My prior work is in mental health - specifically, I worked with kids with autism for a long time. Although I thoroughly enjoyed this profession, the field of mental health is quite underfunded, and can take a decent toll on everybody involved. For these reasons, I decided to try out a new field.
My father has always told me I would do great in the field of technology, but I never tested it out, and getting to this fork in the road in my life allowed me to pursue it, which eventually brought me to Turing. Throughout my career at Turing, I quickly discovered that this is a set of skills I really love working on, and every time I sit down to code, it is an absolute blast.
Moving down the road, I would love to use some of my prior skills in mental health (along with my new coding skills!). Some of these skills involve a high degree of patience for a problem in front of me, a strong drive for compassionate and empathetic group-work, and a focus on accessibility for all types of users. Beyond that, after working in customer service for about six years, I firmly believe in valuing the customer first, and emphasizing a seamless experience for each customer.
A few different industries I could see myself working at will encapsulate most or all of the values I listed above. I had quite a bit of experience working in customer service (specifically in a restaurant, and more recently, a vacation company. I could see myself working in the vacation business, creating individualized experience for customers. I also have a strong passion for the enivronment, so I could see myself working for a green company of sorts, whether that be a company directly involved in environmental initiatives, or a company that strongly values the environment. Finally, I can see myself working somewhere in the mental health-care industry, however this is quite "niche" but can see myself possibly doing it at some point down the road. I think that these industries will highly correlate with my values as a human, as they all will likely value the mental health of their workers, put the customer first and create valuable experiences for their customers, and push for collaborative, diverse, and inclusive environments.
I believe that my LinkedIn accurately represents many of these values that I desire in a company. Looking forward, I plan to maintain a strong connection with my current mentor through Turing. He has been a huge help in terms of acquiring the knowledge I need to succeed and helping me where needed. I believe he will also be a huge help in terms of preparation for moving into the workforce as a young developer.
I will also continue to maintain strong connections with friends in upper-mods for the same reasons I listed above. I think they will be a huge help in regards to preparing me for the workforce, and also letting me know of different types of opportunities, whether that be actual jobs, networking, or other prepatory events or actions I can take to further my ability for success. I also have quite a few connections in the vacation company that I worked for. They have a team of about 60 developers that I got to know quite well and I plan to keep a connection with them as I move through the job search.
At this point in my work at Turing, it is hard to tell exactly what I would like my career to look like, which I think is actually very normal! The software industry is a huge industry, and there are quite literally millions of different options for my career path, and I think that although it is daunting, that is the most exciting part for me. Ideally, I would like a career that pushes my knowledge every single day, regardless of how long I have been in the field. It would be extremly fulfilling to never get to a point where my work is painfully easy - which with how often the software field changes, I think that goal will be attainable. Secondly, I would like to work in a diverse environment that emphasizes strong collaborative work-styles and pushes individuals to work closely and compassionately with their team members. I think this is extremely important in the software field, as we are trying to develop software that works well for a large amount of users. To achieve this, you need a constant collaboration of ideas and knowledge to ensure a highly accessible piece of software. Lastly, I would like to work for a company that aligns with my values as a human. I think this is extremely possible, considering how many companies (almost every one!) needs a team of software engineers.
One of my major values, as I said above, is a strong passion for a diverse, inclusive environment. My prior work is in mental health, so this points to two different goals I'd like to find in a company. The first being that I would like to work for a company that cares for the mental health of their employees. The second being, I would like to work for a company that highly values and pushes for varied accessibility in their software. Lastly, another thing that I look for in a company is a priotiziation and care and experience for the customer / user. After also working in customer service for 6 years, I learned a lot about creating valuable and individualized experiences for every customer. This is something I would like to carry through in my career in software, where the customer comes first, and the experience of that customer is unprecedented, seamless, and portrays a refined level of care for each individual.
