“I was able to bring valuable knowledge from my previous education into the world of programming. That gave me strength.”

Hey, I’m Rens! I currently work as a programmer at USoft. I have a background in linguistics and this is where I first came into contact with programming. I would love to tell you about my journey to IT. Maybe it will help you make a switch, too!

The Young_Coders process

The beginning was quite exciting, since this was completely unknown to me. But I oriented myself well before joining Young_Coders through self-study. During my self-study, I discovered I could spend hours programming and still enjoy it. That certainly gave me a positive feeling when I began the process. In addition, I was able to bring valuable knowledge from my previous education to the world of programming, which also gave me strength.

Before joining Young_Coders I had approached four other organizations that do the same thing as Young_Coders. I also talked to these organizations, but I had the best vibe at Young_Coders. The contact was personal right away and Young_Coders immediately expressed confidence in me and my skills. After that phone call, I immediately started the selection process.

What I thought was really cool about the selection process was the Neurolympics test, which tested your skills as a programmer. The programming assignment went very well for me, which also gave me motivation to continue. After the Neurolympics test, I actually got a call on the same day and was told I could go to USoft with Young_Coders for an interview. That was a real boost for me.

The bootcamp

After the positive conversation with USoft, the bootcamp could begin. I did experience the first month as really busy, but fortunately Young_Coders had prepared me for that. It was an intense first month because not only do you have homework from the bootcamp, but you also have work at your employer, which for me is USoft. In addition, sometimes you are in the office at USoft and other times you are in the classroom at Young_Coders. So that was kind of intense, but because of the guidance and also by preparing myself well, I actually experienced it as a very good time.

My work at USoft

I really like my work at USoft. I have many projects that allow me to see many different sides of the company. I also have very good guidance within USoft. Everyone is actually helpful and really wants to help me when I have a question.

For example, I helped develop an application for a company that conducts experiments on plants. In this project, I made sure that the photos from the experiments were processed within the app and displayed on screen. And what’s cool is that all of that happens in the back-end. And if all goes well, you can render it in a nice way in the front-end. What I also liked within this project was that I was given quite a bit of freedom. There were some requirements I had to adhere to, but I was also given a lot of freedom to decide for myself how I was going to approach it.

What I like most about my work at USoft is that you actually get to build things. You really end up with something tangible. At the end of the month or at the end of a project, you can say to yourself “I built this.” And you can then show that to yourself and others. That makes it really meaningful to me.

My advice for people considering a switch is to do self-study first. It doesn’t matter what programming language you start with, as long as you put in the time. Do it for four hours a day and check back after a month to see if you are as motivated as you were at the beginning. If that’s the case, then programming is really a job for you.