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Student Stories: Forrest Alward

Currently studying Full-stack Web Development

Q: Tell us about yourself!

I am American and South African. I traveled around the world, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do after my degree. I currently live in Vietnam. I am teaching physical education and English in Vietnam. I love computers and have a gaming setup. Last year, I bought a Udemy course during Black Friday, and I discovered that I really enjoy building things with software. I was initially planning to move back to the USA to do a physical bootcamp there. But, after I did some research, I discovered Altcademy, and I liked that Altcademy is online and self-paced. By taking Altcademy, I can keep working and keep making money while learning web development.

Q: How are your experiences learning at Altcademy?

When I started Altcademy, I have already known a bit of HTML/CSS, Node, and React. I really enjoy the format of Altcademy because it’s project-based. I learned the most when I apply the knowledge to building something.

It’s great to have a community of students and mentors from Altcademy. Since not many of my friends code, it can be hard to see if I am on the right track. By seeing what people are saying on Altcademy’s Slack channel and having mentors, it gives me reassurances that I am on the right track.

During my self-teaching last year, it takes a long time to learn something because you might get stuck and not know how to fix the problems. You also need to find out what you need to learn, so you are essentially building a curriculum for yourself while not having the skills. A bootcamp helps you keep moving forward!

Altcademy gives the right amount of hand-holding, but not too much. This is good because when you work on a big problem, it feels good if you can complete it mostly by yourself. I am really enjoying it a lot!

Q: What are your short-term goals?

My current plan is to move back to the USA in August 2022, and find a job as a software developer! For now, I am doing some freelancing on the side by making WordPress websites. Through referrals, I have a few clients now. While WordPress is fun, I want to build more complex web applications!

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STUDENT STORY

"The program actually teaches you how to build things from scratch"

STUDENT STORY

"I've observed that more of the jobs and projects which recently have come my way skew towards software."

STUDENT STORY

"With Altcademy, I found a new career path that I'm passionate about"

Meet our Alumni

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

Hired · Alumni

Josh N.

Frontend Developer at Wyng

LinkedIn ->

Hired · Alumni

Brett T.

Associate Software Developer Consultant at Thrivent

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Hired · Alumni

Kevin K.

Wechat App Developer at KX Studio

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Hired · Alumni

Yuen K.

Associate React Developer at LifeWorks

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Hired · Alumni

Cortni F.

QA Analyst at Knak

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Hired · Alumni

Kade C.

Junior Developer at St. Louis County

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Hired · Alumni

Susan W.

Software Engineer at Paychex

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Hired · Alumni

Clark A.

Frontend Developer at Invisible Design

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Hired · Alumni

Joanna R.

Junior Full-Stack Software Developer at Streetwave

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Hired · Alumni

Wenjing C.

Frontend Developer at University of Minnesota

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Hired · Alumni

Jorge G.

IT MSS Support at Sysdev Mobile Computing

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Hired · Alumni

Noor A.

Full Stack Developer at Hunza Tech Solutions LLC

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