Q: Tell us about yourself

I am currently a manufacturing engineer in an RF company. I support the company to build high quality products for the aerospace industry. I’ve been working in the manufacturing field for 15 years. It’s all problem solving and thinking outside the box in my line of work.

In manufacturing a physical product, you require expensive equipments to get the job done. I want to learn how to build websites because I can build them from start to finish on my own. I don’t need any special equipments to do it. I can create websites in my bedroom or in a coffee shop using a laptop.

Q: Why did you choose to learn web development?

Many engineers have the right qualities to become a good coder. Engineers can be really good at algorithms (logics, syntaxes and programming languages). The actual essence of programming is how you approach the problem and the logic behind it.

I want to learn web development because it’s just a more exciting field. And, you are more likely to be able to create a business out of it.

I already know some computer science concepts in C++, a programming language, from a community college before joining Altcademy. Learning C++ in college is mostly mastering algorithm and the step-by-step approach of creating a software program. Web development is more than just logics. You also need the creative side of yourself. For example, HTML/CSS is quite different from C++ because you are dealing with how the website looks and feels.

One common misconception is that you have to be a designer to do HTML/CSS. You don’t. HTML/CSS is the implementation of the design. Someone else can do the design.

Q: Why Altcademy?

University is quite costly, and I already have a bachelor’s degree. I feel like joining a bootcamp will help you get a job in web development.

Altcademy is a lot more affordable than other in-person and online bootcamps. In-person bootcamps cost 15 to 20k. Many online bootcamps cost more than 8k, and Altcademy is 10 times cheaper. When I tried Coding 101 by Altcademy, it’s actually pretty good. So I joined the Full-stack Web Development program offered by Altcademy.

I think, as long as you can make a website from scratch, you can find a job. And, you have to brush up your algorithms solving abilities for interviews with companies.

Q: What was a moment at Altcademy that was particularly helpful?

During my studies, I learnt the most from cloning things from scratch. What I mean by “cloning” is that, given a website design, I need to build it from scratch.

I really enjoyed getting quality feedback quickly. It’s great that questions are being responded very quickly. In coding, you often need small but important help here and there. So, it was great that the mentors were very responsive. My mentor, Xiao, did an outstanding job in helping me with projects and explaining complex concepts.

Q: Any specific goal in the near future?

I gave myself two years from now to master web development. Ideally, I want to be a freelancer or a web developer in a company. We have become more dependent on the use of the internet. Web development is an important element during this digital age.

As long as you know how to build a software application or a website from scratch and be able to work as a team player, you will be sought after in the software industry.