Making a career change is often more bark than it is bite

From Research Study Coordinator to Front End Developer, Paypal Inc.

"A bootcamp will give you the skills you actually need to get a job in web development."

This is Dan Haas, a Nucamp Bootcamp graduate and now a Front End Developer contracting to hire at Paypal.

In his spare time, Dan loves dog training and spending time with his canine friend.

Dan has also spent the last 3 ½ years as a Research Study Coordinator in the healthcare field.

While he did feel satisfaction helping people to be healthier, it was always difficult to see positive results in healthcare.

For Dan, receiving more immediate visual feedback was something he could bite into.

Aside from being a physician or a nurse, the lack of high paying jobs in healthcare wasn't his treat.

When Dan started to consider a new career, the first cue came from a career advisor and a friend who told him that cyber security was a growing and well-paying field.

However, through some research he sniffed out that this specific field wasn't quite the best fit.

The second cue was his exposure to related fields like digital media and web technology.

Taking an introduction to web development and a second related class was the initial reinforcement he needed continue training.

However, when Dan tried to teach himself, it was difficult to set a pace for himself in which he could remain consistent.

He started looking into bootcamps, but they were all located in Washington D.C. and they were more expensive.

When he discovered Nucamp offered bootcamps in Baltimore, the in-person workshop was only blocks from his house, and he didn't have to quit his job, he was all in.

What it was like taking a Nucamp Bootcamp

Dan's research into the Full Stack curriculum demonstrated a lot of promise in the bootcamp.

It was the first time Dan had ever coded with others in a pack and it was the first time he ever did anything more complicated than Javascript.

The material felt challenging, but the instructors and the community showed him that the content was more bark and less bite.

When he compared what he knew before taking the bootcamp and what he knew after, there was a huge difference and that was a reward itself.

Describe your job search process.

After graduating from Nucamp, Dan spent a few months finishing his undergraduate degree in Digital Media and Web Technology, then he spent a few months improving his portfolio.

Once he felt it was ready, he started applying to jobs diligently for 5 months and then received an offer.

"My degree has hardly been useful. All the skills I learned in Nucamp have been relevant. Nucamp introduced me to the technologies I needed to know in order to work with other developers in the real world compared to taking college courses."

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

"Take advantage of all the resources that are available to you through the Bootcamp, that includes reaching out to your instructor, speaking with classmates, and using web resources. If you have to go a little bit out of your comfort zone, do it."