Feeling unfulfilled from your current job and exploring new career opportunities? Did you realize that you no longer enjoy what you’re doing or maybe you can’t advance any further? You're not alone.
This is a realization that many come to terms with within their career. The good news is that changing careers is more common than ever now. You don’t have to stick with a job just because you’ve worked at the same company or within the same industry for so long.
If you still don't think it's possible, meet Silvana Rojas, Amanda Leaders, and Dawn Ribeiro. These three Alumnae all come from completely different work experience and backgrounds yet all successfully made the switch into web development. But how did they do it?
1. Getting Ahead with Self-Teaching
A ton of our students and potential students discover our full-time program through self-teaching. They’re curious about learning web development and learned more through online resources. But usually, they're looking for more support, structure, or wanting to speed up the learning process. Our full-time immersive program is three months long and yes, that’s an extremely short period of time. Let's make sure we set you up for success.
In order to hit the ground running, it’s beneficial, and maybe even vital, to get familiar with some of the topics that will be covered before starting your cohort.
Silvana turned to resources, such as HackerRank and SoloLearn, when she was first learning how to code. She also went to local networking events and Meetups. It was at one of these events where she discovered Suncoast Developers Guild.
Amanda also followed code tutorials online which is what introduced her to web development in the first place. On the other hand, Dawn was able to learn and get an inside look of the cohort because she was the third person in her family to attend our [full-time program](https://suncoast.io/academy "Suncoast full-time program page"). Through Dino, her husband, she was able to see what the journey (and work load) to becoming a junior developer was really like on a day-to-day basis.
2. Taking Advantage of Scholarship Opportunities
When Silvana was enrolling in our program, she was awarded the Diversity Scholarship from Suncoast Developers Guild but still lacked the funds to attend. She was ecstatic when she received a call from one of the SDG team members and was told that she would be receiving a full scholarship from Experian.
Amanda also had an amazing opportunity through PROforma. They sponsored her through the cohort with plans to hire her immediately after graduation. Companies do this because there's a shortage of developer talent. By sponsoring a student (or students), employers know that within three months, they will have a developer specifically trained to the company's needs and languages. PROforma has done this sponsorship with several students in the past and, in fact, they’ve sponsored an entire cohort to go through the program.
The scholarship opportunities that are available vary from cohort to cohort, so if you’re wondering what’s available, let’s chat!
3. Viewing Challenges as Opportunity for Growth
Challenges can be frustrating and hindering when it comes to you crushing your goals but only if that’s how you choose to view them. On the other hand, there’s so much power in looking at challenges and obstacles as an opportunity to learn and grow. Dawn is a perfect example of a student who possessed this mindset.
She worked the same career for 16 years (yes, SIXTEEN) and she wanted so badly to take on a new challenge. That's exactly what she did when she enrolled in Cohort XIV. To be more specific, the biggest hurdle for her in the cohort was React. But instead of letting it intimidate her, she took it head-on and even had fun with it.
All three of these grads have a passion for learning and pursuing new challenges which is a major aspect of web development that people love. These ladies said no to jobs that made them feel stuck and haven't looked back.
As a software programmer, your learning will never stop and your skillset will continue to expand. Silvana, Amanda, and Dawn are all so excited for whatever comes next in their careers as junior developers and taking on new languages as well.
