After 329 days of learning and trying and failing and trying again I have finally achieved my goal. I got a job as a software engineer! Now I can get paid to code, and keep on learning (and failing, and trying again!) in a supportive environment with a lot of coworkers to ask questions to and learn from. I couldn’t be more excited!
In many ways it feels weird to celebrate this, since it’s only the end of the very beginning, but it has definitely been the single focus of the last year of my life. It feels really rewarding knowing that someone else thinks that I have the right training and attitude to become (or already be!) the developer they need.
In the 2 weeks since I graduated from Launch Academy I learned a lot about software developer interviews. I had 3 on-site interviews, 4 take-home coding challenges, 1 zoom interview, and a lot of phone calls. I struggled on some whiteboarding sessions while others were a breeze. I struggled on some timed coding challenges and others felt super straightforward. The process is weird, and it’s a game that both sides need to play in order to be successful. I’ll be very interested when my time comes to be on the other side of the interviewing table, but until then I’m just really excited to be able to pull up my sleeves, check out some code, and start making things!
I’m blown away that I’ve achieved my goal, and nothing feels 100% real right now. After you set (and get) a big goal like this there is a huge hanging “NOW WHAT?” that follows you around. For my first stab at what to do next I’m going to say “keep learning, growing, documenting and becoming a better developer.” Every ending is a new beginning, and feel free to follow along as I start again.
ps. always read the error message!