Shea needs to eat while learning
Donation protected
What's going on?
Recently I decided that I was going to take a different direction with my life and my career. I decided I wanted to get into computer science as that is an area I've always been interested in, so I went about assessing my options and trying to decide how I should do that. After deciding against going back to traditional school, whether that be grad school or a second bachelors, I came across the "boot camp" style of learning and it was everything I wanted. It was quick. It was immersive. It had a fantastic success rate for placing people in jobs quickly. My roommate graduated from this program and recommended me to it. I applied and was accepted, and received a tuition deferral and flexibility with payments. I finished accepting the slot in the program last night.
Wait, so what are you doing?
I'm starting a 5 month program with dev bootcamp (www.devbootcamp.com) to learn how to be a web developer. I'll be learning HTML5, Ruby, CSS, MySQL and JS. During the first 2 and a half months I will be doing a remote online course of about 20 hours a week, then for the last 2.5 months I will be onsite at the school putting in about 70-90 hours a week full immersing myself in code. By the time I graduate I will have learned all the skills necessary to land and excel at a Junior Developer position. The program itself does a good job of helping you network and apply to jobs in addition to teaching you the skills necessary to perform them.
Why Dev Bootcamp?
So I had a couple options available to me and most of them were unappealing. I could go into grad school, but I wasn't thrilled about the idea of spending that much time and money learning. That goes double for the second bachelors option, which is even less appealing than getting an advanced degree.
The curriculum that I'm enrolling in is fast. It is hard work. And it is rewarding. I know several people who have graduated from the course and they have all been able to find jobs fairly quickly. The vast majority of their graduates are able to transition their skills in the program into full time employment as a junior developer within 6 months of completing the program.
So, why do you need money?
As I said above, my tuition is not currently an issue. However, the second leg of the program is intensive-70-90 hours a week. I am going to have to quit my job and will not have income. My goal is based on a break down of how much money I will need for 2 and a half months for rent, food, transportation, car payments, utilities and other living expenses, along with a little bit extra in case I do not find a job right away and need to get a stop gap job while I job search in the field. The field of education financing is not changing as quickly as inovators in the field of education, and coding academies such as Dev Bootcamp are not eligible for student loans. I'm looking for anything that can help me out a little bit with simply putting a roof over my head and food in my mouth while I study.
So, what can I do?
First thing, the obvious: This is a fundraiser, so if you feel like supporting me on this leg of my life with a donation I can't even express how much I would appreciate it. Any donation is meaningful, whether its $5 or $50. It all helps.
If you are not in a position to help or don't feel like it, that's cool too. Thanks for taking the time to read through and check out whats going on in my life. I will need lots of friends and family to support me in non-financial ways as well, including things as simple as just taking a phone call and listening to me rant about how freaked out I am or help me deal with stress.
I have some amazing people in my life and I'm really grateful for all of you.
-Shea
Recently I decided that I was going to take a different direction with my life and my career. I decided I wanted to get into computer science as that is an area I've always been interested in, so I went about assessing my options and trying to decide how I should do that. After deciding against going back to traditional school, whether that be grad school or a second bachelors, I came across the "boot camp" style of learning and it was everything I wanted. It was quick. It was immersive. It had a fantastic success rate for placing people in jobs quickly. My roommate graduated from this program and recommended me to it. I applied and was accepted, and received a tuition deferral and flexibility with payments. I finished accepting the slot in the program last night.
Wait, so what are you doing?
I'm starting a 5 month program with dev bootcamp (www.devbootcamp.com) to learn how to be a web developer. I'll be learning HTML5, Ruby, CSS, MySQL and JS. During the first 2 and a half months I will be doing a remote online course of about 20 hours a week, then for the last 2.5 months I will be onsite at the school putting in about 70-90 hours a week full immersing myself in code. By the time I graduate I will have learned all the skills necessary to land and excel at a Junior Developer position. The program itself does a good job of helping you network and apply to jobs in addition to teaching you the skills necessary to perform them.
Why Dev Bootcamp?
So I had a couple options available to me and most of them were unappealing. I could go into grad school, but I wasn't thrilled about the idea of spending that much time and money learning. That goes double for the second bachelors option, which is even less appealing than getting an advanced degree.
The curriculum that I'm enrolling in is fast. It is hard work. And it is rewarding. I know several people who have graduated from the course and they have all been able to find jobs fairly quickly. The vast majority of their graduates are able to transition their skills in the program into full time employment as a junior developer within 6 months of completing the program.
So, why do you need money?
As I said above, my tuition is not currently an issue. However, the second leg of the program is intensive-70-90 hours a week. I am going to have to quit my job and will not have income. My goal is based on a break down of how much money I will need for 2 and a half months for rent, food, transportation, car payments, utilities and other living expenses, along with a little bit extra in case I do not find a job right away and need to get a stop gap job while I job search in the field. The field of education financing is not changing as quickly as inovators in the field of education, and coding academies such as Dev Bootcamp are not eligible for student loans. I'm looking for anything that can help me out a little bit with simply putting a roof over my head and food in my mouth while I study.
So, what can I do?
First thing, the obvious: This is a fundraiser, so if you feel like supporting me on this leg of my life with a donation I can't even express how much I would appreciate it. Any donation is meaningful, whether its $5 or $50. It all helps.
If you are not in a position to help or don't feel like it, that's cool too. Thanks for taking the time to read through and check out whats going on in my life. I will need lots of friends and family to support me in non-financial ways as well, including things as simple as just taking a phone call and listening to me rant about how freaked out I am or help me deal with stress.
I have some amazing people in my life and I'm really grateful for all of you.
-Shea
Organizer
Shea Alexander
Organizer
Chicago, IL