From Bootcamp to First Software Engineer Job Offer
For most of my life, I only went for the easy thing. When deciding whether or not to pursue something, I based it on if I believed I could achieve it. If it looked too hard or scary, the only way I would do it was if I was forced. So that meant I self-restricted quite a bit. Even though I was considered by others to be smart throughout grade school, I didn’t believe it myself. Even after graduating salutatorian of my high school, I felt like a fraud. So it’s no surprise that when I initially came into contact with a screen of unintelligible code, I was completely intimidated and didn’t believe that I could ever decipher it, let alone actually land a job in the tech field. That was for the truly smart people.
But life will have its way with you, and sent my daughter to express an interest in coding to me and my husband. That was the only thing that could have motivated me to start down the frightening coding path. I could see that she felt the same intimidation and uncertainty I’d felt over the years. If you’re a mother, I need say no more. But for those of you who aren’t, let me share two of my numerous “mama” moments that may give you some insight.
FIRST MAMA STORY: Throughout my life, I occasionally had a recurring dream of a monster chasing me and I would never confront it, often waking from my dream, heart pounding terrified and out of breath due to my efforts to run for my life. When I discovered I was pregnant, the dream began to come even more and I was actually concerned it might affect my baby. But then the dream started to change. I would start off running but then stop in defiance to confront the monster. And instead of tearing me to pieces, it stopped as well. I would awake in the midst of our standoff. Then I stopped running at all in the dream. The time came when I, enraged on behalf of my unborn child, started chasing the monster. I woke up astonished that it had actually run off in terror… of me!
SECOND MAMA STORY: After my daughter was born, I remember watching over her as she slept, wanting to give her everything I didn’t have growing up in the projects of Houston. I vowed I would do all I could to ensure she grew up with both her parents in her life to prevent her from experiencing the pain I’d suffered. My husband and I also worked hard to secure our financial future so she wouldn’t be deprived. But I wanted to go beyond that, and give her a fearless drive in life that would sustain her beyond her parents’ care. In a quiet moment of contemplation it came to me, I would have to model it for her. How? By doing the thing that wasn’t easy, the thing that was scary and hard. So I wrote and published my first book.
Over the years as my daughter continued to grow, I devoted myself to my family and gradually slipped back into my old habit of pursuing what was easy. I told myself it was because I wanted to be 100% available to take care of my family. But I think some of that old fear was creeping back in and I used my family as an excuse not to face my fears and chase the hard things.
When I started my coding journey, it wasn’t to chase a dream, it was to support my daughter and encourage her to do the very thing I wasn’t doing, pursue a dream until you catch it, wrestle it to the ground and make it cry “Uncle!”
I started out slowly researching HTML and CSS, the basic building blocks of the internet. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed coding. However, HTML and CSS weren’t real programming languages so I decided to dabble in JavaScript, my first programming language. I was hooked! It engaged my mind in way that even writing hadn’t achieved.
Enter Flatiron, stage left, with an offer I couldn’t refuse. I was awarded a Cognizant scholarship. Now I had no excuse not to go for it, except I had a real fear of failing. Even though the Covid pandemic prevented me from having the in person campus experience I signed up for because everything went online as our country sheltered in place, I went for it… and fell flat on my face after the first 3 weeks. It was one of the hardest periods in my life, to get up, regroup, and continue moving forward. The pandemic, the protests, and personal challenges plagued me throughout my Flatiron journey. But I didn’t quit. I learned to face my fear and ask for help and was amazed by the response I received from the Flatiron community. I learned I could achieve way more than just the easy thing, I could actually conquer the scary thing.
After I made it through Flatiron, I was set to face another fear. I call it the trifecta. The tech industry is known for having a bias against women, African Americans, and people of a certain age (one reporting as early as 36 yrs!)… the trifecta. I have the trifecta. Even those without the trifecta who also possess superior coding skills can struggle to find their first tech position. So I was prepared to persevere for however long it would take to find a Software Engineering position that was a good fit for me. In the meantime, I would continue to work on my programming skills.
After 5 weeks of job searching, I had almost had an interview with one company but they made an offer to another candidate before we could finalize an interview date and time. Another company reached out to me through Flatiron for an interview but then canceled the morning of our interview and I never received a response to my follow up emails. I had also applied for numerous positions in which I’d received automated email responses acknowledging receipt of my application, rejection notices, or no response at all. Through it all, I was steadily building my network.
On Friday morning, the end of the 5th week of my job search, my husband suggested setting up a phone introduction with someone from his network. I asked if we were going to be on video and he said no, so I consented. I took the call in my PJs and satin cap. If you don’t know about black women, hair, and satin caps, Google it.
It was just an introduction so I was relaxed and we had a great conversation talking about how he came to co-found his tech company and my journey into programming and my Flatiron experience. I frankly expressed that the most important factor I was searching for in a company was an environment that was the right fit for me. When he asked what salary I was expecting, I realized I was actually in the midst of my first Software Engineering interview! I looked down at my PJs and answered honestly that I was focused on learning about his tech company and wasn’t thinking about salary at that point. Before ending the conversation… interview, I said I would email my resume, website/portfolio, GitHub, and technical blog to him.
When I got off of the phone I told my husband that I thought I’d just had my first interview for a tech position and we both had a good laugh. But later that day, when I got a call with a job offer, I was stunned, elated, and knew this was going to be another scary thing for me to tackle. But my fear was significantly diminished by my excitement over landing my first Software Engineering job.
I have no regrets over pursuing my dream to become a Software Engineer. It’s been painful and challenging, but it’s also provided moments of pure elation. I don’t plan on slipping back into my old habit again. I’m going to push forward, confront my fears, and see exactly how far I can go. My daughter’s watching, and she tells me she’s proud of me. So far, I haven’t inspired her to enter the programming field. But maybe I’ve inspired you.
