Accueil > Graduate stories > Alumni Story Wendy | Transition from marketing to project manager
Alumni Story Wendy | Transition from marketing to project manager
Wendy has a very rich experience in her education and career. After graduating from graduate school, she came back to Shanghai and joined our full-stack web development bootcamp. In three months after graduating the bootcamp, she successfully transformed from marketing into the technology industry and became a project manager. Let's find out her story.
Summary
Coming from different culture and background, students at Le Wagon created a community with inclusivity and open-mindedness. Wendy, who I want to introduce today, has a very rich experience in her education and career. After graduating from graduate school, she came back to Shanghai and joined our full-stack web development bootcamp. In three months after graduating the bootcamp, she successfully transformed from marketing into the technology industry and became a project manager.
We can't help but wonder what made the process so quick? Wendy said humbly that she felt very lucky. How did she do it? Let us hear about it!
Learning across North America, Europe and Asia, from bachelor, master to Le Wagon Bootcamp
Could you please introduce your background?
I was born in Taiwan, raised in Canada. After I graduated from University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing, I moved to Shanghai to work for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CanCham). I have hosted more than 100+ events.wendyAfter 3 years in Shanghai, I have decided to move to London, UK to pursue a Master’s degree in data analytics at Royal Holloway, University of London.
However, determined to transition from marketing & community to tech, I decided to come back to Shanghai after graduation and immerse myself in the fast-paced dynamic of technology development in Asia. Though faced with a lot of uncertainty, I still took the risk and came.
With professional experiences expanding across Asia, Europe and North America, I have developed my own value and outlook which motivates me to be more humble and confident.
How do you get to know Le Wagon?
I came to know Le Wagon through a friend. He/she managed to transition from marketing to technology and recommended Le Wagon Shanghai to me. So his/her advice and successful experience encouraged me to join Le Wagon shanghai to study programming. Back in London, I have received several offers from companies there. However, technology has/will become an inevitable part of our personal and professional life and I feel strongly motivated to become part of the technology innovation.
at le wagonHow did the le wagon experiences and learnings help your career?
By learning the foundation of coding at Le Wagon, I was given the opportunity to explore the different areas of the tech industry, for example, tech project management, UI/UX design, Mini-program development - and find out where my interest lies. Right now, I still go back to my notes during the Le Wagon bootcamp when I encounter unfamiliar jargons or concepts.
Through le wagon connection, I found my current job at wiredcraft. Job searching can be tough but Le Wagon helped me go through the process more easily.
Getting to know yourself through communicating and asking for feedback
What is your role now? What kind of challenges are you facing?
I work as a tech project manager in a digital consulting firm. We provide digital transformation strategies to international brands, and localized tech products according to their business needs. My work bridges the communication gap between our engineering team and our clients. I translate the requests of our clients into technical workflows to the engineering team and translate problems our engineering team encountered into jargon-free conversation to our clients.
Since I am relatively new to the tech industry, I encounter a lot of unfamiliar tech jargons or concepts at work. A lot of times I needed to go back to the notes I took at Le Wagon bootcamp to help my current work. Besides that, thanks to my 9 weeks training at Le Wagon, I developed a good idea of how to search and who to ask.
Take some risk if you want to change
What would you be piece of actionable advice for beginners/transitioners to help them get started their journey in tech？
Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Le Wagon has a strong support group consisting of knowledgeable instructors, talented TAs, and friendly classmates.
I was known as “the girl that asks a million questions a day” during the bootcamp. But you will be surprised how easily a “unsolvable bug” in your eyes can be fixed if you simply just ask.
In your opinion, what are the advantages for women to be in tech industry nowadays and how women can better leverage the advantages for them to succeed in the industry ?
I don’t like to be gender specific, as I believe women have as many advantages to leverage as men to begin with.
However, statistics estimates are that less than 0.5 percent of the world's population knows how to code today, and somewhere between 70 and 90% of those are male. Therefore, I do hope kids can receive equal learning opportunity/encouragement to explore the STEM industry when they grow up.
