Doug doubled his salary after going to Sabio Coding Bootcamp
Originally from Orange County, CA, Doug never imagined his life would lead him to tech, “I was going to college at the University of San Diego for business and then 9/11 happened, so joining the military after graduating was an easy choice. But leaving the military to go back to civilian life, that was difficult. I had a hard time when I got off duty in 2012, so much that I actually ended up going back to the military again. Finally in 2019, I finished my service for the 2nd time and began work in electronics manufacturing sales, and then covid hit. When everything shut down, I thought now’s the time to make a change. At first I thought I would get a bachelors in computer science, but it was difficult coming from my background and just the idea of being older and getting into another four-year degree. I thought to myself, ‘Do I really want to spend time taking pre-reqs again?’ That’s when I started thinking about bootcamps.”
Eager to dive in, Doug did ample research, “I kept googling around and found out about the VET TEC program. I think it’s just one of those things that was meant to be. At first I thought, this is too good to be true, but there it was on the VA website. I saw that Sabio was VET TEC certified, I got certified and was in a cohort a few weeks later. I couldn’t believe how quickly it all came together, I kept thinking, wow, I did it! I was in the army doing nothing technical, just a combat arms guy and now here I am coding.”
Even though Doug lived close to campus, covid meant he of course had to learn from home, “Doing Sabio remote wasn’t bad at all, especially today. I mean, this is the new normal. I work remote, so doing everything on zoom, skype or chatting on slack in the cohort just prepared me even better for my full time job. Transitioning to remote really benefited me to help how I work now. I haven’t even met any of my co-workers in real life.”
Doug also attributes his success to the Sabio instructors, “They have that curriculum dialed in. There’ll be times when you’re on the queue or asking a question like, ‘Why won’t they give me a straight answer?’ But then you realize, that’s the best way to learn. The experience at Sabio was the exact same that I have now on a team. You can’t just expect your team or team lead to just give you the answer. You have to come at them knowledgeably asking the question. Literally everything we did at Sabio Coding Bootcamp has been applicable to my career in the real world.”
Now a full time software developer at Deloitte, Doug couldn’t be happier, “It was less than 2-months out of the cohort that I got this job and there’s no way I could have gotten it without Sabio’s guidance. The last few weeks of the cohort is so much about the job searching process. They teach you where to market yourself online, where to apply for jobs, what benchmarks you should be meeting. Liliana Monge (Sabio’s Co-Founder & CEO) went through my LinkedIn with me and showed me what other software developers' resumes looked like and how that applied to what recruiters were looking for. Then, I built my own resume like that. Also, Sabio’s mock interview sessions were so helpful, it’s a tough process but they make it so much easier to navigate.”
Doug may just be getting started, but he can’t wait for the future, “I am so happy with my job right now. I know as my skills grow and how other developers in the industry work, that people bounce around between different companies and get paid more, but right now I’m just enjoying expanding my knowledge for a great salary. Sabio made the most challenging part of my life, transitioning from the military to civilian possible. My life feels so much more balanced now. Because of my job being remote, I was able to move out to Murrieta and just bought a 5 ½ acre house. It’s beautiful here and I could not be doing this if I had some average 9-5 type of job. Since graduating from Sabio, my salary has doubled and I’m not even at the one year mark, and with all the certifications I’ve gotten, it’s in the process of doubling again.”
To those interested in Sabio Doug says, “Just do it. I understand that it’s a big leap and you have to know if coding is right for you, but if you go to codeacademy you can figure that out pretty quickly. So, start learning a bit and see if you’re the type of person where you really get a thrill out of problem solving. That’s all coding is really, solving problems. The jobs, the companies out there, they just want to see that you can actually do the job and they don’t care what your background was like. If you can code, that’s all that matters. If you want a life in tech and coding, just do the sabio coding bootcamp and you’re in.”
Related Links:
Want to learn more about Sabio? Attend an info session where you will have the opportunity to ask questions Sign up here: bit.ly/sabio-info-session
Ready to start coding? Free coding classes available to get you started: bit.ly/sabio-intro-classes