Q: Tell us about yourself!

My name is Iti. I currently live in Dubai with my husband. I'm almost done with all the courses. I'm working on an Airbnb Clone, and I have another month to finish it. I'm spending 6-8 hours per day learning online at Altcademy. I’m so grateful to my husband for supporting me during my full-time studies as learning something new really takes a lot of effort, time and commitment.

Q: Is this your first time learning to code?

This is my first time learning to code. I have a marketing degree and I've done a bit of brand marketing and CX consulting. I started talking to developers and helping the clients convey the message between the client and the developers. I was never really part of the development team, but I know how to work with clients. When Covid started and business died down, I started learning HTML and CSS on Codecademy. I also started JavaScript, but there was just too much information and it got too overwhelming, so I discontinued and naturally other day-to-day errands took over.

Q: Why did you decide to learn coding?

I realized that marketing is subjective, but programming is objective - there's right and wrong. This latter approach is where I thrive the best.

I heard of bootcamps as a way to transition into a new career, but I wasn't ready to spend 20 thousand dollars on one. Most bootcamps are in the USA as well, so I couldn't attend them even if I wanted to. I needed to find something completely self-paced and online that would still provide me with guidance.

After looking at a few different options, I decided to go ahead with Altcademy. I'm not sure if it was ranked 2nd or 3rd on the best bootcamps of 2021 list I was looking at, but it had great reviews so I decided to give it a try. Also, the Academy's bootcamp ticked two other important criterias: self-paced and online learning. I'm so glad I did it! I committed to spending 6-8 hours a day on the coursework and it's been wonderful. Within 7 months I have grown from understanding basic HTML and CSS to fully capable of building full-stack Twitter and Airbnb clones. People often don’t see the value of committing a year of their life to learn a new skill that improves their life and career for the next 30 years.

With Altcademy, I found a new career path that I'm passionate about, and my husband is supportive of me pursuing it. Somehow, some forces (read: lots and lots of googling) let me find Altcademy and I'm so grateful for it.

Q: What’s next?

I’m fully committed to a career change. Once I’m finished with my bootcamp studies, I intend to find a software development internship to get actual working experiences on my resume. Then I will look for a full-time role in web development. Even though I’m able to understand the full-stack development cycle, I believe my current strength is more towards the front-end (I’m more familiar with it as I’m being exposed to the front-end more often), but I want to become equally proficient at back-end development.