Elena Porras is a 19-year old girl who grew up in Guatemala with part of her Finnish family. She graduated from the Autumn Batch 2017 and found a job as a PHP Developer with Startupjobs.cz within a matter of weeks. We interviewed Elena about her experience at the Coding Bootcamp Praha, how the hackathons helped her to learn faster and how the job hunting went for her.
What did you do before the bootcamp?
Before the bootcamp, I attended a Food Engineering program and tutored high school kids in Guatemala.
Why did you decide to learn programming?
During the Food Engineering program, we had a Python course, which I completely loved. I could spend hours working on projects without even realizing it. That’s when I decided I wanted to learn more about programming.
What made you choose Coding Bootcamp Praha?
After hours of looking and comparing options, I chose Coding Bootcamp Praha because of the curriculum. The course structure seemed interesting (although I have to admit I didn’t understand most of it back then), it only lasted three months, the price-to-quality ratio is extremely good, and well, it’s located in one of the most beautiful, affordable and safe cities of the world.
What was your experience at the bootcamp - instructors, other students, team projects, hackathons, Demo Day etc like?
I enjoyed every single day of the bootcamp thanks to the friendly, knowledgeable and funny instructors, the nice ambiance of the class, and of course, my classmates. We would hang out and get some famous Czech beers every now and then, and go to different places in the city together. We even decided that every week someone would bring some traditional dish from their country to show the others.
My favourite part of the classes were the hackathons, where, in teams, we would program a specific task during a day. The thing with programming is that you learn by doing: making mistakes and solving them. Hackathons allowed you to do that. Working in collaboration with others and with the support of the instructors really helped the knowledge gained during the two weeks prior stick in your mind.
What was your favourite part of the Coding Bootcamp Praha experience?
This is really hard to say, but next to the wonderful people I got to share this experience with, I guess my favourite part of the bootcamp was learning programming.
What do you think about the job support - the HR workshops, the CV/LinkedIn help, meeting the company partners, etc?
The job support is great. I learned how to create a proper CV and LinkedIn account, and actually got a job with one of the company partners that arrived at Demo day. I couldn’t be happier with my job now, and I owe it to this awesome bootcamp.
How long did it take you to find a job? Where do you work now and what is your position?
It took me a bit less than a month. I completed the bootcamp by the end of November and by the New Year I was already hired by StartupJobs.cz, where I started working as a junior PHP developer in mid January.