Q: Tell us about yourself! Which city do you live in?

My name is Sean. I live in the Central Timezone and went to the University of Texas at San Antonio for music education. I have been playing piano since I was seven years old and pursued a career to become a choral director. I love to travel; I even got to study abroad in Italy to learn more about music and their culture.

Q: Is this your first time learning to code?

Yes, this is my first time learning to code. I've used a variety of resources, such as Udemy and Codecademy. I started my journey last year with HTML and CSS, which I picked up fairly quickly. I even dabbled in some JavaScript, but never really finished that course. I did try taking the CS50 Harvard Python course but didn't have the time to finish it.

Q: Why did you decide to learn coding?

I decided to learn to code because I saw people around me going into coding and tech. I thought that I could really get into this career because it allowed me to use a more logical part of my brain, which I had been craving.

Q: How do you like coding so far?

I love problem-solving, which is why I decided to learn to code. It is a very logical form of thinking and the perfect complement to my music education. In music, you need to be creative in order to problem solve, and I think that coding has helped me to do that in a different way. My dad is an architectural engineer, so I was also inspired by his passion for problem-solving.

Q: How are you doing so far in the program?

I began Altcademy with the intention of immersing myself in coding knowledge, which was initially a bit daunting. Some days are more difficult than others, but I've found that by taking it slow and staying focused, I can better handle the highs and lows of learning to code.

Recently, I had a 1:1 session with Altcademy's frontend mentor, David, via Zoom to clarify some concepts for the Airbnb cloning project. In just 15 minutes, he gave me more insight than I had expected and his feedback was immensely helpful.

Q: What are your goals?

My goal is to finish Altcademy by mid-April or possibly June, which would allow me to start applying for jobs. Additionally, I will be doing practice interviews to prepare for the actual interviews. I am also looking to get more experience with data stuff, like SQL and Snowflake. I have always loved math, so this would be a great way to expand my technical knowledge. I moved to San Antonio for college and prefer to stay here since there are many in-person and remote jobs that can be done in the tech industry.