Hi, my name is Daniel Chae!
In 2014, I decided I wanted to learn how to code. But I had no idea where to start. Which languages should I learn? I wanted to pick a language that gave me the best chance to land a job and make the most money. I didn’t want to waste my time learning the wrong things and risk not landing a job.
I started googling “how to code” and “which programming languages should I learn”, but there were so many courses and websites. The number of options were overwhelming. I decided to stop googling and, instead, asked my friend, who was a software engineer at Uber at the time, what I should do.
He sent me the Python 2 beginner’s course from Codecademy and I got started immediately. I completed a few modules, but pretty soon I lost motivation. I didn’t see how I could apply what I was learning in the course to anything in the real world. After a month, I quit coding because I felt so discouraged and unmotivated.
After two years of analysis paralysis, I decided to get back on my feet. Instead of mindlessly completing courses, I knew I needed to change my learning approach from last time. I started to identify what parts of coding got me excited so I could stay motivated. I met with established software engineers and they explained how coding worked. I discovered concepts like the difference between front end and back end, how servers worked, and which languages powered different applications.
Pretty soon I found out about fullstack web development and stumbled upon Colt Steele’s free web developer boot camp. I started the course, but this time, I focused on immediately applying what I was learning to outside projects. I was building Twilio chatbots with Python, workout of the day generators with Java, and a website with login and register features with the MEAN stack.
I spent the next two years grinding away on projects and tutorials and, honestly, was having a ton of fun. I also discovered coding meetups and began to attend those. I saw my understanding of programming exponentially grow and began to feel a lot more confident with my programming skills. I constantly felt like the dumbest person at the meetups, but I didn’t care. I was there to learn and take in anything and everything I could.
Pretty soon it was time to start applying for jobs. I used LinkedIn, Angel List, Y Combinator, Built In, Indeed, and Zip Recruiter. I was looking for an entry level technical role, specifically as a software engineer, data analyst, data scientist, or product manager.
In three months of job searching I interviewed with Amazon, TikTok, Nike, and several startups. Disney and Google even flew me out for interviews. I eventually took a data analyst role at Interscope Records in Santa Monica, CA where I wrote automation scripts for wrangling data from Spotify’s API, created internal tools and dashboards, and helped bolster the company’s data infrastructure.
Learning to code and landing a job in tech can be hard, but I want to help you do both. I’ll help you learn how to code by telling you which learning resources to use, which programming languages to learn, and which software/tools you should familiarize yourself with to land a job. When you get stuck and lose motivation, I’ll be there to get you back on track.
I’ll also show you how you can land a job in tech by showing you which types of roles you should apply for, how you can get a recruiter’s attention, and how you can ace every aspect of the interview process.
First step? Subscribe to my newsletter below and make sure you connect with me on Linkedin here.
