My journey from teaching to software development
Tags: career, javascript
Published: 2020-07-18 11:34:21

As I write this I've just finished the fourth week of a 14-week long coding bootcamp. Before the bootcamp I'd been a chemistry teacher for about 10 years. So why change at the age of 41?

For a long time I'd felt unfulfilled in my job. I worked at a great school, and I was good at my job. But it wasn't enough. I was bored and wasn't being challenged or learning anything new. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either, and so I tolerated it for much longer than I should have.

I'd always tinkered with programming. I started when I was about 8, programming simple games in Basic on a ZX Spectrum. I always enjoyed getting the computer to follow my commands, even if it took hours to get my code to work! But it was just a hobby which I did less of as I went through university and then into work.

Much later on I had a go at programming PHP, and I even created a simple question generator website which helped me as a teacher when I needed questions for my classes. This sparked my interest in coding again and I loved how I'd made something which was really useful (at least to me!).

After learning some Python with [Dataquest](https://www.dataquest.io/) and using it to analyse data and do some basic machine learning I was completely hooked! I loved solving problems with code and decided I wanted to change career.

But how do you change career when you're in your early 40s? I must have Googled this a hundred times! I decided a course would be the quickest way and started looking at coding bootcamps. There are quite a few in the UK but one that really stood out was [Northcoders](https://northcoders.com/). After looking at the [reviews](https://www.switchup.org/bootcamps/northcoders) and all the help they give to graduates to find a job, I decided to apply.

Straight away it was obvious they only wanted people who were serious and who would be employable as junior developers on the course. When I applied I had to do some work on [freeCodeCamp](https://www.freecodecamp.org/) (10-15 hours of basic javaScript) followed by a 45-minute tech test to see if I could apply what I'd learnt to some simple problems. After this they decide if the course would be a good fit for you. I was pretty nervous when I took the tech test but I can't have been too bad because they offered me a place! However this was just as the UK went into lockdown with the Covid-19 pandemic, and so all future courses were indefinitely postponed.

After getting a place, there is some pre-course work to do to make sure you can hit the ground running. Lockdown gave me a chance to do this pre-course work thoroughly (including coding a basic portfolio website in HTML and CSS).

Just after I'd finished all the pre-course work, Northcoders announced they were going to do a fully remote version of their full-stack developer course. Initially I was hesitant about the remote course as I'd been looking forward to relocating to Manchester or Leeds for the course. But with the ongoing uncertainties with the pandemic it was a no-brainer; by doing the remote course I wouldn't have to wait and would hopefully emerge job-ready as the lockdown was easing. Plus with remote working forced upon so many companies, showing I could work remotely would be an advantage too.

So four weeks into the bootcamp, how am I feeling? I love it! Don't get me wrong, there is a huge amount to learn, and I'm finding I've got to do some extra work in the evenings and weekends to cement my understanding, but I don't mind that at all as I'm really enjoying it.

[Cover photo credit](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/11/12/how-to-start-thinking-about-a-career-change/#23d9a7173926)