Why I want to be a web developer?
Published: 2022-05-06 01:22:22

Hello! I'm Hikari. I want to be a front-end developer in Vancouver. I’m trying to change my career from a customer service specialist in Japan to a front-end developer in Canada. Here's my story.



## What I learned in a university

I graduated from Seinan Gakuin University with an intercultural study. At that moment, I acquired the knowledge necessary for cross-cultural understanding comprehensively through fieldwork in some European countries and multiple languages training (Italian, French, Spanish, and English). That brought me the skill of solving problems with flexible thinking aptitudes. And also working overseas became my dream, indeed.


## Work Experiences

**1. What I didn't like about my first company**

Those fabulous experiences at the university encouraged me to work in a company that can help people with my skills and strengths. Afterward, I started working in a trading company dedicated to supporting the company as an office clerk. The job was not that hard, but it was dull paperwork mostly and less interaction with people. The work environment was pretty exhausting for me, and I realized that it would be better to put my communication skills to good use. So, I decided to put myself in a different company.

**2. Work experiences as a customer service specialist**

 Next, I changed my job to a business service company specializing in customer engagement and business performance. My career as a customer service specialist started with technical support. And eventually, I worked there for three years and got involved in three projects from their launch! It was quite a rare situation to work on several projects in that company. But my flexibility supported me and got me involved with various clients and coworkers. 
These projects were about customer technical support. But their contents were different depending on the project, such as supporting the launch of a hotel property’s website on the online travel agency site and helping a game player and a home gadget.
Especially for the first project, my KPI score was the highest in the team. Because of that, my boss suggested I promote roles as an SME(subject matter expert) and a trainer for the next project. Although it was a bit challenging for me, but I took up on it. Eventually, I trained more than 150 employees, and my achievement was evaluated officially so I got a company award for that year.


## Why do I want to be a web developer?

The best thing about working in that company was the experiences there that made me get curious about becoming a developer. 
Here are the reasons and experiences.

**_Reason1: Realized the impact of a website_**

As I mentioned before, I supported the launch of a hotel property’s website on an online travel agent site for over one year. At that moment, I saw various massive hotel websites. It allowed me to think about what kind of website attracts people. Even though the property itself is very attractive, if the website is unappealing, no one gets interested in them. Sometimes I feel sorry for such a poorly attractive website because they can show themselves way better. Therefore, I realized how a website has an impact on website users. And also it was really fun for me to see a lot of websites!

**_Reason2: Loved using cutting edge tools_**

Because ​​of working in a company that outsourced business processes to clients, I needed to get used to using each of my client’s systems. I was having so much fun and impressed using some platforms such as Salesforce, AWS, SAP, Slack, or even their in-house tools.  My first hired company was very old-fashion (they used FAX! ), so these useful tools blew my mind, and I really liked to use them.

**_Reason3: Had fun solving a problem_**

One of my roles was called SME which stands for subject matter expert. That role and responsibilities are answering the customer operator’s questions or consultation. Most of the contents were rare cases so I had to figure out myself by researching in the knowledge sources or just google efficiency. That was quite fun for me. Especially when I was able to get the answer by researching or figuring it out flexibly with my knowledge. Since working in the role, I would say I'm good at finding accurate answers by researching. 

**_Reason4: Wanted a specific skill_**

I was pretty satisfied with the job itself. However, every project was so unstable since the project's contact term was dependent on my clients. We really needed to work for our clients, but we were forced our projects to close twice due to the COVID-19 situation, and some coworkers got fired, unfortunately. Those harsh experiences encouraged me to get a specific skill to get through the unstable society. 

 

## My goal as a front-end developer

Therefore, I decided to change my career above reasons. In addition, being a front-end engineer is still needed to have communication with people like designers or clients. That is also the reason why I selected the career pass.
 I'm currently studying web development at Cornerstone International Community College of Canada. Before coming here, I taught myself HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and am loving learning and developing the web so far. Because I know how huge an impact a website has, so I'm excited to create it on my own. I would love to continue to learn this skill set to become a professional front-end developer and get a job in Vancouver.