Carolyn aced her job interview with a CV chatbot

Coding isn’t that different from knitting. It’s all about patterns.

“Coding isn’t that different from knitting. It’s all about patterns,” says Carolyn, Le Wagon alumni and developer at aFrogLeap. From now on, she’ll be weaving code with the front-end team. We’re thrilled to have her. To get to know Carolyn a little better, we had a chat about her experience at Le Wagon, Bots and the beauty of code.

When Carolyn talks about her past, it soon becomes clear she’s a true globetrotter: Amsterdam is just one of the many places she has ever called home. After living in the US, South Korea, Italy, Scotland, and England, you could say she’s a pro at adapting to new circumstances. Holland is her next stop.

“I was working as a business analyst in London when my husband got offered a job in Amsterdam. We had visited the Netherlands once before. On that trip, we had joked we could see ourselves living in Amsterdam. Only two years later, we turned that dream into a reality. Trading the tube for the bike was a good decision.”

“After settling in Amsterdam, I figured this would be the right time for a career change. At my previous job, what our developers were doing had always fascinated me. I was curious to see what happens under the hood. Some of those developers had started their career through a coding bootcamp, so I decided to do the same.”

To kick-start her career in coding, Carolyn signed up for a bootcamp at Le Wagon Amsterdam. In only a few months, she mastered the basics of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL and Ruby on Rails.

“I was never exposed to programming at a young age. I remember walking through my university one day. I saw all these guys outside a classroom, and there was one girl. I was like, what class is that? Sure enough, it was computer science. But during my bootcamp, I experienced that anyone can learn to code. The community is engaged and welcoming. All you need is the right mindset.”

“What coding means to me? I love solving some of the problems people may come across. I’ve always enjoyed structure and organization. What I like about front-end is how every little thing makes a difference. A good user experience is what sets a product apart.”

Carolyn talks about her newfound passion for code with beaming enthusiasm. Her confidence suggests an effortless switch in careers. But was it all that easy?

“Oh no, it was scary. When you start out, there’s so much to learn. You feel many moments of self-doubt. Luckily, my husband is in the same field. His support was crucial, as I could always ask him about his own experiences. Being able to share my thoughts with the other bootcamp students was helpful as well.”

“In the last two weeks of the bootcamp, I built a minimum viable product from scratch. I created a web-app that lets you meet fellow parents in your neighborhood. It allows parents to establish a support network. Building the product gave me such a surge of adrenaline. That’s when I knew I had made the right decision.”

“The day before my interview at aFrogleap, I built a CV chatbot. The bot talked about my programming skills and my hobbies. Why? I wanted the job, and I knew aFrogleap would appreciate a bot.”

“I’m beginning to love programming more and more as I’m stringing all the pieces together. Now that I’m learning the fundamentals of computer science, it’s becoming even more beautiful.”

“There are lots of things I still don’t know, but I’m willing to figure it out. That’s the mindset you need as a developer. New tools and technologies will keep popping up, so you have to be willing to keep up with the industry. My dream is to be good at what I do. Being able to mentor other people someday.”