Looking back on my life, there are a few factors that have always rang true. I have long fostered a love of creativity and technology. When I was young I loved creating. Legos, drawing, writing, playing music, anyway I could find to express my creative mindset.

I as a grew older my love of technology and gear began to arise, and I became obsessed with computers and everything they could do for my creative mindset. I distinctly remember when we got our first real PC when I was about 9. For a good 5 years after that point I would beg my parents to go to Blockbuster, they always thought I just really liked renting movies, however what I was really interested in was grabbing stacks of AOL free monthly trial CDs. I'm fairly certain for those 5 years my parents weren't aware of the fact that we had internet.

As the years went by I was highly drawn to writing and performing music. This remained a mainstay in my life for well over a decade, and I loved the experiences I had playing piano, drums, and percussion all the way into college. As I continued down my life path, I really started to think about where I wanted to go in my life. I had to make the hard decision that performing music just wasn’t quite where I wanted to go.

I continued to keep my love for music and creation alive in my time working for Guitar Center, and did quite well while I was there. My creativity at this point in life was as strong as ever, but it had developed into a love for creative problem solving. Looking to challenge myself a little more, I ended up in management at Waterway, which was an amazing experience! Here I was given a role as scheduling manager for over 80 employees, which is a wonderful position for someone who likes to solve problems creativitly.

During this time, I kept coming back to my love of computers. I started trying programming tutorials online, and I LOVED IT! My passion for this field that I had never even considered before grew and grew, and eventually I came to a crossroads in life. Coding was something I truly beleived checked all my boxes. Eager to pursue this new passion, I reasearched every coding boot camp the Denver area had to offer. This research, along with a few referrals from family friends, lead me to Turing. Coming to Turing was hands down the greatest decision I’ve made in my life.

I am now a highly dedicated student and budding programming under the tutelage of the Turing community. I spend 70 hours a week learning how to develop APIs, and I couldn’t be happier. Programming has perfectly blended my interests in creativity, problem solving, and technology into one. Every day I think to myself how happy I am to have ended up where I am, and I cannot wait to begin my career in this field.

Looking to the future I have some ideals for for where I would like to end up in this industry. I really enjoy working on teams, designing with a user focused mindset, and being an ethical member of our progressing society. I would really like to partner with a company that fits all of these ideals. As programmers, I think we have a duty to be as versatile as possible in developing things that aren't biased in their creation. I also believe that if you give back to your community, you can develop a very sustainable business model. I would be happiest working for a company that believes in it's own people, and gives back to the community around them. This mindset has taken off in the tech world lately, and I can't wait to explore all of the companies out there that fit this critera.