Why I Chose Software Engineering 
Published: 2021-03-03 04:30:57

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Hello my name is Alexia and this is my first blog post. I will be talking about my start into coding and the decision to join Flatiron 

#In the Beginning 
My love for coding didn't start in a typical way. All throughout high school I was apart of a [Girls Underwater Robot Camp](https://web.hillsboroughschools.org/getschooled/article/873/girls-from-underserved-backgrounds-build-and-test-their-own-underwater-robots-with-national-geograph). The first year I was apart of it I built the robot with the help of three other girls and the rest of the years I was a mentor to the next group of young explorers. I was always curious about how these robots worked in their "brain". I could build these robots without instruction but I still didn't understand how they work. Even though I was building these robots I wasn't doing any coding on them. I was just putting them together. It wasn't until my junior year that I was introduced to code.


#My First Code
At the time I had a special bond with my math teacher. They were one of the few adults that I knew that were apart of the LQBTQ+ community and as a young lesbian they were my safe space. I went to them when I couldn't go to anyone else. They gave me strength I didn't know I needed. I hated math but I loved the class because they were teaching it. It was towards the end of the year when they approached me and told me that they would be teaching the new AP Computer Science class. I jumped on the opportunity. I was excited, but I wasn't really into it at first. It wasn't until the summer when I started looking over some of the material that I got truly got excited. When the time rolled around I was having a blast! We started off on simple theory before we moved into coding in JavaScript. The project for the overall class was to be able to make a functioning game. I was able to work with the other kids in my class and my teacher was a ton of help. It sparked a new hobby for me to enjoy.

#After School
After I had finished the course I wasn't done with making games. I had a whole slew of ideas! I had graduated high school and was off to college. I stayed home and went to the community college in town. I didn't take any computer classes but in my spare time I was working on Unity developing little games for me and my friends to enjoy. I never made anything big but my friends and I had a blast playing what I did make. A few months before Covid caused the lockdowns I found out my sister was pregnant with her first child. I was going to be an Aunt! I was super excited and I even agreed to move from sunny Tampa FL to not so sunny Statesville NC. Then the lockdown happened. I dropped out of school and ended up working in retail full time before I moved to NC. Sadly I've been floating through jobs since I moved. I hate doing customer service and its hard to find a non customer service job that isn't to demanding. Then one day it happened. 

#Finding Flatiron
During the days I'm at home watching my nephew and nights is typically when I work. I'm sick of working nights. I was scrolling through Tik Tok looking at advice people were giving for easy at home jobs and ways to make money when I saw it. A girl who had recently finished Flatiron was sharing her story. I watched her whole series on it and was hooked. I already new some coding what's the harm in learning more? I was also nervous. What if its a scam? So my research began. I spent a whole month looking into Flatiron and learning all I could before I decided to apply. Doing the prep work was easy, it was like being back in high school. Choosing to attend Flatiron is probably the best decision I made so far and I'm super excited to be on this journey with my classmates.