On Episode 33, Noel Mendoza breaks down how he went from being a non-Computer Science major and deciding to join Hack Reactor in his late 20’s. Today, he’s a software engineer at Microsoft.
How to Become a Software Engineer without a CS Degree, with Noel Mendoza
Have you ever felt so disengaged in your job that you actually end up becoming a “performance flag”? As Noel was navigating his career in his mid-20’s, jumping from sales job to sales job, he realized he was totally disengaged with his career trajectory.
Have you ever felt so disengaged in your job that you actually end up becoming a “performance flag”? As Noel was navigating his career in his mid-20’s, jumping from sales job to sales job, he realized he was totally disengaged with his career trajectory. It wasn’t until a rude awakening – getting fired – that he realized it was time to commit to something new: becoming a software engineer in tech. On this special episode, Noel walks us through his journey going through a prestigious coding bootcamp to become a software engineering apprentice (and now software engineer!!) at Microsoft, beating out hundreds of candidates.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
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Why Noel, being first-gen American, chose to go to Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and do Teach for America in LA
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How Noel jumped from the teaching and education world into tech sales across startups, including the Honest Company
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What Noel did when he realized he had lost his sense of career purpose, and even got fired unexpectedly
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The steps that Noel took when he realized he wanted to break into software engineering through Hack Reactor (called the “Harvard” of coding boot camps)
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What it’s like to make this move without the CS background or degree
Ready to make a career change?
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Full Episode Transcript:
Outro:
Hey, are you thinking about changing careers? Then you need to head over to my website, ecmpodcast.com, and sign up to get your free 20 page guide that I wrote with YOU in mind. I wrote this guide to help you change careers and get really clear on what it is that you want to do next. Career clarity is key to a career transition journey. All right, can’t wait to hear what you think about it. Have a great week.