coding art on her Etsy Shop!
Juno College's Web Development Bootcamp
What was Bootcamp like?
Oh man, Juno's Web Development Bootcamp was so great. I'd love to have the chance to do something this immersive again in my life. I remember a lot of trips to Le Gourmand around the corner for chocolate chip cookies. We all worked really hard every day (and most evenings), but it was also just such a pleasure to have these great, smart instructors shoving knowledge in our faces. I know every cohort says this, but it's true: our class really turned into a big group of friends. (Hi dream beans, miss you.) Building a new project each week and knowing you'll be showing it off really gives you something to strive for.
I know every cohort says this, but it's true: our class really turned into a big group of friends.
What did you learn/build?
I think the most important thing I learned in Bootcamp was a rock solid understanding of HTML, CSS, and JS basics from the ground up. I gained a holistic point of view of WHY all the little details are important when it comes to accessibility, or performance. Instead of just learning what all the little pieces are, we learned a cohesive universe of what code should be.
What was it like working with Career Services?
Juno College's Career Services taught me how to treat the job hunt as a full-time job. Our class met up every day to work on our job hunting routines together. We all got to celebrate each other's progress and exchange connections we'd made with employers and recruiters. We did practice interviews with each other and with instructors to get past the nerves.
After my first year working as a developer, I returned to Career Services again to keep me accountable for my job hunting process. They were able to introduce me to a design agency that had reached out in search of developers with my skills and experience. I was able to land my second developer job with a higher salary!
Life as a Developer after Juno College's Bootcamp
What was your first job after graduating?
My first job was at a Toronto agency called 78 Digital. I was hired as Front-End Developer exactly one month after finishing Bootcamp. They actually hired two students out of my class, so I was lucky enough to have my good friend Meaghan by my side as we both started out fresh. We could always help each other when we got stuck, and the emotional support we shared really helped me through the first year.
I worked on building sites for a proprietary CMS, as well as custom WordPress themes in PHP. I did loads of accessibility makeovers of their existing sites. I learned a lot about programming fundamentals from the CTO, and best practices for coding in the real world.
What do you do today?
Today I work at a certified B Corp design agency, Hypenotic. I work mostly in Vue and Nuxt using the WordPress REST API. In the last year, I've learned more about building modular components and approaching problem-solving from the JavaScript framework side of things.
What do you enjoy about your job/working in tech?
I really enjoy the precision that goes into coding a design exactly right. I get satisfaction out of having something tangible that I can point to at 5pm, like "hey look, I built that today." It's a really good feeling having created something. I enjoy my coworkers and the way the other developers and designers are not just generous but enthusiastic about imparting the things they know. Everybody's always learning and moving forward.
I get satisfaction out of having something tangible that I can point to at 5pm, like "hey look, I built that today."
What’s an accomplishment you’re proud of in your tech journey?
My favourite site to build was definitely CelineDion.com. On a team with other developers, we built her custom WordPress theme in PHP. I was given the solo task of building all of the fun animations. While on this project, I always had in the back of my mind that this was high stakes!
Another website I'm proud of is for Toronto’s coolest grocery store, Fiesta Farms. I learned a lot about how Vue works by collaborating on that site with my coworkers.
Laura's Closing Thoughts/Advice
What have you learned about yourself during your career change?
Changing careers taught me that I can figure out my own way of getting what I want. The career barriers I had faced in my 20s don’t have to follow me through the rest of my life. It was a matter of working creatively to find a different path around my missing undergraduate degree.
Changing careers taught me that I can figure out my own way of getting what I want.
Advice for those looking to break into tech?
If you're looking to break into tech from the outside, I would want to encourage you that every part of this is learnable. There's no prerequisite or cultural requirement to be able to learn this. Start at the beginning.
Advice for current Bootcamp students?
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Practice yoga in your home. You need to keep your brain happy if you're going to learn something new.
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Get really into array methods; that's what most of what the job is.
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Read the docs. Like it's a book, start to finish. Go back and read them again. Not even talking about any particular framework, go read the MDN docs on JavaScript.
Advice for recent Bootcamp grads?
When reaching out to companies, be yourself in every single communication they get from you. Employers are looking for people who are good to have around daily as much as people who can code websites.
While you're job hunting, apply for the posts that seem out of your league. If you can get in front of somebody, you can find ways to guide the conversation to the skills you're strong in and what excites you. You never know, they might see you as a strong candidate from some perspective other than the list of terms from the posting.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Something my therapist shared with me is how for her, self care is part of the job. It’s just one of the tasks she has to complete, equal to the rest of the tasks a therapist does. Caring for yourself can only make you better at what you do.
Ready to make a change like Laura?
Juno College's Web Development Bootcamp is designed to help you break into tech, fast. See what you’ll learn and build below: