His mother was a software engineer and his father had managed a bank in China before immigrating to Melbourne, Australia in hopes of giving Gavin better education opportunities and the promise of a happier, simpler life.

Gavin attended the highly regarded University of Melbourne to study architecture, but dropped out to enter the real estate business, which was booming at the time due to overseas investors. 

After seven years in the business, Gavin found himself disillusioned with his career choice. With little room for personal and professional growth, and an unpredictable income, he sought more — more challenges, more fulfillment, and most importantly, more opportunities to make both his parents and himself proud.

Finding something valuable and running with it 

“I regretted not finishing school, and I hated what I did for a living. I often felt insecure about my value and skills,” said Gavin. “Because of that, I’m always seeking ways to learn something new.”

In February of 2020, Gavin found an introductory Python course offered by MIT online and was immediately hooked. Not long after he completed the course, Australia went into its first lockdown due to COVID-19, so Gavin took the opportunity to kick his coding into high gear.

“I found the Monash University Coding Boot Camp from an Instagram ad, and it had everything I was looking for — a part-time, online course that teaches all of the essential skills needed to begin a career in programming,” he said. “And, it was being offered by one of the best universities in Australia.” 

The boot camp began by teaching JavaScript, which inspired Gavin to create a web application offering users a short online quiz about JavaScript concepts.

“I worked on it whenever I had free time, including overnight and on weekends,” he said. “It was the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I thought about before falling asleep. When I finally got it to work, it was the first time I felt like I had an actual skill that belonged to me — the first time I felt that I was valuable.”

He found React to be more challenging, but his trainer stressed the importance of this language constantly, referring to it as “the money maker.” When Gavin was having trouble, he reached out to the boot camp staff for help. 

“The first thing I learned in programming is that nothing works on the first try. I often found myself stuck on something complex, like a logical error, or something tiny, like a misspelling,” he said. “The best way to get unstuck was to get a second opinion. My tutors and the support from my peers was extremely helpful in these situations.” 

The learning never stops 

Gavin was still working full time as a business development manager in real estate during the boot camp, and the fast-paced learning environment proved to be challenging. He spent 20 to 30 hours per week studying and tried to focus on completing small tasks to avoid overthinking the challenges ahead.

“Every hour that I wasn’t working, eating, or sleeping, I was studying. It can be physically and emotionally draining but, luckily, I was already mentally prepared for this challenge,” he said. 

He worked with career services as the boot camp came to an end in order to land a new role. His advisor, Nicola, provided him with advice, resources, and emotional support when needed. 

“I got a lot of rejections from companies and started to feel anxious about whether or not I was good enough to find work. She helped me stay positive and motivated, and eventually I got a job.”

Gavin is now a software developer for SmartMeasures, a company that provides businesses with software to measure data. He works directly under the startup’s founder and spends his days learning from experienced mentors.

“Each day, my boss sets out the tasks, some of which I work on with him and others which I complete on my own,” he said. “We have detailed discussions before getting started, and once the prototype is complete, we build unit testing to make sure it works with the entire application before publishing the updates. Then we move on to the next task.” 

Gavin’s education didn’t stop with the boot camp. He’s constantly gaining new skills in his new role and is currently learning about data science for AI, cloud computing, and Salesforce development.

“I feel like I am improving professionally every day. It’s a rare and wonderful experience,” he said. “The most important skill I gained from this boot camp is the mindset I now have to achieve a goal. A positive attitude, perseverance, and focus are qualities I’ll proudly carry throughout my life,” he said. “I’m confident that I will achieve much more.” 

Looking to embark on a career as a developer? Check out Monash University Boot Camps in coding, data analytics, cybersecurity, and more.

The post “It’s the First Time I Felt That I Was Valuable”: How Coding Boot Camp Helped Gavin Deng Find His Purpose appeared first on Monash University Boot Camps.

He went to university to study accounting, but always had an interest in programming. In fact, when he had to build a website for one of his accounting assignments, he got an A+. 

Darren moved to Australia nine years ago and has worked for REA Group, a global, online real estate advertising company based out of Melbourne, since 2016. When an associate development position opened up, Darren and his company decided he should fill the role. 

Embarking on this new career in development, he wanted to gain foundational knowledge, skills, and experience, so he began researching technology boot camps. 

Par for the (coding) course 

Darren found the Monash University Coding Boot Camp and enrolled. “I chose this boot camp because I felt it covered the most stack — which was important to me because it allowed me to gain an understanding of how the architecture of an app comes together,” he said.

The representative that helped Darren register for the boot camp described it as “intense,” which Darren found accurate. Taking place during the pandemic, classes were completely virtual. 

“After the second week of class, there were consistent exercises, homework, and projects to complete with due dates, along with constant revisions,” said Darren. “I personally enjoyed every minute of it.” 

Each class began with a rundown of what was going to be covered that day, as well as a refresher of some previous lessons. Students broke off into separate groups to complete activities to help them learn the material, including projects. 

The project that stood out to Darren the most was his final project, where he created a full stack web app to help golfers find courses. Golfer’s Choice allows users to create an account, search golf course listings, and save them to their profiles. 

These projects helped enhance students’ understanding of various programming languages, including JavaScript, Node.js, and React.js. “I personally had a keen interest in learning JavaScript, because this is the main technology I knew I was going to use most in my day-to-day as an associate developer,” he said. 

In terms of concepts he had difficulty with, Darren somewhat struggled with connecting the backend/server to the database. “I found myself spending most of my time learning as much as I could there with the supplemental information that was provided by the trainers, and utilizing their time before and after class to help me better understand,” he said.

In the beginning, Darren was hesitant to speak up during class when he thought he knew the answers to the trainer’s questions. “I got better at this as I progressed through the course, as the trainers created a safe environment where you never felt silly for having the wrong answer,” he said. “Instead, they were encouraging and understanding that we were just trying to learn.”

To help students get through the boot camp, the university offered tons of resources. “The availability of the trainers was a massive resource for me. Even outside of class, they would jump on a video call with me to help me figure out problems that I was stuck on,” he said. 

He also used career services to help freshen up his Github, LinkedIn, and CV. Although he already had a placement at his company prior to finishing the boot camp, he still found this resource really useful. “They opened my eyes to how much recruiters scrutinize your work, and how important it is to have your profiles up-to-date,” he said. 

New skills, and a new role to match 

Darren has had a dynamic career so far at REA Group. He briefly spent time as a NetSuite ERP Support Coordinator before becoming an associate developer with the skills he gained in the boot camp. “I apply what I learned at the boot camp to everything I do at my job, focusing mainly on JavaScript as the language my team uses,” he said. 

Now, he’s taking this time to become an expert coder and be more confident in his abilities. In the long term, he hopes to move up to become a developer, and eventually, a senior-level developer. 

The boot camp isn’t easy, but Darren got through it and has some advice for future boot camp learners. 

“If you’re committed to attending this boot camp, give it your all,” he said. “Dedicate as much time over the course of the program as you can to homework, class, and revision of prior assignments. And don’t be afraid to speak up, as everyone is there to learn, and you quickly realize that others won’t know what you know, and you don’t know what they know.”

Get started with a career in tech by exploring boot camps in coding, data analytics, cybersecurity, and more at Monash University. 

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