In regards to my workview, it would encompass a lot of my values as a human and career desires I listed above. Ideally, I would work in an environment that places a high priority on diversity and inclusion. I believe that with diversity and inclusion, comes new and innovative ideas that will help build robust, clean, accessible software. If I work in a diverse environment, I can be that much more confident that my knowledge and the work I produce is consistently being put to the test by different minds. Secondly, I would like a work environment that continually pushes my knowledge each day. I think this is important because the field of technology is constantly changing, so it is important to keep your skillset flexible and refined. Lastly, I would hope for a work environment that places the customer first, by ensuring a seamless, enjoyable, and individualized experience for every customer.
In regards to my lifeview, I have quite a few values. One of those being transparency. I believe transparency is extremely important for continued progress internally and relationally. If any parties involved understand their partner, friend, teammate, etc, they have a more refined idea of what their next steps should be. A second lifeview I have is compassion and empathy. I believe that most progress in life is rooted in compassion for yourself and others. Getting back to the last point, you can most certainly be transparent, but at the same time, it is also important to hold compassion close as you approach certain issues. Without compassion, your feelings and thoughts and desires can be misconstrued and misunderstood, and people may not fully understand your intentions. With compassion and empathy, you can open your heart up to another person's perspective, and allow the same onto you.
I have felt most engaged and excited about my work when I have at least a decent understanding of the material at hand. As long as I have most of the tools, or a basic understanding of the tools I'll need, I tend to have a lot of fun putting those tools to the test and tend to remain very engaged with numerous built-in POMs throughout the day. That being said, I also tend to have more fun when putting those tools to the test still presents a challenge - when things are a bit more difficult, it usually shows me that although I don't have ALL of the tools at the moment, I can continue to search for them and test out my own knowledge to find them. I tend to feel most energized when I approach each day as a learning opportunity, and am well-rested.
I have found that I tend to feel bored, restless, and unhappy in multiple different situations. The first being situations where I have absolutely no idea what is going on, and am endlessly confused. If I didn't understand any of a lesson, or don't understand a concept entirely, it can feel very daunting and exhausting to try to approach tasks related to those lessons or concepts. Another situation in which I've struggled is if I've pushed myself too much in a given time period. If I work too many hours in one day, or too many days in a row on one concept or project, I find that I start to get emotionally and physically drained, and approaching these projects starts to feel monotonous and cumbersome. Lastly, I've found that I struggle with certain concepts or projects when I feel a lack of connection with my teammates. If we are rather disconnected, I find it hard to put together the pieces and find the motivation to continue. I tend to feel least energized when I tie the inability to solve a given problem with my own self-worth.
I will likely block out sections of my calendar for every week on Tuesday's and Thursday's at 8AM before class starts, so about an hour each time. I have also blocked out an hour on Friday's after class to dedicate to the job search.
Initially, this will encompass just sifting through different types of jobs that are out there and currently available and looking into the various qualifications needed for a given job. By the end of these tasks, I hope to have a firmer understanding of what the typical entry-level job looks like for a junior developer, and how my skills compare to the skills needed.
In regards to my wayfinding, I discovered that it is quite common across MOST companies today that they value the idea of diversity being brought into their company. Whether or not this is efficiently executed is questionable and would require a bit more research, but off the bat it appears that it is a common quality that most companies really look for during the hiring process, which definitely aligns with my vision of what type of company I would like to work for! It also appears that most companies really value someone who can work well in teams, which is something I am definitely looking for.
A specific job that I found that aligns with my vision was at a company located here in Denver as a junior dev. It appears they have some specific qualifications for technologies known, but from what I've understood, these qualifications can often be flexible and really just want to make sure that you, as a job candidate, can quickly and efficiently learn the technologies they employ at their company. They also highlight that they admire the idea of a diverse company and make an effort to implement strong teamwork between team members. For my next steps, I would like to do a bit more research into this specific company and companies that are similar, to get a firmer understanding of what day-to-day work looks like and what the general goals of the company as a whole are.
