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Student Stories: Bennett Marcelo

Currently studying Full-stack Web Development

Q: How did you end up joining Altcademy?

Well, I originally pursued Nursing as my first career choice. When I finished the prerequisites for the program, I was put on a wait-list. But, I didn’t want to wait for that any longer. My brother-in-law, who is a software engineer, suggested that I should look into coding because software engineers are well paid and highly sought after. At the time, I had no idea what software engineers were until I did some research.I was drawn to the fact that you don’t need a degree to get a great paying job, so I started looking into some bootcamps.

I originally wanted to do an in-person coding bootcamp but realized they were too expensive and not practical while working. I also live in Bakersfield, California where there are no coding schools which meant I would have to move to a big city like Los Angeles or San Francisco, which would have been even more costly.

I decided on an online coding bootcamp which I paid $6,000 for. But, after two days into it, I had to leave the country due to personal reasons and had no idea when I would be able to come back. I didn’t want to waste my time any longer, so my sister helped me find other online bootcamps to attend and found Altcademy.

I looked through website, and I really liked the layout of the curriculum and how it was structured. The price was also unbeatable, I paid less than $2,000 for a personalized 6 to 10 month course where I can learn at my own pace. I am also able to contact my teacher through Slack and usually get a response within the hour.

Q: What’s important for online learning?

The feedback and answers to my questions are the most important. I have heard of people learning on their own but I decided to learn from a bootcamp. I knew that, with bootcamps, I would always be able to have my questions answered right away.

At Altcademy, 60% of the questions are replied within 60 minutes, and 100% of the questions are answered within 24 hours.

It was to my liking that we started with HTML & CSS to ramp up my skills and getting my mind introduced to coding. I also knew learning to code was going to be daunting task, so it was comforting to know that I would be getting support throughout the course.

Ultimately, I want to get a job in software development. I plan to master the skills first and apply for software jobs somewhere in San Jose area or maybe even San Francisco. I also plan on working on my bachelor’s degree in computer science in the future, even though a bachelor’s degree is not a necessity in landing a job in software development.

Q: Any advice for aspiring learners?

When first I started learning, I didn’t know much. Learning new things is always going to be a challenge. Like many others, I sometimes doubt whether I am good enough going into this field. But, I soon realized that I am not alone. Everybody goes through these same struggles and challenges. It’s normal to feel discouraged sometimes. There are times when I don’t exactly know what’s going on.

The advice I have for myself is that: don’t give up; don’t feel stupid; push through all the difficulties!

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STUDENT STORY

"The self-paced nature of Altcademy suits me really well"

STUDENT STORY

"I like to learn something new every day and travel around the world."

STUDENT STORY

"I began to realize just how passionate I am about coding"

Meet our Alumni

Going from beginners to professional coders, 85%+ of Altcademy alumni are hired within 6 months after graduation

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Felipe C.

Ruby on Rails Developer at CardCastle

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Tereza Y.

Front-End developer at Golden Bubble Ltd

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Marieke L.

Junior Front End Developer at PlattesGroup

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Mostafa H.

Senior Solutions Engineer at SailPoint

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Boyan K.

DevOps Engineer at BetterUp

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Samuel T.

Front-End Web Developer at Rooster Grin Media

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Samuel M.

Senior Technical PM at Square

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Achraf H.

Product Manager at Morningstar

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Dominic L.

Associate Software Engineer at Lovehoney

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Surafel S.

Front End Developer at EMR CPR

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Josh N.

Frontend Developer at Wyng

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Morris B.

Software Engineer at US Daily News

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