Coming Soon: Break In To Tech

I'm launching a thing! The Break In newsletter will share the resources, advice and experiences of bootcamp grads and self-taught programmers who broke into the tech world from lots of different backgrounds. It will provide answers to all the burning questions you have––whether you're just starting to learn to code, looking for your first developer job or hoping to excel as a junior dev in your first engineering role.

Why Am I Doing This?

I took a "nontraditional", but increasingly common, pathway into the tech world. After graduating with a liberal arts degree from a four-year college, I didn't really know what I wanted to do or how I was going to do it.

I applied to law school, and I got in! Then, at the last minute, I decided I didn't want to go. I babysat, I cleaned apartments and eventually fell into standardized test prep--tutoring the LSAT to other young people, many of whom also weren't really sure they wanted to go to law school.

Eventually I started dabbling in coding, taking a few online courses at Code Academy. I started to become more interested in programming, but I wasn't sure if it was something I would be capable of excelling at and I certainly didn't know how you could make a career out of it without a computer science degree.

I got lucky. I ended up as a student at the Flatiron School where I truly fell in love with programming and was surrounded by students, teachers and tech professionals who helped me succeed. After I graduated though, I still had lots of questions as I navigated the job search and then my first role as a junior dev. Since then, as a teacher and senior dev I've encountered the questions and struggles of dozens and dozens of students and junior developers––many of whom had the same exact questions or encountered the same pain points along the pathway to their new engineering careers.

I wanted to create a space where beginners all across the spectrum can ask questions and get the answers they need to succeed. So, after talking to a few friends who agreed to come onboard, Break In was born!

What is Break In?

Break In will launch soon as a twice monthly newsletter with articles, guides, interviews and resources for students who are just learning to code, brand-new developers looking to land their first engineering jobs and junior devs who want to level-up and excel in their new roles.

Our weekly newsletter covers everything from interview tips and job search strategies, resources to support your journey to learn to code and support for folks who are working to develop their first side projects or give their first tech talks.

The people behind Break In are real developers with real experience who have been through it all—from learning to code to working hard to land our first engineering jobs.

Wondering how to go about giving a tech talk? Looking to write your first tech resume or ace that whiteboard interview? New to programming and want to demystify common concepts like pair programming, rubber duck debugging and refactoring? You can subscribe to get answers to these questions and more. You can also submit your burning questions here and your questions will likely be answered in an upcoming issue.

If you have experience learning to code, looking for engineering jobs, working as a junior dev or climbing the ladder to more senior positions, we want your contributions. You can submit article ideas here and we'll reach out to you.

subscribe and never miss a post!

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Sophie DeBenedetto

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