Oh how the time flies! This is a blog post from when I had just begun Flatiron School's online immersive program. Interesting to look back at it. Luckily I still feel the same excitement and joy today as I did then....

From my earliest memories I have always been fascinated by the inner workings of machines, how things are built, and the way humans use them. My grandfather reminds me often of having to explain the difference between hydraulic and cable elevators to get me to eat as a young child. At the age of 13, my parents hesitantly gave me computer components as a birthday gift. They were quite shocked to find me playing games on it later that day.

I also have a passion and affinity for the arts and music, something I still foster to this day. Throughout my life, I have searched for things that challenge myself mentally, as well as reward creative thinking. My time spent as the head of the pool and beach department at a 5 star hotel taught me immense teamwork and leadership skills. My favorite part was scheduling and optimizing the efficiency of our operations through gathering data, utilizing spreadsheets( and basic coding within ), and having an eye for detail.

After suffering a debilitating injury I was no longer able to maintain my hands on position, but was luckily offered an executive role within the hospitality management company I worked for. The new role was a big jump in responsibility and exposure within the company. I found myself training managers, speaking in front of 100’s of employees at monthly leadership meetings, and being responsible for large amounts of cash assets daily.

Despite all of this, the lack of really being able to harness my passion for creating efficient systems, as well as the politics of the company, started to dull my passion for the work I was doing. At this point, the underlying feeling that there was something more out there for me was pulling strongly. I just did not know what it was… yet.

I decided to take a huge leap of faith, take time for myself, recover physically, and live simply. I traveled the areas of Northern California and Southern Oregon meeting many people along the way. One of my traveling companions nicknamed me “The Engineer” . I could (almost) always solve or work our way out of any challenges with minimal materials or resources. Somewhere along the way, the idea struck me that my logic, problem solving skills, creative thinking, and love of technology would make me a darn good software engineer.

Once I returned home, I began looking into anything and everything I could about how to achieve this goal of becoming a contributor to the world of tech. I spent countless hours mesmerized by the power of code, how something so significant can be built by just typing. Needless to say I was hooked! I knew I needed education, and the self learning I was able to accomplish seemed like a huge step forward, but it wasn’t enough.

As soon as I found the boot camp concept, I knew it was a perfect fit for me. I worked various jobs landscaping, waiting tables, and anything I could to be financially able to devote the time needed to immerse myself completely, while using free resources on the web to learn basic JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Here I am today, and about to start my 3rd week of the Flatiron School’s Online Immersive program. It is truly incredible the amount I have learned thus far in such a short time. I will be using this platform going forward to both document my journey as well as provide tutorials on key concepts I learn along the way.

Until next time, safe travels!