My story was quite the ride, and honestly I wish I had considered or had something like this when I was going. This one is going to get a bit long, so fair warning. (Thread)
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Replying to @keystonelemur @AustenAllred
Like all College Juniors I thought I was infinitely clever and guaranteed a job. I just had to ride it out, get a good internship, and I was set for life. Saying I was arrogant would be putting it mildly. Anyways, I get an internship interview with Amazon and the fun begins.
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Replying to @keystonelemur @AustenAllred
They ask me some basic algorithmic questions and I can't even manage a few for loops to do it. I get completely and utterly destroyed, and deservedly so. It was a question about finding substrings and we'd never done a thing remotely like it in college. I panicked.
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Replying to @keystonelemur @AustenAllred
Suddenly I had to face a reality that I didn't know a dang thing, and it stung. I was left pretty well dumbfounded for weeks afterwards. I made a decision after that, and I credit it to me being where I am now.
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Replying to @keystonelemur @AustenAllred
I decided to stop going to class, and keep a bare minimum to pass. I spent every last cent I had on Amazon and online resources to learn everything I could. Quite frankly I was mad. All the time I spent at college was near worthless. So I studied, read, did, and fought.
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Replying to @keystonelemur @AustenAllred
I ended up graduating with a 2.89 GPA, but a wealth of knowledge in Ruby and a desire to prove myself as a competent engineer that never really went away. At the time it was terrifying. I took a risk and gambled on my education, but looking back I'd do it all over again.
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Replying to @keystonelemur
I talk with people like you every day. Luckily you realized it before graduation. Not everyone does.
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Replying to @AustenAllred
Yeah, which is exactly why I'm trying so hard to reach out to other students like that and get them ready. It's also why I tend to donate heavily to middle school and high school programs for tech, because I want them to have a good head start on things.
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Replying to @keystonelemur
Could we have you come give a brownbag talk or review some Lambda School student capstone projects? Have hundreds of students in your position cc
@Ryan_Holdaway1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @AustenAllred @Ryan_Holdaway
Sure, let me know what works. I'm known to be hacking in Dublin coffee shops as well if anyone ever wants to drop by and chat code.
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We're next to the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton (by Workday). You should swing by HQ some time!
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