Original Email
Hey Devon!
I am absolutely interested in a mentoring session.
Background: I’m a 35-year-old coding bootcamp instructor with an untraditional educational background and varied professional experiences, including a four-year stint in the military doing heavy construction. I’m an artist at heart and was drawn to web development after working for a small business doing digital marketing and having an amazing experience working with a web development firm with a fantastic UX-driven onboarding process.
The pandemic hit and laws were passed to allow veterans to use their GI Bill benefits to attend online education with full benefits, and I took the opportunity to quit my job and enroll in a coding bootcamp that focused on full-stack software development. I thrived in writing code and especially enjoyed creating user interfaces for my applications. In the last few weeks of the program, the Director of Instruction asked if I would be interested in coming on board as an instructor and pitched a role that would involve both teaching and working on software, so it seemed like a win-win (since I love working with people and teaching/coaching).
The job has been great (been doing it for over a year), but I haven’t gotten the real-world, client-facing experiences I was hoping for, even though I’ve found ways to contribute to my company meaningfully with my coding skills. However, my dream for the longest time has been to freelance in some creative craft, and I’ve developed a passion for web development and would like to take a crack at developing a freelance practice that could become my full-time gig. I believe this would allow me the flexibility to also incorporate coaching elements into my practice to create a more meaningful career using all of my gifts to the fullest.
That said, I have a lot of uncertainty about getting into freelancing and don’t want to quit my day job to do so. I also don’t want to apply for 500 junior developer roles with the hopes that a company will take a chance on me when I’m not even sure that I would enjoy that type of role.
So, that’s where I am.
**TL;DR: I’ve been learning web development skills for over a year now, currently employed as a coding bootcamp instructor, wanting to transition into freelancing and build up a unique, client-driven freelancing practice. Hoping to snag one of those mentoring sessions so my dreams and aspirations are no longer just rattling around in my own head.
Here’s my GitHub so you can take a look at my work so far: https://github.com/jjvega86**
**
And my LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jj-vega
**
Looking forward to hearing from you,
JJ Vega
Notes
- Send freelancing crash course