How a Japanese Tutor became a Web Developer.
🙍♀️ Before SheCodes
Natsuki Kemsies is originally from Tokyo, Japan. Throughout the years, she has worked in positions in sales and education. A few of her latest positions were in sales at a marketing company and as an online Japanese tutor. She recently moved to Wolfsburg, a small city in Germany. Shortly after moving, she was struggling to find a job that fit her skillset in the city’s small job market.
“…Since I moved to Wolfsburg from Tokyo, I realized that it would be so much easier to find a job if I have skills in technology.”
She began searching for online coding courses and took a beginner course in HTML and CSS. In this course, there was no visual material, so Natsuki basically read the online textbook and had to try coding on her own. She had a mentor for the course, but found that she was always kept waiting to get her questions answered.
“But learning with no visual material was really hard for me. Because when I learn something new, I always need some visual information. Also, whenever I had a question, I usually had to wait 1-2 days to get an answer from my mentor. I couldn’t keep my motivation for this course and I gave up. So learning with SheCodes was perfect for me!”
👩💻 Her SheCodes Experience
Natsuki graduated from a SheCodes Workshop in October 2019 and SheCodes Plus in February 2020. She really enjoyed the lesson videos, the challenges, the quick responses to her questions on Slack, and the price. See what she has to say about the course:
“When I found SheCodes, I was surprised how inexpensive it was. I was not sure if coding was the right direction for me yet so the unbelievably inexpensive price and short length of the course were perfect for me. And the quality is amazing!”
“With SheCodes, the answers to my questions were SUPER FAST! …not only from the technical assistants but my classmates also helped me, too. The quick responses were AMAZING and helped keep my motivation higher!”
“The best part of the course for me was the very organized videos. Each video was really easy to understand and each challenge was step-by-step. When I started each homework, I knew exactly what to do.”
🙋 How SheCodes has Helped to Change Her Life
After completing the SheCodes Workshop, Natsuki went on to join SheCodes Plus so she could deepen her coding knowledge. She started searching for a job in tech shortly after beginning the advanced workshop.
“After I started SheCodes Plus, I started searching for a job in the tech industry. I found a company I was interested in working for and I sent them my project from the SheCode Workshop, along with my unfinished SheCodes Plus project. I got a fully-remote position as a Web-Developer even though I hadn’t finished the advanced course yet!”
Natsuki is greatly enjoying her new job as a web developer. She specializes in HTML and CSS for a small Japanese company called Share Stock L.L.C. Her main task is correction of and making updates to their website. She gained this knowledge from the SheCodes Workshop and has been strengthening it with the Plus course. She is still working a bit as an online Japanese tutor, but has noted that her new position as a web developer has many benefits that she didn’t have before.
“As a web-developer, I can work anytime I want and there is much more freedom; my schedule doesn’t depend on my students anymore. I usually only work 5-6 hours per day. There is a huge possibility to earn an even higher salary than I’ve started out with and I no longer have to pay for things like public transportation to go to an office since I can work from home.”
👩💼 Advice to Future SheCodes Student
Without her newfound coding knowledge, it may not have been as easy for Natsuki to get a job.
“It is really hard to find a good job in this small city in Germany as a foreigner. That's why I'm so happy that I got this job thanks to the SheCodes Workshop! It’s perfect for me.”
Even though coding was not originally in her plan, Natsuki knows that she made the right decision in signing up for SheCodes courses.
“If you are considering right now, just take a SheCodes workshop! You don't have to know if coding is the right choice for a future career. Most other coding schools are super expensive in comparison to SheCodes. But with SheCodes, you don't have to pay a lot of money to see if coding is a good fit for you.”
