Student Spotlight: Samentha Shelley
Samentha (Sam) Shelley is a recent graduate of Promineo Tech's Back End Software Developer program who just landed her first developer role at Nationwide! Not much more than a few months ago, Sam was planning on becoming a nurse until she "took an HTML class for an elective and fell in love with coding".
Sam's fiancé and some of his friends had previously worked with Nick Suwyn, the founder of Promineo Tech, and suggested that she look into the programs he offered. Based on her research and her friends recommendations, she decided to take a chance!
Going into the program she expected it "to be challenging but rewarding", and she got exactly what she expected. Learning to code is not easy; it takes a lot of drive, passion, and practice, but anyone can do it if they are willing to put in the effort. Sam said that her first few weeks in the program were difficult, but she loved how fun it was to learn something completely new. When things got hard she found it extremely beneficial to ask a lot of questions and to turn to Google. In fact, when asked what advice she'd give to future students, Sam said to "be comfortable with looking things up on Google!".
"Sam did exactly what we want students to do - ask questions. This is a field with a very broad, and exponentially growing, scope of information; asking questions is essential", says Nick. "If students are more introverted and don't want to ask questions during class, that's okay. Send your instructors and mentors questions via Slack. Whatever you do, don't just not ask questions".
The more questions you ask, the more you learn and understand. The more you understand, the more you are able to create, and that is exactly what Sam's favorite thing about learning to code was - being able to create something from nothing. In fact, this is what draws a lot of people to software development and keeps their interest. The ability to build and create something new, with limitless boundaries is something found in few places, and coding is one of them.
When asked about the job search Sam said "it was long and hard, but worth the wait". Sam graduated in April and spent just over 3 months looking for a job. During that time, Sam applied daily to new jobs, continued practicing what she had learned, built more projects, interviewed a few times, and didn't lose hope. Sometimes offers come quickly, and sometimes they take time and dedication; there are many variables that play into this and it's hard to determine what each individual's job search will be like. Sam did exactly what she needed to and kept pushing through with a positive attitude, and it paid off!
From her job search, Sam learned some valuable lessons. When asked what she would share with future students to help them in their searches she said to "look up the companies that you are interviewing at and gather as much information online as you can".
When asked what type of person she would recommend take Promineo Tech's program, Sam said she'd recommend "anyone wanting to grow in their life and anyone who loves the idea of creating something new and fun".
Sam is an inspiration to us all at Promineo Tech and to current and future students as well. Congratulations on the new role and good luck! We are excited to see what amazing contributions you bring to technology and the world!
Connect with Sam on LinkedIn!
To learn more about Promineo Tech or our Software Developer programs, click here!
