How did MigraCode graduates overcome their fears and challenges?

Are you interested in applying for one of the courses offered by MigraCode but have doubts or fears? Then read this blog post! Our graduates have opened up about what their fears were before their MigraCode’s bootcamp, which difficulties did they overcome, and what advice do they give to new students.  

José Arriaga, Ricardo Delgado, Alejandro José Sánchez, and Esteban Medina have one thing in common: they have been MigraCode students who graduated from the Fullstak Development course that started in March 2020. However, when being asked about the fears they had initially, none of them give the same answer.

For instance, Ricardo remembers how nervous he felt during the selection process. This includes building a small webpage as a home assignment. “I had programmed before but I didn’t know what the expectations for the website were, so I was really scared I wasn’t going to be good enough”, he explains. However, he put his heart into it.  “After all, an ugly website is still better than a non-existing one, so I wasn’t going to let that stop me”, he concludes. 

Like many other MigraCode students, José’s fear was not being able to find a job after the course. To overcome this, he decided to start doing things little by little. He stopped overthinking and “focused on learning and not being worried about the future”.

On his side, Alejandro’s main fear was the language, as he had “some serious problems speaking in English”. “In the end, everyone was really patient a help me a lot, so I never had any problem with it”. Sometimes it is simply about stopping overthinking because then is when you see you are more than capable.

Esteban had multiple thoughts that worried him before applying to the course. For instance, the common thought that web development is too hard, that he was too old to learn how to code, that he lacked analytical process thought and that it would take him years before he could settle in a company doing code. But he overcame these fears “by steps”. He started by reading the course curriculum and trusted on his previous experience with HTML, CSS, and JS. He also gained some confidence when he accomplished the first two tasks. Moreover, “discovering that MigraCode also helps to connect students with companies after graduation helped me as well”, he adds. 

Another is the case of Farhana Tasnin, who started the Fullstack Development course in June 2020. Being a woman in such a male-dominated field is already challenging. Her fear was “not being able to finish the course” as her background was different than IT. But she asked for help when needed, and graduated successfully. 

However, it is true that the courses are demanding. Studying at MigraCode requires effort and time from the students’ side, as they need to work daily on their homework besides de online classes. For José, to put attention to the classes and study with discipline during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic was a big challenge.

Esteban speaking at his graduation. / Photo: Open Cultural Center

For others, certain parts of the course were the most challenging part. Both Alejandro and Esteban found it difficult to complete modules 2 to 4, which corresponds to the Javascript part. They struggled a lot and indeed fell a little behind doing the homework. 

On the other hand, for Ricardo, challenges appeared towards the end of the course. He started a job at the time the final projects were just starting. So it was really difficult for him to combine his 12 daily hours of work with collaborating with his team on their final project. “With really good communication, awesome teammates, and a strong resolve, in the end, it was possible”, he explains. 

For Farhana, completing the lessons was really challenging. However, she joined the CodeBuddies project, which consists of pairing a student with a volunteer buddy for one-to-one technical support. And she also joined CodeWomen, which encourages female students during their Migracode bootcamp. She says that these projects within MigraCode helped her a lot to finish the course.

The experience of these five students, their fears, and the challenges they faced are really different. But they all successfully graduated and some of them indeed found a job after it. Alejandro and Ricardo started a traineeship with Adaptive Financial Consulting three months ago, working as Web Developers. On his side, José is working as a Junior Web Developer in ACCT Consulting and Technology. Esteban not only finished the Web Development course but also recently finished the IT Support & Security course. And Farhana is today working as an ESC Trainee supporting CodeWomen. 

So, what advice do they give to future MigraCode students? 

Farhana

You can do it! You just have to be passionate and enthusiastic about it.

José

Consistency and discipline; sometimes it is hard to learn how to code and you feel overwhelmed by all the information, but with practice, you will make it. Be aware of this feeling as it never goes away while you work as a developer.

Ricardo

Enjoy the course and really try your best. I feel like this is the sort of thing where you really get out of it what you put, so if you half-ass it you will probably regret it later. It is a real opportunity to learn and get into the tech industry and it can really get your foot at the door, but it probably won’t be enough with just attending the classes and not actually trying.

Alejandro

Don’t give up, even when you think that it doesn’t worth it or don’t understand what is happening. Even experimented developers have these problems!

Esteban

Give yourself the opportunity to enter an educational community that will support you to learn new skills and abilities, all the way to the end or until you find a job in tech.