So I don’t know why, but Black Tech Twitter inspired me to begin blogging my tech journey; the very short journey it has been thus far, anyway. I figured since I’m still in the early stages, now would be a good time as any to start. It might even keep me motivated and allow me to hold myself accountable.
My journey began sometime in the month of July. I somehow discovered Black Tech Twitter, which was filled with a vast amount of knowledge and resources for anyone who was thinking of making a career change into a more lucrative one. The promises were everywhere… “Entry level positions starting at 100k”…”No college degree required!”…”No experience necessary!” It all sounded way too good to be true. But nonetheless, there were hundreds of people who were Brown proclaiming it to be true. Not only were they all Brown, but many of them were flaunting luxury cars, clothes, purses, jewelry, etc. All while saying you could break into tech and be making six figures within your first year or less!
At this point, I was almost sold. I decided to keep doing my research. The problem with tech research is that it’s basically never-ending. Wanting to get into tech is one thing, but then you have to figure out exactly what it is you would like to do in this field; the possibilities are unlimited. There’s Software Development, CyperSecurity, Cloud, AI, InfoSec, etc. And each one of these aspects of technology have another variety of roles that are associated with them.
Needless to say, it was easy to become overwhelmed with options.
I did think learning how to code would be a great place to start though, seeing as how I was a pro at coding my MySpace profile when I was in middle school. Oh, I coded all of my friend’s profiles too. I mean, how hard could it be, right? And that feeling once you’ve coded a background and the code works flawlessly; honestly such a great feeling.
At this point in my research, I began coming across the bootcamps necessary to help one become a Software Engineer/Developer. Now, remember, bootcamps are not necessary. A lot of this information is available for free on Google along with a variety of other resources available online. I, however, found it difficult finding a place to hone in and begin my coding journey. I did the One Free Hour of Code website online, where I coded a Flappy Bird game and even got to customize the characters, settings and the sound. I was pretty proud of that project; I sent it to all my family and saved it on my iPhone home screen. However, I felt it still wasn’t challenging enough for me. It was so simple a child could probably do it.
I then downloaded (and accidentally paid for by forgetting to cancel my free trial) this app on my phone called Mimo. I had heard a lot about Python, so that was the first course I began learning. Mimo has a seamless interface that makes learning new concepts enjoyable; however, I still got a sense that I wasn’t being challenged enough. This is when I strongly began considering the possibility of enrolling into a bootcamp
To Be Continued…
