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General Discussion

Posted by True Bey
True Bey
166 Points

Hello, So I just finished the Career Foundations track and better clarity on my approach to entering the tech industry.

I'm going to be moving back to NJ in September to be with my children. As the videos suggested in the Career Foundations, I searched for web dev. jobs in NJ, while their was an abundance of jobs, most of them required a college degree or equivalent experience. I don't have a college degree, my background is that of a medical assistant and I've been in medical field for past 15 years. 1st ? How do work around this when trying to apply for jobs. My self answer is as I go through the web dev. tracks, do some freelance work to develop a portfolio. I've decided to enroll in Full Sail University this fall. My challenge and question/feedbaTreehouse. Should I enroll in the BS Degree for Web Design + Develop, Mobile Dev or Graphic Design? I want to position myself both as budding Entrepreneur and currently employee to do something fulfilling. I already see some opportunities to add value in healthcare with the relationships I have in regards to web dev. Any feedback from the community would be greatly appreciated. I've also began to embed my self in the startup/tech culture in Austin. thanks

1 Answer

Santiago Enciso
Santiago Enciso
17,789 Points
Santiago Enciso
Santiago Enciso
17,789 Points

I was having the same problem this year, I discovered treehouse about a year a a half ago and fell in love with web development and design. So much so that as soon as I finished the Web Design Track, I started applying for jobs in the industry.

Soon I came to realize that most of these jobs require 3+ years of experience and/or a portfolio that reflects years of work. It discouraged me a little and made me think I was going to have to freelance for a long time before being able to get hired somewhere.

I then stumbled across this article that said that you might not get the job you want when you first start off in the tech industry, but it's important to get your foot in the door somehow.

I then started looking for any position in tech jobs and I was able to find a job in an ecommerce platform called Volusion. I am currently working in support, helping merchants manage their online stores with Volusion and getting so much experience in the industry. They only required that I had basic knowledge in HTML and CSS which was all the experience I had when I first started. They will be hiring web designers in the spring or the summer and they mostly hire from within. Being an employee allows me to get information about the qualification I need to have to apply for a web design position. If I play my cards right, I will be part of the web design team by this spring.

After I found treehouse, I realized how much I enjoy working with computers so I decided to enroll at Austin Community College and do Treehouse on the side. However, the classes at ACC were nothing compared to Treehouse so I ended up dropping out of school and learn to code on mainly with treehouse and youtube. I hope this information helps.