Do You Feel Lost in Your Career? Read this.

Here’s what Kalani Man found out

Imagine yourself in a classroom; it’s a required general class that you have no interest in.

The air is stale, someone is clicking their pen incessantly, and you keep staring at the clock waiting for the period to end.

When you’re finally home you run through the never-ending list of homework in either dull subjects or ones you struggle to understand.

Fast forward: You’re out of school, working at a job your 11-year-old self would roll their eyes at… and you think to yourself, “Why am I still working in this dead-end job? I hardly have time or money for myself. Is this job worth it anymore?”

That’s precisely how Kalani Man felt.

Kalani didn't fit into college; the typical curriculum wasn’t appealing and its learning format was like trying to wear a too-small ugly holiday sweater to the beach.

So what did he do?

He lost interest in his studies altogether and spent a lot of time traveling instead.

He got stuck managing restaurants, which felt like having to do your taxes while running a marathon.

Sound familiar?

BUT, all was not lost—he learned valuable executive and management skills AND it became crystal-clear in his mind that he needed better work-life-balance.

This was the moment he started looking into coding and I asked him why that of all things?

He half-joking replied, “It’s the age of the nerd!”

In the back of Kalani’s mind he had always thought about how his close friend was successfully working in IT at Discover without a degree.

That combined with the fact multiple people throughout his life have recommended him to get into coding inspired him to look into it.

Kalani felt like shifting into technology was a natural transition; coding was constantly changing and it seemed you could jump in whenever.

But—could he switch professions mid-career without earning a traditional degree?

Maybe that question alone has stopped you before, or maybe it was the sticker shock.

Most coding bootcamps are over $10,000… which definitely made Kalani reconsider.

Finding out how affordable Nucamp was PLUS earning a Nucamp scholarship, sold him on moving forward with his plan.

Kalani registered for both the Web Development Fundamentals and Full Stack bootcamps.

“Tell me your experience with Nucamp,” I said.

Then he asked himself the #1 question everyone always asks about Nucamp.

Is this too good to be true?

Thankfully his worries were proved wrong from the very first workshop.

One of his classmates was also from Houston AND even lived on the same street as Kalani.

This reaffirmed his decision to trust Nucamp was who they said they were; people his age and in his community were also interested in Nucamp so he knew he could take it seriously.

Kalani said one of the best aspects of the bootcamp was the community.

The camaraderie around everyone being in the same situation and having the same goal to change careers was invaluable and 3 of his classmates still keep in touch with him and eachother.

They helped one another throughout their bootcamp and helped each other in their job search.

Speaking of jobs, I asked Kalani about his job search process.

He started his job search during the bootcamp and it was only a little over a month before he found his new job as a Software Developer at The Reynolds and Reynolds Company.

Kalani described how he and a group of classmates worked together to edit their resumes, practice interview questions, and research interview advice.

He also took assessments and made an effort to reach out to anyone in his network that were in tech.

My last question for Kalani was if he had any advice for people considering attending a bootcamp or even for those in a bootcamp currently.

His advice for those who haven’t yet registered is to make sure you have time to commit.

It is a long process that takes a lot of effort so you have to make it a priority.

Research local jobs and jobs you want to have one day to learn about the requirements.

Connecting with people in the industry is the best way to learn, so reach out to people who have the jobs you want to understand what you’d be getting into.

The connection Kalani made gave him a boost of motivation when he realized a lot of them were more like him than he initially thought.

Also, Kalani wants everyone to make sure to apply for scholarships.

“Apply for a scholarship. It’s really easy!”

Lastly for those who are in the bootcamp and are just about to finish Bootstrap, Kalani wants you to make sure to practice every day and to not forget to pay attention to the 20-minute rule.

It’s important to work on figuring out problems on your own but if you can’t solve them in 20 minutes, avoid frustration, and ask for help.

“I found I can succeed at achieving my stretch goals if I decide to rally my resources in a particular direction. If we decide to do something that takes a lot of effort, we have to reprioritize. Taking your focus and putting it in a single direction really pays off.”