Accueil > Graduate stories > One Year Later: Juliette’s Career Change From Communication Consultant to Developer
One Year Later: Juliette’s Career Change From Communication Consultant to Developer
Juliette, former communication consultant, joined Le Wagon Melbourne in January 2020, looking for a career change and international experience. A year later, she tells us how the Bootcamp changed her life... Professionally and personally!
Summary
"It took me two months of job hunting to land my first permanent contract as a fullstack developer - but not any permanent contract: one in the company I wanted, where internal training was offered, and in the role I wanted."
Can you introduce yourself to our community?
Hi, I’m Juliette, 27 years old, from Paris. I studied political communications and worked as a consultant in France prior to moving to Australia and joining Le Wagon Melbourne with Batch #348. Spoiler alert: I’m now a FullStack Dev consultant at OCTO Technology .
What decided you to learn to code and to join Le Wagon Australia?
I was at a kind of crossroad in my life. I had started to learn a bit of coding in my free time and I was thinking about changing careers, maybe move abroad as I didn’t have any international experience... Every option was open and the future was a question mark.
I decided to take the plunge, and once I did, Le Wagon quickly appeared to match my criteria:
network and career-wise: I could do the course in Australia while also benefiting from an international community that would help and support me once I get back home in France;
on the theoretical and technical side: the program seemed to be the right combination of solid fundamental basics (approved by tech friends) and concrete project oriented application;
and more personally: from various alumni testimonies that I gathered online, it seemed to be an incredibly enriching human experience, and that’s also what you’re looking for when you plan to move to the other side of the planet and completely change your life project...!
How would you describe your experience in Le Wagon Melbourne?
A rollercoaster, maybe? A highly positive one, but a rollercoaster nonetheless! I’ve rarely learnt that much in such a short amount of time. Of course, there is theoretical tech knowledge... But most importantly, you acquire problem-solving skills, the ability to look for relevant information and solutions, a user and product-oriented approach, and a team-player mindset. That’s a lot in two months! You can add to that two fully functioning web apps built from scratch to start your dev portfolio, plus unforgettable meetings and life-long friendships. Not much really
A lot happened since the Bootcamp! First, I got an internship as a Ruby on Rails backend developer for a mobile device management company. I discovered what web development meant at a production scale, used a bunch of new tools, and learnt a lot. But mostly, I realised that I had solid foundations to keep growing. I wasn’t lost when I started this internship. I was definitely challenged, sometimes a bit overwhelmed, but my training allowed me to quickly pick up the team’s pace.
Afterward, I took a few months to think about what was next (COVID happened in the meantime). I freelanced while gathering information about the job market in France. It took me two months of job hunting to land my first permanent contract as a fullstack developer - but not any permanent contract: one in the company I wanted, where internal training was offered, and in the role I wanted.
Since November 2020, I’m an IT consultant at OCTO Technology. My position allows me to discover many different clients, needs, projects and products, which was precisely what I was looking for to proceed in my developer journey. Also, different stacks are used by developers here: I switched from Ruby on Rails to a Node.js + React mission.
So, as I was saying.. A rollercoaster of a year!
What would you say to someone thinking about joining the course?
There are different ways to get around to joining the course. Le Wagon offers workshops to start coding and get to know the team (thanks again to the teachers and teachers assistants of batch 348, by the way!). You can also attend a Demo Day to discover what students are able to build by the end of their 9 weeks journey, then meet the team, and the new graduates. The alumni community is also very active and open. You can easily reach out to graduates on LinkedIn and ask them about their own experience and what they’ve been up to since the bootcamp.
If you’re willing to take a great leap, and if you’re ready for a life-changing (sorry, cliché, but true) experience, Le Wagon is a fantastic place to start.
"I’ve rarely learnt that much in such a short amount of time. Of course, there is theoretical tech knowledge... But most importantly, you acquire problem-solving skills, the ability to look for relevant information and solutions, a user and product-oriented approach, and a team-player mindset."
