Software Development was not something that I considered as a potential career track until some months after I graduated from Rider University. While studying Journalism, I gained experience creating multi-media packages for feature stories and wanted to take a web design course to strengthen my digital media and coding skills. I’ve mentioned that software development is a combination of architecture and writing. You build a support structure, but also tell a story. I started to reflect on my hobbies from an early age, such as my interest in computers and passion for building things and realized that it wasn’t going to be such an intense shift from what I was doing.
Near the end of my senior year, I started working for a tech startup that provided analytics for digital publishers and content creators, but if I wanted to be fully immersed in this industry, I needed to push myself to learn more and develop a greater understanding of how applications and websites are built. Going through The Flatiron School, I faced many challenges that I didn’t imagine that I would solve, but I looked forward and took advantage of all of the resources because I knew that there would be an endgame. Throughout the job search, I’ve mostly kept a positive attitude, but there were times where I became frustrated with the progress, questioning whether I had the proper skillset and projects to showcase. It’s hard to decide what’s best when you have so many different sources of advice, but the important thing is that opportunities will come.
I’ve spent months of networking with other software engineers and alumni, learning about what projects that they work on, the strategies that they utilize to solve problems, and how to improve communication and programming skills. I’ve received feedback on what steps to take such as restructuring my resume, focusing on a particular tech stack, and working daily on data structures and algorithms. This has been the most helpful component during the job search because it made me understand what it’s like to work in the tech industry in a variety of roles from Full Stack to Site Reliability. I think it also provides perspective on how things can be built in a collaborative environment. If you consider and listen to other people’s ideas and contributions, it increases the possibilities for a more successful platform.