Enrique Calvo - or Kike as we learnt to call him - studied Business and Economics at the University of Salamanca before joining the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme. Kike spent six months at Data4You as an Erasmus fellow to brush up on his entrepreneurial skills. He focused on marketing and business development. While he was helping two batches of the Coding Bootcamp Praha students, he realised that he himself would love to learn programming. It was actually the main skill he needed to make his entrepreneurial idea come to life. Data4You awarded Kike a full scholarship because we saw a true potential in him, and also to thank him for his contribution to the Coding Bootcamp Praha. This scholarship enabled Kike to attend the Spring Batch of the Coding Bootcamp Praha. What was his experience like?
1) What did you do before the bootcamp?
I joined the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs at Data4You doing primarily digital marketing but also other activities.
2) Why did you decide to learn programming?
I came from a business and economic background but I have always been interested in tech and programming stuff. I think I never gave myself enough time to go further with that before this bootcamp. At the Coding Bootcamp Praha, I saw an opportunity to change my career, create my project and learn coding skills from scratch.
3) What made you choose the programme? What did you expect before the programme? Were your expectations met?
I chose Prague because the tech market here is very good. I expected that it would be hard and that I would learn a lot. It was hard and I learned more than I expected! :)
4) What was your experience at the bootcamp like?
The environment is very welcoming. They really understand that almost everyone comes from a non-technological background and what we need is to learn as fast as possible. They have created a very good environment. It's awesome how people coming from different parts of the world can work and learn together. The instructors are experts in the different areas but they also know how to teach the basics. Every instructor there is very willing to help. You can text them any time even if it's outside of the class hours, and they reply to you as soon as they can.
Every two weeks, you have the Friday Hackathon! That means you'll create a new web project from scratch as part of a team. Definitely, it's one of my favourite parts of the Bootcamp. On Demo Day, we presented a big team project that we started to develop in the second half of the bootcamp. It's the perfect final to conclude the 12 weeks. The teams present some good talks and projects, and there is time for networking.
5) What was your favourite part of the Coding Bootcamp Praha experience?
The Hackathons. I liked how we started a new team project from scratch. It was cool how we developed a web that team members could continue working on it and improving as far as we wanted.
6) What was the biggest challenge during the bootcamp? How did you overcome it?
I think JavaScript, in general. It was a big challenge because you have to understand the programming logic and change your mind to think with that logic. But after some study hours and some extra explanation from the instructors somehow just everything started to make sense.
7) What do you think about the job support that the Coding Bootcamp Praha offers?
It's all very useful. It's easy to get a job after the bootcamp if you follow all the workshops and advice about the tech market. Something that surprised me before starting the bootcamp was that the hiring rate for their graduates is 90%. Now that I have finished it doesn't surprise me anymore.
8) How long did it take you to find a job, where do you work now and what is your position?
My situation is a bit different from other students. I haven't looked for a job because I'm developing my own project.
9) What would you advise to anyone who is considering signing up for a coding bootcamp?
I recommend completing free online programming courses before the bootcamp. While quite basic, they're just challenging enough to discover the most important concepts. And to realize that you like programming! This is more important than obtaining basic knowledge. During the bootcamp, you can learn it all (if you study a lot) even if you arrive with just basic knowledge. But you need to make sure that you really like it! The hardest thing is dedicating more than 8 hours per day to something that you don't like. So If you are sure that you enjoy it everything is gonna be alright.