As I write this, I’m nearly one month into my first Developer role. Earlier this month, I secured a role with Optimum Credit, based in Cardiff. I joined as a User Experience Developer and I’m loving the role, the company, the projects and being a Developer!
We finished the _nology bootcamp on the 17th of May and our thoughts turned straight away to job hunting. I was looking for my very first developer role that I would learn a lot from and continue to develop. This was my key criteria and luckily, that is what I’ve found in my new role.
_nology prepared us well for life after the course
But before we talk about my new role, while I was looking for a new role, it was incredibly important that I stayed up to date with my code, so that led me to create my online portfolio which can be viewed here while also working on my soft skills and interview technique. Pete (_nology co-founder), Craig (CTO at _nology) and Shea (trainer at _nology) all helped me to perfect both my online CV and my interview technique. I worked on my React, HTML, CSS and JavaScript skills which was highly beneficial to keeping me fresh for my next role, meaning I could hopefully go in and hit the ground running. I ensured I listened to the advice of Pete and the _nology team right the way through the process to ensure I had the best chance of securing a role.
Optimum Credit offered me the chance to work there, and I jumped at the opportunity
My role puts two important business aspects together that is key for the user, even if they don’t know it. I combine User Experience and Software Development in my role, giving me a unique perspective. I want to focus on the user, what they want and more importantly, need whilst also creating the very applications they’ll be using. Working with both UI Designers and Back-end Developers is where my role sits and I’m loving every second of it.
The user and their experience has always been my passion because I am also a user
I try to understand why people want what they say they want and if there are deeper issues that need fixing. So, mixing this with both front-end and back-end skills is the perfect experience for me! I get exposure not only to the Full Stack Developer life that deals with microservices and databases, but also User Experience and User Interface designs that I can stick my teeth into to ensure the user is happy and satisfied with their experience using our applications. What’s not to love! There’s some extremely experienced Developers here mixed with UX/UI Designers that have a great background and understanding which means I’m able to get stuck in to both sides.
I’m now using Angular, whereas at _nology we learned about React. That is fantastic for me because I have a base knowledge about React, but now I’m also using Angular so that I can become experienced in both. You never know whether you’ll need experience with one or the other as the agile way of working means you can easily work with both depending on the business needs and wants.
I’m also getting incredible support from everyone at Optimum Credit
Before I came into the role, imposter syndrome thoughts popped into my head. Could I do this? How well would I do? I know many of my course mates felt the same, but I’m pleased to say that with the support of everyone at Optimum, including my managers who are fantastic and supportive, everything is going well. I’m passionate about the work I do and want to provide excellent code and an excellent service for our end users.
The sky really is the limit for me now, thanks to the great boost I’ve had from _nology. I would recommend it to anyone looking to break into a career in software development. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.