I Made a Full Career Transition Within Two Weeks After Finishing the Course

Jeanette used to work as a trend researcher with a background in social anthropology. Now she’s a junior frontend developer and feels empowered by her newly acquired skill set, which has enabled her to be more creative in her worklife.

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

I’m originally from the North of Sweden and moved to Stockholm around 15 years ago. I have two kids. People tell me I’m the stereotype of a person from the North: self-controlled, calm.

While that is true, I’m good at challenging myself to try new stuff and get out of my comfort zone.

This is one of the qualities that made me travel to an isolated island in the South Pacific to do fieldwork during my master studies and this is a contributing factor to why I applied to Technigo and am where I am today. In both (and many other) cases, I was nervous as hell but pushed myself to make it happen. Today I’m grateful I did and I’m sure I will continue to challenge myself in the future.

“It’s all about observing the world around you, spotting the changes that are happening and how they affect people.”

What did you do before you learned coding?

I was working as a trend analyst. I was basically doing research and writing reports on my findings. I wrote a lot about digitalisation and tech trends. My main focus was on consumer tech trends.

My background is in social anthropology and trend research is something I ventured into afterwards — it’s all about observing the world around you, spotting the changes that are happening and how they affect people.

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

I’d had it in the back of my head for a long time. It was probably 10 years ago now that I tried an evening course in basic programming. The course itself didn’t suit me so I never finished it, but I kept the wish to learn coding some day. I’m fascinated by the skill itself.

A year ago I signed up for Tjejer Koder’s online course. There I learned the basics of HTML, CSS and Javascript. I really enjoyed that and had a lot of fun. After I did that I kept an eye on the Tjejer Koder’s newsletter and that’s when I first learned about Technigo. Once that had attached itself to my mind, I kept thinking about making a change in my career.

Eventually, I took the leap and joined the bootcamp.

It felt like it was solving all my needs – learning new skills quickly in a learning by doing environment.

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

The greatest feeling is the feeling of actually being able to create stuff. I didn’t even know how to start coding a web page before, but after the course, I suddenly knew how to do that and so much more. It feels incredibly empowering.

What are you doing now? Are you combining your new skills with your old ones?

I’ve done a full-on career transition. I’m now working as a frontend developer. I am, however, working for a company that is very trend-focused so I still have a small connection to my original skillset.

My original career still benefits me indirectly but my day to day life really is all about coding now.

How quickly did you get a new job?

I got the job two weeks after finishing the bootcamp. I already started looking for a new position while I was learning. I was going to the interviews Technigo was offering to its members as well.

The job I have now I got by reaching out to a company where I was interested in finding a mentor at. When I met them they asked me straight out “do you really only want a mentor or do you want a job?” and I answered that a job would be nice. A week after I finished the bootcamp we met up and I showed them my final project. The same day they called and said they wanted to hire me.

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

Not directly. I want to use them more but am currently lacking the time, as I want to invest my energy in getting settled in my new job.

These new skills really boosted my creativity and my motivation to create things. That was something I had been searching for for a long time. How can I be creative? I think coding is my way to be creative. While I do enjoy other creative outlets, this is the one I’m passionate about.

What was the most challenging thing about taking this step?

The learning itself was really intense. You need to find your way of learning to ensure you stay motivated. Some people need to practice more, others learn best when listening to a teacher. What works for you? It’s definitely not a simple thing to do. But if you go into it knowing that this is what you’re going to do for a certain period of time and see it as an investment, it becomes manageable.

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

Technigo focused on one coding framework, which was great to get proficient in something in such a short amount of time. Now I want to learn more – different frameworks and techniques. And luckily, I get to do that at my job. I’m sure I’ll continue to learn as I work in the field so I’m taking it as it goes.

“My employer was clear from the beginning that they were hiring me as a junior developer and that they were willing to invest in me. They’ve been investing in me from day one, making me feel that I’m allowed to be new, make mistakes, and continue to learn.”

I have a mentor at the company that I interact with every day. I’m able to ask a lot of questions and it really supports my learning journey. I can recommend finding a job that offers this.