After thinking about making a shift in my career path for some time, I've decided to pull the trigger. At the end of the month I'm heading out west to Houston for a nine week intensive (10-12 hrs/day, 6-7 days/wk) bootcamp to acquire the skills needed to become a software developer.
A few weeks ago I heard of this new format for learning computer programming through a friend of the family. This young lady attended a three month bootcamp in 2012 to learn Ruby on Rails. She said it was intense, but that it really paid off. She worked hard, and was hired by one of her instructors, who owns a software development company in Nashville. She now has a rewarding career in a field that's in high demand right now, and in the foreseeable future.
Inspired by her story, I began to do some research, along with some heavy-duty soul searching, and came up with a plan to attend one of these bootcamps and work to become a software programmer in the web development field.
I found a bootcamp located in Houston, Texas called Coder Camps that teaches the ASP.NET (pronounced A-S-P dot Net) framework. After speaking with some programmers in the Nashville area, and conducting my own research*, I found that ASP.NET would be a strong choice since many of the large healthcare, insurance, hospitality and entertainment companies in Nashville are using ASP.NET to develop their software systems.
Out of the many "coding" bootcamps that have sprung up in the country's tech centers over the last few years, Coder Camps is the only one offering an immersion study program focusing on the ASP.NET framework. In 9 weeks you learn the critical skills needed to work as a junior programmer. For an extensive list of these kinds of bootcamps, check out BootCamper.io.
After submitting my application to Coder Camps, I was invited to a Skype interview with David Graham, the founder of Coder Camps and the owner of a software development company based in Houston. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with David about his school, the curriculum, and the requirements for attending. After speaking with him for about half an hour about my background and my goals, he approved my application. It's a big commitment, and that's the main reason for the application/interview process. They want to be 100% sure that students know what they're getting into and the sacrifices they'll have to make. But in the end, I believe the reward of an exciting new career in web development will be worth it. So, here's to new beginnings, and maybe a little Texas-style BBQ!
*Research Sources
Google Trends - Software Technologies
BuiltWith - Framework Usage Statistics
Indeed - Job Trends & Job Salaries
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