Last week was a moderately effective week in regards to job ressearch. After PD last week, I spent about 2.5 hours looking into different jobs, just getting a feel for what is out there. I also spent an additional 2 hours on Thursday of last week doing essentially the same thing - just sifting through different jobs to see what types of positions are out there and how my qualifications may line up with the requested qualifications.
This week, the blocks of time I created will primarily include building out a resume and practicing some cover letters for companies that I may have interest in, as opposed to last week's generally unstructured research in various positions.
In my resume, one of the major things I will be sure to highlight is my general visions for a company (those being a diverse environment, an emphasis on collaborative working skills, and the ideal of putting the customer first to ensure a valuable and memorable experience for the customer). I also want to make sure I have a strong emphasis on the projects that I have done at Turing, because these are what most accurately reflects my skills and my ability to perform well at the company with the skills that I have learned, and also highlight my ability to adapt and learn quickly with new technologies as needed.
I feel as if I was pretty effective last week in regards to my job search! I built out my resume but I have not yet completed my cover letter and plan to finish that up early this week and get it into this career journal. I also continued to use some time last week to sift through available job postings on a number of different platforms.
This week, I intend to refine my resume a bit more based on the suggestions from the CV compiler, and finish building out my cover letter. I also plan to reach out to one of my connections at a previous company that I worked at to have virtual coffee and discuss some options on how I can improve my job search and inquire to see if they know of any possible companies that may be a good option for me.
There were around 12 areas that the CV compiler suggested that I focus on a bit more for my resume, including bullet point statements for experience rather than paragraphs, using actionable words, and placing in some more of my technical skills in place of vague, soft skills. I will likely not submit any applications until I meet with one of my connections in the field to get more of a feel for jobs that are available right now, and some advice on how I can improve and strengthen my resume and overall presentation of my skills.
I sent in a few applications this week online, found via Indeed and applied directly through the websites. Over the next couple of days, I plan to see if I can find out if any of the people who work at the companies that I applied to also work for Turing, and I will reach out to them via slack introducing myself and letting them know how excited I am to have submitted an application, and ask them how they like working there.
Activities: In regards to daily activities, I am interested in quite a few things. One of them being, do they differentiate between backend and frontend developers in terms of daily activities? What does daily life look like for a front end developer compared to a backend developer, and how much overlap is there? Also, what does it look like in regards to paired-programming vs. individual programming?
Environment: With environment, I am highly interested in their efforts of diversity inclusion. Do they make efforts to include all different types of people within their workforce? How does this look on a day-to-day basis? In terms of hiring? Also, is there a strong emphasis on group-collaboration?
Interactions: In regards to interactions, I am interested to see how the flow of ideas occurs when thinking of solutions to a problem. Also, I am interested to see how sprints are planned and how long they tend to be, and what communication tends to be like during these sprints.
Objects: Is the company always trying to push out new products? What is the pressure like for creating responsive design and highly accessibile software? What is the process like if a bug is pushed into production? What are the repercussions?
Users: Does the company value the customer first? Does the company want to create a memorable, individualized experience for every customer?
Activities: it appeared that the people I worked with at Guild really enjoyed working closely together and found a lot of engagement out of that. It also seems like the company really focuses on a positive work-life balance, and that tends to increase engagement during work hours as well!
Environment: Similar to above, the company really pushes for strong collaborative working skills, which is awesome. They also really support an environment of learning, considering that their entire company is based around education. So they are very supportive of young devs immersing themselves in new material, and giving them a supportive environment to do so.
Interactions: All of the employees there really seemed to love each other - they seem like a very close-knit group who really care a lot about the progress of their teammates.
Objects: Once again, there is a high value placed on group work and collaborative skills. But it also seems that they employ an agile workflow, which I am highly accustomed to. They approach creating products for the company by taking small steps every day to medium sized goals to accomplish large goals over time.
Users: They try to put the customer first, and try to make everything as user-friendly as possible, which is a value I really align myself with. They want their users to feel individually catered to and cared for, because education is such a serious thing for everyone, so they want the experience to be easy and fulfilling.
