My name is Veronica and I’d like to tell you more about my background and why I became interested in coding. I just finished another semester in an Elementary Education major at the University of New Mexico. I’ve always really loved kids, how impressionable they are, and how we as adults can teach them to be kind, intelligent, successful, and resilient human beings. That will always be a passion of mine; however, over the last couple of months I’ve discovered that I also have a strong interest in coding. Let me tell you how I figured that out. First, I started thinking about what I like doing in my spare time. I like listening to music (just like almost everyone else does) but I also like to make music. I built a home studio with a Digital Audio Workstation, an Audio Interface, studio monitors, mics, a keyboard, a couple guitars, the whole shebang. It’s great, I spend a lot of time there because I love creating music and I enjoy the technology that helps me create. Aside from that, I’m also a digital artist. My favorite things to draw/paint are usually portraits of people who inspire me or people I love. Then, my wife and I were listening to a podcast called ChooseFI. In this particular episode they highlighted the coding career, how coding boot camps typically work, and what kind of people might be interested in attending a boot camp. After listening, I was intrigued to learn more. After a ton of research, I learned that I didn’t have to be a math whiz or a genius to code, I just had to be really disciplined, determined and creative. So about three months ago I started taking some self-paced courses on Treehouse on front-end web development. I will be very honest, it was A LOT harder than I thought it would be. I’ve taken courses that cover the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But, despite the difficulty, I am still totally willing to be uncomfortable and very excited to be challenged in what I hope will be the path to starting a new coding career. The basic classes convinced me this is a path I want to pursue, but I am ready to go beyond the basics to have a full, immersive experience in a coding boot camp. I’ve read just about every word on the entire Flatiron School website, watched endless videos, reached out to Flatiron Alumni to ask about their experience with Flatiron and I’ve heard nothing but good things. I know it won’t be easy, and I know I’ll need to dedicate a lot of time and fully commit to this day in and day out, but I’m very excited to have been given this opportunity. I think determination and working hard along with my creative and artistic characteristics will ultimately be what carry me through the journey, and I’m glad that I can go through this journey with Flatiron.
-Nica