Professional Storytelling

##### Melissa VanKempen
I have always enjoyed people, and my professional, and personal history has always been working, interacting, visiting, 
helping and being around people. I've traveled the world, I've lived in other countries, and loved meeting new people.
We've been somewhere that literally sucks the joy of life out of you, and I had had enough, never being able to do enough 
in a day, and under extreme pressure to "do it all". After a career working in an office environment, with a limited growth
path, and working very hard for a non-livable wage, a line was drawn in my life.

### Software Development!
Why Turing? I had seen peers in software doing very well for themselves, had growth and continued to enjoy the software 
development path. I chose Turing because the are a supportive, inclusive, diverse and proven bootcamp. Turing has really 
pushed me to learn everyday, and I'm a stubborn person, and I've used that to both my advantage to really stick with it 
and focus on the bigger picture and disadvantage(getting into the weeds with edge cases). It has brought out my 
moxy, my grit and have been humbled *every.single.day.*  I am grateful for the pressure from my previous professional life, because 
it does help me get through all the extreme expectations that Turing does, and through it all, Turing is still WAAAAAY 
better than my previous life.

### My future!
I am looking forward to working with a team of developers that care about what they are doing. I am highly encouraged by 
other developers that this career is a solid choice, and that you have the flexibility to really move and grow into areas 
that you find interesting. I'm looking forward to being able to get started to see whats out there - I'm open to new 
opportunites, and learn, observe and ask questions.  

In my personal plan, I'm looking forward to having a livable wage, and with that brings the freedom to enjoy life
with a little less stress, more traveling, concerts and adventures.