Beginning of my Software Developer Journey with Flatiron School!
Tags: webdev, beginners, programming
Published: 2022-05-12 17:07:39

#A Lil' About Me!

My name is Brian and I've loved computers since I got my first laptop in high school. I was on that thing every second I could be. Browsing the internet, watching youtube, playing video games, _reluctantly_ doing homework, you know the drill. One thing that really captured my interest with computers was how much there was to play around with. Every new website, program, and file had something I hadn't messed with before. There was so much to learn and so much possibility that I couldn't peel myself away from the computer even just to grab a snack. Throughout high school, college, and after college, I was on the computer for most of my free time. But I still hadn't fully decided how **exactly** I wanted to incorporate my interest into a career. I loved playing video games, maybe I could get into game development! But I also loved messing around on the internet, maybe web developer? But I also loved playing with Photoshop, music programs, and on and on. There was so much to delve into with computers, I couldn't pick just one.

#Finding My School

Then I found a place that really inspired me: [**Flatiron School!**](https://flatironschool.com/courses/coding-bootcamp/) As with any college/institution that I found during my search, I went through a long review process to make sure I fully understood every positive and negative aspect associated with it. 
* What would I be taught 
* How long is the course 
* Online or in-person 
* Do they help with job search after completion 
* What have previous students said
* And many more questions

With Flatiron School, all of the answers to these questions were perfect for me. What really inspired me the most was how many _glowing reviews_ this school had. Everywhere I searched there were posts from previous students talking about how great their experience was. There were some bad reviews, of course, but the good far outweighed the bad. And now...

#Where I Am Now

As of writing this post I am **very happy** to say that I am currently a student of Software Engineering at Flatiron School! I am just about 3 weeks into the 15 week program and my experience has been even _better_ than I had anticipated. I used to have quite a disdain for learning online, as opposed to the typical classroom, but Flatiron has completely flipped my position on that. I've learned so much already and the learning process has been pretty smooth! There have been bumps in the road but that's given when you try to learn anything as big as Software Engineering. Flatiron has helped smooth out those bumps excellently. At this point, I've learned the basics to `JavaScript`, `HTML`, and `CSS`, and how to compile them all together in the `DOM`. I feel like I've come so far but I know that there is so much more to come. 

#Where I'm Going

It feels a little silly to say this since I've only just begun, but I do have some goals for myself once I've completed this course at Flatiron. Obviously getting a job in the field is an immediate goal (my landlord won't care very much about "_how much I've learned and grown!_" if I can't pay the rent) but beyond that I do want to make a difference in the industry. I'm personally very invested in environmental issues and I would love to make a change in the company I work for in regards to their environmental impact. It's easy to become bogged down in all the amazing technological advances we've made in recent years and not fully consider how the practical implementations of those advances can have an adverse effect on the local and global environment. A major goal of mine is to become a strong voice for these issues in whatever company(s) I work for and the industry itself. 

But for now...
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