Overall, Guild seems like a really wonderful, forward thinking company to work for. They are highly supportive of hiring devs out of bootcamps, because they trust that we are able to learn quickly and have the drive to learn new technologies. The culture of the company also feels like a great fit, and I love generally what the company is doing: making education more accessible for more people! I've worked in education / mental health treatment for a long time, so Guild seems like a real possibility for me!
Engagement: An example of when I tend to find myself to be most engaged in my work at Turing is during lesson, when we are covering material that I have strong basis for understanding in, but am still learning new material at the same time. An example could be learning about testing. I have a strong understanding of how to use React's testing library, and I find myself to be most engaged when I am learning new material specifically within this subject, like mocking a fetch call. These are situations where I have a strong foundational understanding in the material, but am pushing the bounds and asking questions. It feels like taking baby steps towards a small, achievable goal of learning a new concept. In terms of a work environment, I would hope that it is a constant state of learning, where I am vastly using my hard-earned skills, but am pushing my boundaries and learning new things every single day from my coworkers and managers.
Energy: I have found that I tend to be most energized when I have a substantial amount of time during the day to step away and not be a software developer, but simply be Collin. I would hope that when stepping into a company, there is a strong emphasis and support for a work-life balance. A company that monitors their employees to make sure they aren't putting in full days' worth of work on the weekends, and aren't working late into the evening is a place that I would like to work, because I find that burnout produces brittle code, and if I am supported in my efforts of energetically stepping away, and energetically stepping back into code, I will be able to energetically learn and produce viable and empathetic code.
Flow: I have found that I enter into a state of flow when a partner and I have struggled with a problem for a while. When we've bounced ideas back and forth onto each other for some time, I found that I enter a strong state of flow when we decide to step away from each other and take some individual time to think about the problem. When working with another person, there can often be a lot of distractions at play, and after putting in some group effort, it can be super beneficial to bounce ideas off yourself for a little while too. And this also goes without saying, that you can enter a state of flow the other way too, if you've been working solo for a while and can't figure out the problem, sometimes that change of environment can really help those ideas flow out with a partner.
The above information will be super helpful because it shows that I value teamwork and collaboration, know my limits as a human being in regards to work, and always want to push myself to learn little bits at a time. I think any company out there would value these qualities in an employee and they are qualities that any employee would value in their employer.
This week I explored a few different companies - Beatport, Zayo, CONCEPT3D, and a few others. I plan to apply online via their main website with my coverletter and resume and hopefully find a connection to reach out to over the next couple of days. I will also look at their company linkedins to see if I can connect with anyone there.
I have learned so much this module, not even including the technical knowledge that I have today. I think that GearUp this mod was especially impactful, considering the very serious systemic racism in our society. I will take so many aspects of that into how I carry myself in the work place. In terms of Professional Development, I have learned a lot about the type of company that I would like to work for.
I'd like to be in a company that has really strong values and cares for diversity and inclusion, and makes clear efforts in retaining employees in marginalized communities. I will also look for a company that values a potential employee's ability to learn and pick up new technologies, over the knowledge that I already have. One thing I am stuck on is feeling nervous about applying to positions that list qualifications a bit higher than what I have (e.g. one year of experience outside of school) - I wonder if I should still apply to these positions, or if I should look for more lenient positions. My resume feels pretty complete, but I understand that truly it is always a work in progress!
In terms of new things that I will try, I will continue to try to connect with people on LinkedIn. This is definitely an area that I have been lacking on throughout the mod, and just revamped my linkedin. So I will try to make some more connections through that. In regards to my resume, I believe it is pretty much complete. I will put an updated version of the resume beneath this section, and my portfolio on my Turing website will also be complete over the next couple of days before Monday.
