From shops to { this.props }

Hello there!

My name's Austin Ratcliff, I'm a software developer in Chicago, and I recently joined Dev.to after obsessing about it with a few coworkers. A group of us at work meet biweekly to chat about our goals, and a couple of people recently discussed wanting to blog/write more. Writing has always been something that I enjoy doing, but I don't always prioritize doing it. So I joined my colleagues, set some writing-based goals for myself, and created an account here to get started.

Then I remembered why I don't write regularly — brainstorming ideas to write about isn't easy! But a friendly user here commented on my Welcome Thread comment and encouraged me to share a post about my change from working in fashion to software development, and that encouragement was the creative spark that I needed to get started (thanks @dance2die!).

So here it is!

Long story short —

I'm from Edmond, OK, currently live in Chicago, IL, studied Fashion Marketing and Journalism at my university, changed my mind and studied web development at a bootcamp in Chicago, then recently started working as a Software Development Consultant at ThoughtWorks.

Phew! Run on sentences for the win. 😅

Making that change was a rollercoaster of emotions, so hopefully this post will help other career changers out there and encourage them to make moves. Or at least let people know that being in your mid-20s and wanting to start a new career is totally acceptable (and doable!).

The Beginning

def austins_dream_job(year)
  if year < 2017
    return 'Fashion Journalist at Vogue'
  else
    return 'Software Developer at Glossier'
  end
end

From 2011 to 2015, I studied Fashion Marketing and Journalism with the high hopes of being the next Anna Wintour. My dreams of fashion started when I was young and watched Friends with my mom and sister. Rachel Green working at Ralph Lauren in NYC, then Louis Vuitton in Paris, was exactly what I wanted needed. Then Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada strutted out of her office elevator on to my television screen, and my dreams of fashion journalism officially launched.

However, during college, no one cared to mention that journalism jobs are incredibly difficult to get (thanks a ton Internet). Especially with no internship or other journalistic experience. So when I graduated and moved to Chicago, I pivoted and dove into a career of retail.

Retail was fun — it was an outlet for my interest in fashion, and I made a few new ride or die friends — but it wasn't challenging. And after two years of retail work, I was finally introduced to the challenge that I needed thanks to my boyfriend's friend's sister's husband. He had recently graduated from a coding bootcamp, something that I didn't know existed.

The New Beginning

Now you're probably thinking, Since when did you like coding?

Truthfully, I never thought that I would want to be a developer one day. My interest in tech usually manifested in simple things like learning HTML and CSS to redesign my Xanga blog, or watching each and every Apple keynote presentation. But something about a coding bootcamp (maybe the fact that I could learn something new without going back to college to get another degree?) sparked something in me. So I did it.

Dev Bootcamp was one of the most stressful, yet fulfilling, experiences in my life. Like retail, I made a handful of new besties, but more than that, I used my brain power more than I did in all four years of my time in college combined. And I found that software development was the perfect match for how my mind works — it's half creative (for the fashion and design loving side of my brain) and half problem solving (for the logical and structured side of my brain). For a Type A person with a Cancer sun sign like me, it's a perfect fit.

What Next?

Now, with all of that being said, changing your life to try something new and go to a bootcamp isn't easy. It requires time, energy, and money. Fortunately my parents helped me financially so that I could simply pay them back without the interest of a loan (thanks Mom and Dad!). So I only needed to focus on finding the time and energy. But I understand that not everyone has that option.

The good news, though, is that the amount of bootcamps that exist now makes it easier to find one that fits into your life and personal needs. Do you need one with weekend only classes? That exists! Do you need one that offers scholarships and/or low interest financial plans? That exists too! So if you're passionate about diving into a life of code, and do the research, then you can totally find something that works for you.

To get that research started, check out this list of the best coding bootcamps in 2019.