Ethan Franks started coming to devICT’s Thursday morning Code & Coffee events last year to network with other software developers in the area. He’d been working in construction when the Covid-19 global pandemic hit, and he decided to change careers. Ethan enrolled in code boot camp and was a regular fixture in the hotseat area.
He recently landed a job as a mobile app developer, so we sat down with him to learn more about his journey.
Congratulations on your new position! Tell us more about what you’ll be doing.
Thanks! I’ve been hired as a Mobile Application Developer for Boot Barn. Boot Barn recently launched a mobile app which they hired a third-party development team to build. I’ll be stepping in to maintain the app, and implement new features in collaboration with the e-commerce team.
My work experience is in Android app development in Java, and full stack web development in TypeScript, with Node and Express server side, and with React and Next client side. I certainly wouldn’t call myself an expert in those areas, though!
When you first started coming to Groover Labs, you weren’t a software developer. So we’ve had the unique experience of watching your journey from afar. Tell us about it.
It’s been quite a journey over the last three years. After managing a landscape construction company for several years, I decided to find a new career at the end of 2019.
At first, I thought this was going to be in realty, and after jumping through all of the hoops, I received my Realtors license in March 2020. I had some early success; however, market conditions slowed.
Construction was an easy fallback for me because I had a decade of experience in the field. So, with a long-held desire to run my own business, and a friend eager to hire me for a full basement remodel, I started a remodeling business.
I decided to double down on construction as a career path and began a master’s program in construction management through the University of Kansas. I was excited to have a sense of direction again but was dismayed with my career prospects and earning potential.
Throughout all of that, my cousin-in-law, Sam Corman, who I had worked with at the landscape construction company, had gone into a software development boot camp and found a job as a developer working remotely.
Seeing his success made me consider software development. I decided to go for it. I enrolled in a boot camp, and two weeks after that, I quit my job and jumped into the boot camp.
I was fortunate to find a job as a software development intern with a small startup out of Utah within a week of graduating from my boot camp.
With the new position, I’m happy to say that all of the hard work and struggle over the last three years has finally paid off. I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my work and am able to provide better for my family than ever before.
At some point, you started coming to Groover Labs. Did you start with devICT Code and Coffee, where devICT members meet on Thursday mornings? Or did you come for Free Coworking Days? Maybe it was both?
I first came to Groover to attend Code and Coffee and make a connection with the devICT community. This was during the software development boot camp in which I was working remotely from home. Through Code and Coffee, I quickly learned what an amazing resource Groover is as a place of focus, networking, and community. I joined Groover while completing the boot camp, and it has become my preferred place of work, spending on average 30 or more hours here a week over the last few months.
The devICT group from Code and Coffee seems incredibly welcoming to new developers who want to learn. What was it like to meet experts in the field you’re trying to break into?
Absolutely! I can’t express how much gratitude I have for devICT, and Code and Coffee in particular. When I first came to Code and Coffee, I couldn’t speak the language of software development. Yet, by listening to the conversations of experienced developers around me, and asking questions as often as something sounded remotely familiar to me, I have learned to speak the language, grown as a developer much faster than I would have otherwise, and made genuine friendships.
Is Code and Coffee more than just meeting people and making friends?
Definitely. One of the things that I truly believe set me apart in the interview process for the Mobile App Developer position at Boot Barn is my ability to have a conversation about technologies and projects I’ve worked on from a higher level. It’s one thing to understand development concepts; it’s another thing to speak the language of software development confidently. This is something that is best learned in community with other practicing developers.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to develop relationships within the industry, and there is no better place in Wichita than Code and Coffee and Groover Labs to do that.
What would you tell someone who’s thinking about making the switch from their current career to one in software development who’s also taking the code bootcamp route?
The two best things you can do if you’re considering switching careers and attending a software development boot camp is to find someone who has been working as a developer to pick their brain and start working through one of the many free or affordable development courses online to get a base level understanding and sense for development before committing to the boot camp.
Code and Coffee and devICT are great places to find developers to talk to, and there are many in those communities who would be happy to answer your questions. I would ask questions about what their work is like, what they do and don’t enjoy about the field, and what motivates them to keep going.
Here are a few suggestions to get started:
These are great places to start learning affordably. Having some experience with development languages and concepts prior to starting a boot camp will go a long way toward your ultimate success and comprehension throughout the boot camp.
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Again, congratulations on the new job, Ethan. We’re glad we were able to serve as a space to work and a resource as you growing your coding skills and networked with other developers.