Few people choose to reinvent their careers and make a 360º turn in their professional lives. This is the case of Sergio Centellas, a pastry chef with more than 10 years of experience who decided to shift into the tech world.
His interest in the technology industry started little by little because many of his friends were in tech fields, specifically web development. His desire to learn more about programming and finding a better work/life balance led him to complete Ironhack’s Web Development Bootcamp in Barcelona. In this article, he details his experience as an Ironhacker and the professional doors that opened upon his graduation.
Sergio’s Ironhack Experience
His experience at Ironhack was better than expected during a pandemic; the instructors knew how to quickly adapt in-person classes to remote ones and the class’ bond is still strong today. It was a tough road; there was tons of knowledge that had to be absorbed every day with ups and downs, but everyone had support and helped each other, whether it was with bugged code or simply hanging out at campus.
Before the bootcamp, Sergio was a pastry chef and decided to change careers because he wanted a better work/life balance.
He discovered the world of programming in a passive manner; new friends he made were programmers and his partner at the time was also a programmer. This planted the seed of curiosity in his head which fully took over when the pandemic began.
Sergio’s coding knowledge prior to Ironhack was quite limited; he had only taken short courses on Codeacademy and watched some YouTube videos. However, he thinks his previous experience as a chef helped him in the programming world. How? Here’s what he thinks:
That any experience prior to tech will enrich your offering and make you a more interesting candidate.
That his previous experience in restaurants allowed him to know how to adapt to intense work environments quickly, react fast, and find solutions with the tools he had.
The Job Hunt
Upon graduating from Ironhack, Sergio found a role in a startup, which he considers to be quite fortunate because he found an incredible mentor, something he wouldn’t have found in a bigger company. His boss was one of two other members of his team who was incredibly patient with him, helping him understand new concepts, sprint after sprint, leading him to learn more consistently.
He noticed that his other classmates who ended up in larger companies lacked this personal connection.
For those just starting out with their Ironhack journey, Sergio recommends that you study as much as you can prior to beginning the bootcamp so that the concepts are already familiar and easy to grasp; this way, you’ll be able to truly know if you feel comfortable programming and if you want to learn more. If you enjoy it, you know Ironhack is for you.
You can be like Sergio and completely change your career: you just need to check out our bootcamps and find the best one for you.
We can’t wait to see you in class!
