US Navy Veteran and mom of two fulfills her childhood dream of becoming a developer

From IT Business Analyst to Application Development Associate, Accenture

"I believed I could be job ready within 6 months. I set my mind to it and enrolled at Nucamp."

This is Lakita Gaither, a Nucamp Full Stack Bootcamp graduate and now an Application Development Associate at Accenture.

She is a US Navy veteran who loves spending time with her two children.

Lakita spent 3 years in the Navy stationed in Japan and now enjoys being able to homeschool her kids and watch them grow first hand.

As early as Kindergarten, Lakita was enthralled with the school's computers and knew from then on she wanted to be in technology.

However, it wasn't until college when she was first introduced to web development where she majored in graphic design and web design.

During her studies she learned web design using Dreamweaver and she fell in love with how she could make her designs come alive on screen.

This solidified her desire to pursue web development seriously.

To manifest her goal she created a wall plaque that stated her name, the title Software Developer, and the completion date she set for herself.

After three years of going to school the pandemic hit and it became too much to continue.

Moving on from college, she was able to secure a contract position with TikTok.

Landing what she thought could be her dream job, she couldn't help but feel TikTok was distracting her from her true goal of becoming a Software Developer.

Unfortunately this contract job wasn't converted into a full time position, but they rightfully say things happen for a reason.

The very day she was laid off, she started her next job AND enrolled at Nucamp, wasting no time.

She chose to join a bootcamp because in the past she had burned out in college having to learn extra "fluff" she knew she wasn't going to apply in the real world.

When she would teach herself in the past, she would get stuck on JavaScript.

The free online resources she used referenced bootcamps and they resonated with her as an environment she would thrive in with her military background.

After looking into different bootcamps she chose Nucamp because of the affordability, the positive reviews on sites such as Career Karma, and how well the class structure fit into her schedule.

On top of that, she was blown away by the approachability of our founder, Ludo, as he answered questions prospective students had.

First she took the Web Development Fundamentals Bootcamp and was encouraged by her instructor to continue onto the Full Stack Bootcamp based on her accomplishments.

"Through this journey I found I'm more resilient than I thought. I may not be the smartest or the quickest, but I can show up every day and accomplish my goals."

Describe your job search process.

Lakita started filling out applications while attending her coding bootcamp.

After three weeks of applying she landed a few interview with potential employers.

She received an official offer before she graduated from Nucamp.

What advice do you have for people who are thinking about attending a bootcamp, but haven't yet registered?

"First, make sure they know which stack they want to go into. Do they want to do Front End or Back End. Research languages as well. Find a bootcamp that has what you're looking for. Prep a little bit before going, especially JavaScript, nevertheless, she was able to pick it up."

What advice do you have for people who have already started the bootcamp and they are just about to finish Bootstrap?

"It's going to get hard, however, don't give up. Keep going no matter what. Do your two hours of study per day. Create a study group if you have to. Once you get to React Native, it helps to understand the previous module [React]."