Why Coding?

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had an affinity and passion for technology. My first exposure to technology began with the original Nintendo NES where I played for hours as the red overalled plumber named Mario trying to save a princess while fighting against “Koopas” and Goombas”. I remember playing hours with my dad who I can thank for exposing me to the world of video games. On to third grade I had one of the best experiences I’ve ever had as a student at any age. My awesome teacher understood the power of computers and at the time the fledging Apple Macintosh. He had acquired enough computers to line the entire back wall of his classroom, and when finished with our studies, we were rewarded with time to use the computers to basically play games. I did say he was awesome right?

Despite my interest in computers I never really considered a career in tech actually. It was something in hindsight I wish I had explored more before and during college. In fact if you had asked me when I was in high school what an engineer was, I had no idea. I ended up pursuing another love of mine which was languages and finished college with a degree in Linguistics. I managed to translate those strong analytical skills to a career in the financial industry where I have been the last six years. Despite being good at what I do, in 2015 almost a year after the birth of my son, I started contemplating what I wanted to do next. I had thoughts of wanting to do something I enjoyed and could be passionate about. Watching my son grow up in his first year, I thought of my responsibility to my family to provide for them.

One fateful day I was talking to my brother who had just come home from having dinner with a friend. This friend was a programmer in the Bay Area and was telling my brother about how much he loved his job and how he should join a bootcamp and become a programmer too. As I heard my brother explain what he heard about a coding bootcamp, I was a bit skeptical but intrigued as well. Codecademy was a resource his friend suggested to get a taste of coding. I decided to check it out and immediately I was hooked! I just remember for nearly a month it seemed like all I did was Codecademy. It challenged me by introducing me to a world I had known nothing about. It was simple yet hard all at the same time. The feeling of pride I got when I saw the rudimentary website I had built through a Codecademy course just felt so empowering as I could see the power of coding. I started doing research on bootcamps and tried to find everything I could read about them. After much deliberation I decided to take the plunge and sign up with Bloc. I’ll explain how and why I chose Bloc in the next post!

Happy Coding!