With six years of experience in education, Alyssa Joyner shares her journey of transitioning from teacher to Software Developer. Alyssa is now a SWE at Grafana Labs. In this interview, she discusses how she discovered coding, her experience at Turing School of Software and Design, and her job hunt strategy.

Classroom to Code 🎒

Despite having a successful career in education, from running the math department to walking the halls as the assistant principal walkie-talkie in hand, Alyssa was looking for a change. While gaining many skills, memories, and friendships at work she felt that she was reaching her limit within the classroom.

“I kind of hit this kind of a fork in the road, which is like, I can really commit myself to education and continue down this path. Or I can try to pivot and do something that's going to allow me to grow and lean into more aspects of myself.”

So a friend, who was also a teacher and Turing alum, suggested she try coding at a Try Coding event that Turing hosts. After recognizing her skills as an educator were transferable to a career in tech she joined the front-end program. From problem-solving, collaboration, and adaptability she was more than prepared for a career pivot.

Why Turing? 🎓

Alyssa’s coding experience was tinkering with HTML for her Myspace page which ultimately was a whole lot of copy-paste (a developer’s best-kept 🤫 ). However, despite her limited initial coding experience, her passion for learning and problem-solving made her a great fit. Turing’s curriculum deep dives into technical skills, but also develops a student’s ability to tackle ambiguous projects and collaborate effectively, not to mention how to Google (another dev secret 🤫🤫).

I know so many people echo the sentiment of … Turing taught me how to learn

As a former educator, Alyssa was all too familiar with the importance of using various learning resources, asking questions, and adapting to new challenges every day.

As a teacher no two days are the same. And you're constantly having to learn things both from the people around you and the curriculum…constantly leveling up on knowledge…having to think on your feet and just collaborate. And that's software!

On top of learning Object-Oriented Programming, Web Application Development, Professional Web Applications, and Cross-Team Processes and Applications the Software Engineering Program strongly emphasizes collaboration. The Turing student experience mirrors a real-world work environment, where you get constructive feedback and build a strong support system with your peers and instructors. Read about Turing's 10-year refresh here!

Not only was Alyssa interested in the teaching style of Turing but she was impressed by the community. She was able to lean on instructors, alumni, and fellow cohort-mates for help whilst in the program. When she found herself stuck on a problem or needed a rubber-duck (iykyk) she knew someone in her Turing network could help. In case you don’t know - check out this cool article!.

The best thing about Turing is all the layers of support… And I've actually gained some lifelong friends through my cohort, which is really, really cool.

The community at large played an important role in Alyssa’s journey providing support and diverse perspectives. She now pays it forward volunteering her time helping whenever she can with interview preparation or resume review in the same community channels she found to be crucial during her experience.

The Job Hunt 🌎

It's not an easy task to completely change careers and jump into the job hunt, so Alyssa focused on leveraging her personal strengths and building connections after graduating. Instead of networking for a job, which, yes is the goal, she focused on forming genuine relationships with people within the industry to gain insights into their jobs and personal stories. By having these conversations, she practiced telling her story effectively (highlighting her unique background and experiences) eventually landing multiple interviews and her first tech job.

Most of us are career changers coming through Turing, and so how can you actually use that as a strength and be able to talk about that? I think ultimately that's what got me hired…

Lean into the Journey 🫵

Alyssa’s journey started at a fork in the road, or shall I say school hallway? She says she started her tech journey after leaving her career as an assistant principal, but she had already started it with an equipped toolbelt of experience. If she could go back and give advice to Alyssa on that first day of Turing she’d say, “Lean in”. Lean into all the struggles and utilize all the tools you have at your disposal. Coding is not about mastering everything but about the continuous learning process. Lean into an “endless possibility for growth”.

Calls to Action 💫

Ready to start your journey in software development? Sign up for a Try Coding workshop — or join the Turing cohort that starts in August.

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