It’s been a few months since I’ve updated on what’s going on. Moving was tough. We’re still not unpacked, not even a quarter unpacked. We’ve had so many projects just to get our home functional, that it’s been truly exhausting navigating the work around two young kids.

After the initial move, I started a preliminary job search. Mostly to see what was available in the area and the knowledge/skill expectations. I’m close, and maybe I could get a job, but I would have to be very, very lucky.

In my search, I stumbled upon LaunchCode. They have an apprenticeship to place talent without traditional CS backgrounds in dev positions. I applied for that, had my interview, and during it was recommended that I apply for their women only CodeCamp.

I applied, I got accepted, and I am in the throes of the second week. I’m so excited to be learning python, refreshing on JS, and diving deeper into Java over the next couple months.

Right when I was starting to doubt myself, this basically fell into my lap with nearly perfect timing. I scrambled to get my kids in daycare to make this work. You can bet I am working my butt off to get the most out of the content. I want to create some projects with some wow factor. But mostly I want to impress myself, that I am worthy of the dev role I will get.

Every day I walk into class, I am floored that LaunchCode puts these boot camps on for free to give opportunities to better the lives of people like me. I’ve been on this journey forever, feeling like I’m floundering, but now thanks to LaunchCode, I feel grounded. I feel like possibilities are within my grasp, and I won’t let them slip me by.

Making the step to a professional dev is going to vastly change my family’s lives for the better, allowing all of us to reach or dreams in so many ways that weren’t possible before.

My goal is to be placed in an internship by March. That gives me a full two months after the camp ends to really buckle down and find something. Ideally, it won’t take two months, but I also want to find the right fit where I can continue to grow and learn.

Keep an eye out here. I’ll be updating on my progress and projects. 😉