How I convinced a company to pay me to learn code

Photo credit: vadymvdrobot / 123RF Stock Photo.

I was a 29-year-old plumber with a wife, kids, and a mortgage. I enjoyed plumbing, but I wanted more—I wanted a job of the future.

I’d been learning to code for about six months. I knew I wanted to become a web developer, but I didn’t know how to make the transition.

I spent my evenings teaching myself how to code using the usual websites, but I didn’t see a clear path forward beyond the basics.

The way I saw it, I only had three options:

1. Go back to college
2. Get a few freelance jobs and take it from there
3. Go to a coding bootcamp

Let’s address these three options before I go into detail on option number four.

Option 1: Go back to college

Had I been younger without any commitments, going back to school would have been an option for me. But I needed to be in work. I needed to be earning money. There was no way we could manage with only my wife’s salary and me earning a part-time one. Not to mention that this would be for several years.

I was also concerned about the relevance of the skills I would gain from a software engineering degree. I would have loved the experience and the computer science knowledge, but I wanted to get into web development, and we all know how quickly web technologies are evolving. I didn’t feel that spending years at college would be the best use of my time.

Option 2: Get freelance jobs

I thought long and hard about starting a little freelance business. I had even toyed with the idea that, as a plumber, it would be perfect if I could specialize in building websites for the construction industry. However, this involved sales, marketing, bookkeeping, and customer service—all great skills to have. But at the time, I just wanted to code.

Some people make a great living by building websites for niche markets or local businesses. That’s awesome, but it just wasn’t for me. It was just that churning out low-value, static HTML or WordPress websites weren’t going to keep me interested and help me learn as quickly as possible.

I believe that while you can learn and progress on your own, the experience that you get being mentored and working on a team is invaluable. You can’t get those from online courses.

I also wasn’t ready to set up camp in my home office yet.

Option 3: Attend a coding bootcamp

I seriously looked into this and thought it might be my only viable option. While online bootcamps are great, you have to be extremely patient and self-motivated. One of the real benefits I saw from attending an in-person bootcamp was that you fully immerse yourself in the task at hand and you get to network and work with other like-minded people.

Option 4: Just get a job