I submitted that application just in case. And that was a big mistake on my part.īefore I learned about the rejection, however, there was another application period added primarily for software engineers. I got discouraged and stopped LeetCoding out of frustration. No one asked me to reverse a linked list. All of the time I had spent LeetCoding meant nothing anymore. I got rejected the first time I applied to LEAP.Īlthough I knew my chances were low, I was still devastated. In a way, I was hopeful, but I also knew that it was a long shot. I highlighted my formal training and projects in statistics and my job responsibilities related to technology. I got into a beast mode to spruce up my resume, add more projects to my portfolio, and rewrite the essays. She also reviewed the two essays which were part of my application. After learning that I was applying to LEAP, she gave me a lot of advice on my resume and portfolio. I posted my resume to seek opportunities. In no way did I think I was qualified.ĭuring that time, I was also active in the Women Who Code in DC Slack group. But I still wanted to apply to get exposure to the application process. I was living in DC at the time and wasn’t thinking about relocating. The program also has tracks for User Experience Design, Technical Program Management, and Business Program Management in the US. You can read more about the application process here. The Program consists of a three-week bootcamp and a 13-week training with a software engineering team at Microsoft and is based primarily in Redmond, WA and Sunnyvale, CA. The Program’s mission is “to recruit, develop, and train non-traditional talent for employability into the technology industry worldwide.” The one that stood out to me the most was the Microsoft LEAP Program. ![]() I did a lot of searching online and found a couple of great apprenticeship programs. Related: How I Got 3 Software Engineer Offers from Microsoft after 17 Months of Self-teaching Microsoft LEAP That’s when I decided to look into apprenticeship programs, hoping that an apprenticeship would help me bridge the gap to tech and reduce the risk of hiring a career-changer like me for companies. I spent most of my time grinding LeetCode questions, but I didn’t even have a chance to show my skills since I didn’t get any full interviews until much later in the job hunt. I did most of my projects by following tutorials on YouTube. I didn’t have any impressive large-scale projects either. ![]() I think the biggest hurdle for me was that I had neither a degee in Computer Science nor work experience as a developer. I applied for multiple junior developer positions and got some phone screens. I had a portfolio website that I built using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flask, Django and some other technologies. ![]() It was hard for me to decide what I should focus on besides learning data structures and algorithms. I said “possibly” because, as you can imagine, I didn’t feel ready for a full-time developer position at all.īut I also wanted to learn more on the job. After about 9 months of teaching myself how to code, I started looking into the job market to see what jobs I was possibly qualified for.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |