Student Spotlight: Melanie Lund

Before Deciding to Pursue a Career in Software Development

Meet Melanie Lund, a recent graduate of Promineo Tech’s Back End Software Developer program who just landed her first job as a developer!

Melanie worked as a patient care technician (PCT) in the healthcare industry. One night Melanie was talking with her uncle, who is a software developer in Seattle, when she expressed how unhappy she was with her current career path. Her uncle shared with her what his job was like as a developer, and they both felt as though she would be happy in a similar role.

Choosing the Path of Software Development

After her uncle encouraged her to look into becoming a software developer, Melanie started researching different education paths that would lead to her new goal. As she investigated different options, a friend mentioned that he saw a post on Facebook about Promineo Tech. “He told me Nick (the owner) was a person that he trusted and told me to look into the program because he knew I was trying to learn programming,” said Melanie when asked how she heard about Promineo Tech. “I ultimately decided to join the program because it was so low risk, and the benefits with the cost and re-payment plan were amazing! I had done a lot of research to attend a boot camp and the only ones that had options of post-graduation payment either wanted a larger percentage of first year’s salaries or were about 20,000 dollars plus interest.”

Expectations and Challenges

When asked what she expected going into the program, Melanie said, “I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, I was prepared for it to be hard and have to dedicate most my time during the week to it”. And her expectation for some difficulty was not misplaced.

During the first few weeks of the program, Melanie said that “the learning curve was really steep and [that she] felt really lost,” which is to be expected from a boot camp environment where students are learning new, technical skills that they may have had zero experience with in the past.

“But, it’s strange, after the first six weeks things really start clicking” Melanie recalled. When asked about the overall difficulty of the program, Melanie said that “the program is difficult, but Nick really helps you work on areas where you need more help. I was even able to go back and redo assignments that I didn’t think I completely grasped the first time”.

An additional situation added to the program’s difficulty for Melanie, her father was hospitalized for a few weeks. “It made things extremely stressful,” said Melanie, “but my instructors were there to reassure me that I could keep up with the course. They gave me dates to have things done by and repeatedly checked on me during those weeks. I think if I had been doing a traditional boot camp I wouldn’t have made it through that.”

Dedication and Support

Though the program was tough, Melanie said that her favorite part of the program was the support she had from her instructors (especially through the tough family situations that arose), and that she could work on assignments at her own pace throughout the week but “wasn’t completely isolated like in some online courses [she’d] taken before”.

Advice for Future Students

When asked what advice she would give to students who are about to take the program, Melanie said that she “would tell them to set themselves up in a position so that they can dedicate a good chunk of their week to learning and working on the course”. And though the program is part-time and full-time dedication is not required, Melanie decided to quit her job as a PCT and get a weekend job as a waitress so that she could dedicate as much time as possible to the program.

Building Web APIs and Graduation

Melanie spent only 18 weeks learning how to build Web APIs using Java, MySQL, and Spring Boot, which is a lot to learn in so little time, but she tackled the program with a determination to succeed and that is exactly what the result was – success. Her final project consisted of a Library API that provided functionality for maintaining book inventory, checking out books to users, and assigning late fees, and more. “It was really cool to see how much Melanie was able to learn and apply in such a short time. It’s always impressive to see what students accomplish and to see their own flare and creativity added to what they build, and Melanie’s final project was no exception,” said Nick, one of Melanie’s instructors.

Launching into the Job Market

After graduation, Melanie hit the ground running. She graduated on a Saturday and moved from Phoenix to Los Angeles the following Monday, but that didn’t slow her momentum at all. She immediately started applying to every local developer posting she could find and three weeks later she received, not only one, but two job offers! Of the two offers, she decided to go with a local startup called MeUndies, which she is really excited about and she even gets to bring her dog to work!

The Excitement of Endless Possibilities

When talking about everything she learned at Promineo Tech, Melanie said that the thing that excited her most about software development is how endless the possibilities of what you can do with programming are. Because of her new-found love for technology and her great experience at Promineo Tech, Melanie said that she’s been recommending the program to everyone she thinks would want to get into software development. “My sister is seriously considering taking the program, especially now that I landed a job,” she stated. Melanie also mentioned that she would recommend the program to “anyone that’s fascinated by technology and curious to know more about how it works. You don’t necessarily need a strong computer background to learn programming at all.”

Gratitude and Farewell

When we asked Melanie if she had anything else she’d like to share she said, “I just want to say thank you, Nick, for helping me through the times when I really needed some extra encouragement!”

On behalf of the entire Promineo Tech team, we’d like to say congratulations to Melanie and wish her the best as she starts her new, dream career as a software developer! We can’t wait to see what her future brings and we know she will accomplish great things!

Start Your Journey Today

Connect with Melanie on LinkedIn!

Interested in changing careers and becoming a software developer? Learn more about Promineo Tech’s programs and how we help students make this transition through affordable, low-risk technology education: Start Your Journey: Exploring Promineo Tech’s Coding Programs for Career Transition