| | Peter Schreyer | After graduating from college in 2013 with a science degree, I worked for a few years as a teacher, which was fun and a great experience, but didn't afford me the lifestyle or job satisfaction that I wanted out of my career. I happened to run into a friend from high school at a party who mentioned that he was currently working as a web developer after dropping out of his computer science program at Berkeley to attend a coding bootcamp. That encounter got me thinking about a career change, which got me Googling bootcamps in my area, and that is how I heard of OCCS. After having a conversation with my girlfriend and parents about my big plans, I applied to the bootcamp, went to the interview where I met Ron, and got accepted into the program.
The main regret I have is not having prepared better, because Ron does not waste any time diving into the material. I did take a Java class at a local community college, along with all the Codecademy.com work and reading he recommended doing prior to the bootcamp, and I kept up with the pace of the class, but did not understand some concepts completely until after the bootcamp ended. One such example is Git; we did not collaborate on our projects with other students, which I think would have definitely strengthened my Git skills. Overall, the program opened my eyes to the tech industry, and got me excited to build and be creative. For future students I would recommend preparing as much as possible and looking over the curriculum to familiarize oneself with the technology.
As for the program itself, Ron definitely knows what the hottest and most relevant technologies are, and how to teach by example. The only thing that I have found him to be completely incorrect about is the strict 'no talking in class' policy that he enforces because he says you should just Google any questions you have instead of asking the person next to you. At my job, I was hired concurrently with another junior, and my superiors encourage us to ask questions and foster a very friendly and talkative environment within our bull-pen set up.
Besides Node and Javascript, I didn't up using any of the technologies we learned at the bootcamp (Angular and MongoDB) at my current job, where we use React, C#, and SQL, but perhaps that is a testament to Ron's teaching that I was able to learn the new technologies so effectively. They were also very helpful with tailoring resumes, Linkedin profiles, and preparing for interviews.
All in all, My loved ones and myself are all very pleased with my new career trajectory, and it has allowed me to travel more, make more money, and have a greater satisfaction with life, so I would absolutely recommend it to anyone dissatisfied with their current career. Keep up the great work, OCCS! |
