My Journey from Media to Tech

Hi! My name is Jay and I’m a new software engineer. Like many other software engineer bootcamp graduates I had a major career shift. I have had a long winding road of jobs and I believe all of these different skills from previous jobs help add to software engineering.

For just a bit of background story, I began blogging since I was about 12 years old on many different platforms (Blogger, Tumblr, Livejournal) and I would constantly change the look and feel of the page every other week. Blogging was one of my creative outlets and I also loved making my site look pretty and get creative with adding cool features (like the cursor has a trail of stars following behind it). Little did I know that people actually make websites for work 😅

Fast forward many years later I began working at a start-up jewelry company as their Website and Marketing Manager. I maintained the website, scanned each page of the website for anything that wasn’t working properly, and updated the pages with new images and products. I worked closely with web developers to fix any bugs and implement new features. I recall being on a call with the developer to fix something and they showed me how to “inspect page” and the icon to see the different views from desktop and mobile. It was that moment when a LIGHTBULB went off! I thought “Wow, this is coooool. I want to learn how to do this!” The wheels started turning in my head and I began to research how I could transition to become a software engineer. I started learning coding by myself on Codecademy.com to get a feel of if it was right for me and then decided to take the leap to apply to a few different bootcamp schools and got accepted to Flatiron School’s in-person immersive program.

Prior to working at the start up, I spent most of my career in the media industry. I started out as a producer at a creative media agency that made commercials, music videos, and documentaries. I really enjoyed brainstorming and creating something from just an idea. I love aesthetics and being able to present things in a beautiful way. I organized and coordinated people, schedules, projects, managed budgets, hired crew and talent, and dealt with any issues that came up. I took everything that I learned as a producer to my work as a photographer. I worked with different kinds of clients to photograph food, interiors, portraits, lifestyle and nature to tell stories in a compelling way.

All the skills I’ve gained from my previous jobs are very useful in my new career as a software engineer now. I can brainstorm, plan and work with others to execute projects. While functionality is important I will probably always have an opinion on how to make the website look nice and think about what kind of imagery would best represent what the company wants to convey. I also have a lot of other technical skills that are not web development related like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, MailChimp, Shopify, Hootsuite, and Kalivyo that could be useful if need be.

I am excited to graduate from Flatiron School in a few short weeks and I’m looking for new opportunities as a Full Stack Junior Software Engineer.

Feel free to contact me at jaywen89@gmail.com if I sound like someone who could fit your team!

Thanks for reading.