Alan Alumni Spotlight

ALAN:

What I actually do is a lot slower and a lot less than what I was doing at Sabio. I have more time to complete what I want and it's very easy compared to it. 

I’m Alan. 14 years as a critical care flight paramedic. I've always been really into coding and just computer stuff in general. Google searching and a lot of looking up different bootcamps and stuff brought me to Sabio.

Q: What would be your main piece of advice for Sabio students?

ALAN:

I guess the biggest piece of advice is actually pay attention to what these guys say. The entire program works and sometimes you like, second guess it. It's like, I don't know if what they're saying is 100% correct, but living proof man, just stay on task and try to keep organized as best as you can. 

Q: How did you manage the high workload? 

ALAN:

You got to take a pause for a second. Don't just, oh, I'm stressed out. I got to keep going. Then you're just going to put yourself in this cycle. Take a step back, breathe a little bit. I'm not sure how everyone else blows off stress. I just go over here and kick the walls for a little bit, but I come back to it after I've calmed down and here it goes. My thing was I like to just switch to another portion of the project because there's always like two or three things you could be working on. So I just changed my outlook and started working on something else and then, Oh crap, that's how I need to fix that bug. And then I'll just bounce back and forth like a rabbit or something.

Q: What kind of jobs did you apply for and how many?

ALAN:

I kind of threw my name into everything. Senior to entry. I didn't really care. One of my offers was for more of a mid-level, and they knew that I was junior and wanted me anyway. I just didn't want to move to Florida. I don't know how many applications I put in. I stopped keeping track. But my rejection email folder is over 300. Don't worry about what it says. Just throw your name in the hat. The more your name is in there, the better opportunity you have and then start worrying about which place you want to work at. When they're going to interview you, then you can start making your decisions. 

Q: Did a college degree or any other certifications help?

ALAN:

Not having a degree did not hinder the process of finding a job at all. If you're a vet that has a security clearance, they're looking for .NET developers like it's going out of style. So get on clearance jobs. 

Q: What were the technical interviews like?

ALAN:

Technical interview parts were all different. I had one which was a paired programing thing with two other devs and we literally just went over React stuff and it was just kind of like very chill, very cool. And then I've had other ones where it's like, bust out a notepad and I need you to teach me about recursion and I'm like, Oh my God. Stay coding guys, because the technical interview will come and you're going to be like, Oh man, I knew this, but I don't remember because I worried too much about my job interviews. 

Q: Can you talk about the offers you received?

ALAN:

My first offer was pretty much two weeks after graduation. Since I got a couple offers, they started off at $75,000. The highest one was $90,000. I picked a company that really didn't pay as much as the other guys, but I really liked being with these guys because it has a medical background and it's a small company. I feel like I could grow with it.

Q: Do you have a good work-life balance?

ALAN:

Work-life balance is pretty good. I mean, I work on West Coast time and I live on the East Coast, so I got the whole morning to myself. My girlfriend complains that I work too much because in the middle of the weekend I want to finish my project. So I'll just hop on VS code and start typing away.

Q: At what point did you grasp everything?

ALAN:

Everything?! No, you're never going to grasp everything. You're going to understand what you're working on, but there's just so much that you just can't grasp. Just focus on what your piece of the pie is and learn and try to get really good at that. And then, once you're really good at that, you can start chipping away at other stuff, but don't try to get everything because there's too much to get everything.