Going From Never Written Code Before to Having a Totally New Career in Just a Few Months Is So Cool

Clara completely changed career from working in security as an alarm operator to landing a job as a CRO Developer in just a couple of months.

Hi, Clara! Tell us a bit about yourself.

You will usually see me with a smile on my face, I have been described as a happy pill by friends and colleagues. I am originally from Stockholm but lived a few years in Katrineholm where I went to high school to study assistant nursing. I kind of quickly figured out that wasn’t for me, so after I finished school I travelled to Australia where I lived and worked for about a year. I went there by myself as a 19-year old and I think that trip really did a lot for me and my confidence.

What did you do before Technigo?

I worked at a security company as an alarm operator. It was a good job, but it was hard to grow within the company. I had worked there for about 4 years and I started to ask myself what I really wanted to do carrier wise. I heard about Tjejer Kodar and went to one of their coding events in the archipelago outside of Stockholm. There I found my interest in coding and learned about the Technigo bootcamp. I applied as soon as I came back home.

What do you work with now?

I work at TUI as an CRO-developer.

“I am part of a cool team of CRO-specialists and analysts, and we all work on making the TUI website as good as possible using A/B-testing. My role is completely new so I am the first here with this title. In my daily job I develop variations of the site that we then test on real customers and the winning variation is implemented.”

When did it first occur to you that you’d like to educate yourself in frontend?

I've had an interest in coding ever since I decided to build a Babyz fansite in 1999, but my forays into it were sporadic and studying computer science never really occurred to me as it all seemed a bit... abstract and maths-y to me. By the time I realised that frontend development might be something I'd be happy doing for a living, I felt it was too late - jumping into a new educational track seemed financially and emotionally impossible.

What’s the best thing about learning these new skills?

First thing, coding is super fun! Going from never written code before to having a totally new carrier in just a few months is so cool and I am really proud of myself for pushing thru the toughest days and had fun doing it.

What was your greatest struggle?

Believing in myself and what I am capable of. Somedays it was hard to find the motivation to keep going but you just have to find ways of getting it back. Because the learning curve was so steep and fast it was also hard to let some assignments go and start the next one. I did learn pretty quick that it was almost impossible to get everything perfect. I just made sure that I understood what I did. 

What’s next on your agenda?

Technigo has opened a whole new world of opportunities and I find new interesting things in coding and in IT overall. I am really into learning more about CRO for example, and in the meantime up my coding skills to get better and better. Also, I will hang with my dog Barb who I got for myself in graduation present!