I've long suffered from an inability to choose a career path or
decide what I wanted to be in the future. My initial job after
graduation was teching English in Japan, but this was never meant
to be a permanent career. After returning to New Zealand, I
ping-ponged between jobs in construction, the university, and
after-school tutoring, but nothing really stuck. Finally, after
returning from a short study-abroad in Tokyo, I decided that I
needed to settle on a career once and for all.
After much head-scratching and soul-searching, I decided to pursue
programming. Previously, I had been interested in this sort of
career, and had tried on a few half-hearted occasions to learn by
myself, however they never really led anywhere. I happened upon
Dev Academy by chance, and after chatting with a few of the
teachers and getting a tour of the Auckland Campus, I signed on
and have been enjoying it immensely so far!
Why Dev Academy in particular?
Nowadays, a career in the tech sector is a popular choice for many
people, with the idea of being able to work remotely and gain
competitive salaries compared to most other career paths. In
response, many schools, bootcamps, online learning platforms and
private individuals offer ways to learn different programming
languages and 'kickstart a career in tech'. However, afer reading
reviews and trawling through innumerable offers of 'quick hacks'
and 'cheat codes' for learning programming skills, I decided to
settle on Dev Academy Aoteroa. I made this decision because of a
few factors:
Location: The Auckland Campus is practically a hop, skip and a
jump down from my apartment.
Financial Support: Compared to other schools/bootcamps, I was
able to take advantage of Study Link to lighten the load.
Career Support: Having access to Alumni and other advantages in
job hunting are vital in the current job market.
Intuition: After talking with Rohan and Joseph, and visiting the
Auckland campus, I felt confident that DAA was the right place!
What do I hope to achieve here?
My long term goal is to begin a career in software development,
and possibly expanding into data science if the opportunity
arises. I have struggled to find a proper career path that is both
satisfying and offers upwards mobility, therefore I am commited to
make this journey into software.
Another long term goal is to grow a career where I am able to live
and work in Japan alongside my partner. Having met and previously
lived together in Japan, we both feel that between New Zealand and
Japan, the latter is the better place to settle down long term due
to career opportunities, family, and cost of living. I'm currently
hoping to achieve this by either getting a job with a Japanese
company/startup, or in a remote working position for a New Zealand
based employer.
For so long I've felt that I've lacked a true career path. My aims
and goals have constantly changed over the years, but as I've
grown older I'm less concerned with status and grand achievements
such as completing a PhD. I realised a few years ago that my true
goal should be to guarantee my happiness and aim to build a family
of my own. I'm hoping that a career within the tech industry will
give me the funds and time to achieve this goal and make myself
proud.
My hobbies & Interests
Video Games
Video Games can be amazing when made right, and I've been lucky
enough to enjoy some amazingly relaxing and frustratingly
challenging games over the years!
I am extremely grateful for the experiences and relationships I
have been able to build through them. Just last year, I was
fortunate enough to meet a group of guys who I would form tight
bonds with while playing World of Warcraft Classic.
History
Since I was a child, I've always been fascinated in history!
Growing up in Wales surrounded by castles and supplied with plenty
of great books like the Horrible Histories series of books!
Reading books, watching documentaries, and visiting historical
sites whenever I get the chance, I just love learning more about
every period of history there is!
I find it hard to understand how so many people are disinterested
in the past . It's sad how poorly history is taught in our
schools, and how politicised and skewed all our views of history
can be based on our surroundings and beliefs. I would love for
more people to take an interest in the rich history of mankind!
Reading
I love a good book! There's just something so exhilerating about
reading a good book. Whether its an imaginative fantasy book to
get lost in for hours on end inbetween pages of heroism, magic,
and treachery; or a sci-fi book exploring the vast unknown depths
of space, and all the horror and adventure that entails. Even
non-fiction books exploring real-life stories and events too
insane to possibly be fiction. Getting your nose into a good book
and getting losttruly is one of life's pleasures.
One of the great benefits of knowing multiple languages is the
ability to read books from other literary traditions and explore
the iceberg that is the written word of other cultures.
Welsh books have a constant flow through the story, with ethereal
connections between places and people as if time were only an
illusion yet drag you out of it to face the harsh reality of
reality. Emotions between characters are like firecrackers with a
lit fuse. The whole story may go by before an explosion of emotion
might throw the story on its head.
Japanese books were hard for me to understand at the beginning,
even when translated into English. The different ways in which
passive and active tones are used grammatically throws you off as
a reader used to English novels. I constantly felt like an
interloper in another person's life, with characters harbouring
deep oceans of emotion but unable to express it.
