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Education

Immersive bootcamps

Immersive live bootcamps to lead your career onto a new path.

Web development 24 weeks

Upskill courses

Upgrade your career with new skills while working full-time.

UI design 6 weeks

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Smaller courses for upskilling or for refreshing your knowledge.

Free coding workshop
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Cecilia Wong

Story

Yoga Teacher Turned Developer Cissi Says She Has More Balance Now

Name Cecilia Wong

Background Yoga teacher

Current Frontend developer at Comprend

Graduation November 2018

Cissi has done a lot of things but most recently left her job as a yoga teacher to work in programming. She now feels like she’s found her true calling and is enjoying an improved work/life-balance while she’s at it.

Hi Cissi, tell us a bit about yourself. What makes you you?

“I’m a lifelong learner. I enjoy when things move forward. I think that sums me up really well and also explains why I embarked on this learning journey.”

What did you do before you learned coding?

I‘ve done a lot of different things. Lastly, I was a self-employed yoga teacher. I discovered that a lot of yoga studios and teachers didn’t have well-made websites. They either couldn’t afford it or didn’t know how. That’s how I started building wordpress sites for Yoga studios and teacher on the side.

Eventually, that became more and more interesting to me and sparked my interest to learn more coding.

So that’s when you started looking for courses?

Yes. I did some online courses to get an idea of how I could customize the websites, but eventually I wanted to venture beyond the DIY and learn more about the details. I wanted to learn it properly, dig deeper.

How did you stumble upon Technigo?

I’d been very interested in who was creating the code I was working with. I was wondering who had the control. I realized that the field was very male dominated but that there was a strong female movement of women trying to work more with development.

I found that inspiring. I wanted to look for something similar in Sweden. That’s how I found Tjejer Koder. I followed them on Social Media and when they launched the bootcamp, it was the perfect option for me. I went for it.

Where do you work now and how did you get that job?

I work at a communications agency that does large scale web development.

I finished Technigo in February and started the new job in May. I had applied to dozens of jobs and had done well in several interviewing processes but I found the processes were very chaotic. I ended up getting three offers at the same time. I chose the job I have now because it was most suitable to my personal life.

Over the period I was looking for a job, I tried to do as many coding tests as possible to have something to work on and continuously develop my skills. That was really helpful for me to gain some confidence as well.

What was the best thing about learning these new skills?

Oh there’s so much! Coding combines so many of my interests. I like when things change and I like to learn new things -- that makes coding perfect for me. Things are constantly changing.

I also really enjoy that it’s so cross functional. I get to work with designers and other departments. At the same time you get a lot of alone time to concentrate on your work, which I also really enjoy. It feels very balanced.

“I like being a beginner and gaining experience continuously. It’s challenging and that makes it fun.”

From Yoga to coding – that’s a stretch. Are you combining your new skills with any of your old ones?

It’s mainly personal qualities that I had developed as a Yoga teacher that benefit me in my job today. In Yoga, I also learned to not be too focused on the result but value the process which is a great way to approach programming.

The teaching aspect is still there as well. We work with really large companies and I’ve ended up teaching web editors on how to use their system. I still enjoy that.

“In Yoga, I also learned to not be too focused on the result but value the process which is a great way to approach programming.”

Has learning your new skills influenced any other part of your life?

I have a better balance in my life in general now. That may sound surprising but it’s just easier to schedule and enjoy off-time with my kids now that I can actually close my computer and leave my desk when I’m done working.

What was the most challenging thing about your journey?

Oh, it was super challenging! The training was so intense and I was developing so rapidly, I barely had time to process. It felt like I almost instantly lost track of where I was. It took me a while to realize what skills I had versus which I was lacking.

I learned more than I thought was humanly possible which of course was difficult. Now that I’m actually working I see the point of that. I’m not afraid of anything. I face new problems every day and have to solve them. That doesn’t scare me anymore. That’s my job and that’s how it is. I learned that early in the bootcamp through the shock exposure. It was a learning in itself.

What’s next on your agenda? Any more skills you want to learn?

I always want to learn new stuff. And I still am learning so many new things every day that I currently aim to focus on getting better at what I do.

I want to get a sense of overview so I can start thinking in a more architectural way. I’m also passionate about accessibility so I want to develop that interest further.

We're a female-founded, remote-first community helping people get a career they love. 90% of those attending our boot camps are women.