Justin was working in the IT sector when he decided to pursue a career in web development. Since graduating from the CareerFoundry course, he is still looking for his first opportunity in the field. Despite not having found a job yet, Justin has taken many positives from his experience and has big plans for the future. I caught up with him to hear about his journey with CareerFoundry and beyond.
Before he started on the web development course, Justin was working in the IT team at a non-profit. At the same time, he was planning his move into programming — a change that was sparked, in part, by a very specific situation:
“I used to run a website for five years, an ecommerce website selling products online. It was making revenue, then one day out of the blue, my website went down and got deleted. I don’t know what happened, and it was at that point that I realised I needed to own my own products. That’s when I started to think about becoming a web developer, so I could be independent of companies and could prepare my own projects without worrying about paying anybody.”
Justin not only wanted to pursue a new career path; he was also keen to relocate. At a crossroads, this was the ideal opportunity to start learning the skills that would enable him to make a change. In need of a flexible, financially viable solution, Justin opted for the CareerFoundry bootcamp. During the course, the quality of the content and the comprehensive support system both had a huge impact on his experience:
“I enjoyed the content; it was very thorough. I also enjoyed the mentor-tutor system and how you have to progress with your tutor first — that idea of quality control. The most useful aspect of the course was the feedback. I got some really good feedback and tips. The mentor review was also really important: it gave me an idea of where I needed to improve, what I could do better, whether or not I needed to add something extra. My mentor did a really good job of explaining what the standards were.”
After finishing the course, Justin started looking for a Ruby on Rails position in the Detroit area. Unfortunately, his initial job search proved unsuccessful, but Justin was covered by the CareerFoundry Job Guarantee. Six months later, as promised, he received a full refund — money that he was able to put towards another coding bootcamp, this time in his local area.
While Justin hasn’t yet been able to find a job, he has no regrets about taking the course. In fact, he believes that it helped secure his spot on the Grand Circus coding bootcamp:
“The CareerFoundry qualification didn’t get me a job straight away, but it did get me into the Grand Circus bootcamp. Grand Circus were impressed by the knowledge I had of web development and they were eager to help me out and get me through the process quicker. My CareerFoundry qualification helped me adopt the right mindset and put the work in.”
Justin’s story raises an important point about career change and success. Although his job search is ongoing, Justin has taken huge steps towards his ultimate goal of becoming a web developer. Realizing you’re not happy where you are, and actively working to change it is a success in itself, and Justin has absolutely no doubt that he’s now on the right path.
“CareerFoundry is an excellent foundation. Anyone who is looking at career change should really give CareerFoundry a shot as an alternative to traditional classroom training. I’m looking forward to becoming a complete developer, excited about the possibilities and pathways it may hold.”
So what’s next for Justin? For now he’s got his eye on a junior developer role and is looking forward to learning as much as he can in the field. In the longer term, he’s got plans to start his own tech company, possibly even working remotely.
If you’re keen to change careers but apprehensive about investing your money in a course, our Job Guarantee can make the decision a little easier. If you don’t find a job within six months of graduating, you’ll get a full refund — just like Justin did. Find out more about our Job Guarantee.
What You Should Do Now
If you’d like a step-by-step intro to find out if a career in development, data, or design is right for you—sign up for a free short course in the field of your choice.
If you are interested in building a new career in tech, check out CareerFoundry’s full programs.
If you’d like to speak to an expert program advisor for free about how you can get a new job in tech, talk to one of our Careers Advisors.
About the author
Emily Stevens
Emily is a professional tech writer and content strategist. She spent over a decade in tech startups, immersed in the world of UX and design thinking. In addition to writing for The CareerFoundry Blog, Emily has been a regular contributor to several industry-leading design publications and wrote a chapter for The UX Careers Handbook. She also has an MSc in Psychology from the University of Westminster.