A successful project that I have worked on at Turing would have to be VRAD (Vacation Rentals Around Denver). We were given this project as a paired project (two people working together), and we were assigned to use an external server to fetch data to create an application where a user can see four different neighborhoods in Denver, and once they choose a neighborhood, they can see vacation rental listings within that area. The user can see expanded details of every listing, and favorite them as well. This was a remote project as well, given that it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a major hurdle to cross. My partner and I, given those circumstances, made very clear expectations around communication. We decided that every morning, we would go over, in detail, what needed to get done that day and how we would do it. We also decided that certain tasks would be better done together, and others would be better done individually. For individual tasks, we would check in every hour or so to stay updated on the progress of our partner. Due to the constant communication, there were no situations where either of us had no idea what was going on during a the situation of a bug or larger issue. We were able to quickly jump in and help isolate the issue and solve it. As a result, we produced a very well-functioning application with a sleek UI that met all of the requirements (and more) of our MVP with time to spare. That time to spare allowed us to go back in and clean up the code before submitting the project.
A time that I failed was during my first quarter at Turing (called Mod 1). I knew the learning curve was steep for this very first mod, but I think that I underestimated how steep it really was. As a result, I fell behind quickly. The falling behind, however, was not the failure. The failure was a few different things. The first thing being that I did not speak up about how I was struggling. I internalized it and did not seek any help. This goes into the next aspect of failure, where I felt large degrees of shame around my inability to progress through the mod. I often tied my struggles to my own self worth, and told myself that I was not worthy of being a developer. I would often get very frustrated with the problems in front of me, which directly limited my ability to progress due to elevated emotions. Since then, I have learned to speak up when I am feeling lost immediately, and trust that I am worthy as a developer, and if I haven't learned something, I simply have not learned it YET. It's only a matter of time and hard work, and giving myself the space when I start to feel negative emotions rise while trying to solve a problem.
Throughout Turing, I've learned a few things about group work. The first thing I've learned is that everyone needs differing levels of group work and individual work. Both types of work are highly valuable, so direct communication about what you need and when you need it is very important. That goes into the next thing, which is constant, clear communication with group members. This can be related to code, whether you've solved something or if you've run into a bug, or in regards to emotional issues, like if you're feeling really stressed and need to step away. Having this direct line of communication open allows for group members to mitigate any time-related issues while working on a project efficiently. An example of when we had this communication was during a group project (3 people) called Refactor Tractor, where we were given someone else's project and needed to entirely refactor it. This was a remote project, so our team decided we would have standup every single morning and at the end of every work day. We also placed a strong emphasis on working together more often than individually, because the material was brand new and we all needed to be sure that we were all on the same page.
I've looked into a few different companies' tech stacks, and a lot of them focus on what I already have an understanding of, which is great. These include React, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, etc. I am also seeing a few frameworks that I do not know, but could easily pick up, like Vue and Svelte. I am, however, also seeing Java quite a bit, which is an entirely different language, so I am a bit fearful when I see that paired within a job posting for a front-end dev.
I have reached out to two connections that I have currently. The first is a really good friend of my family that worked for my dad for a while, his name is David. I have put a screenshot of the text I sent him beneath this. I am planning to meet with him at some point over the next couple of weeks. I also reached out to a mutual friend of mine who also went to Turing and graduateed a couple years ago, his name is Evan. I am planning to meet with him also sometime virtually over the next couple of weeks to see how he is doing and ask about his work.
All applications applied for on 6/26/2020
CONCEPT3D
ZAYO Group
Beatport
SearchSpring
Alloy Magnetic
I used the same resume for every single one of those applications. The only coverletter I have a screenshot of is the one for CONCEPT3D, because all four of the other applications had me directly type my coverletter into the application, but I have put the cover letter for CONCEPT3D below.
I reached out to probably 5 or 6 individuals who are Turing Alums that I found via LinkedIn who work at companies that I am interested in. I only heard back from two - the others did not respond via Slack so I will likely reach out to them just one more time via LinkedIn this week.
I have the two leads that I mentioned above. The first works at Zayo Group in Boulder, and the other works at Unsupervised in Boulder as well.
Since intermission, I have sent in around 30 applications, most of them just via their main website, and a few via a contact. I have heard back from just one, which was a decline unfortunately.
I have not had any interviews at this point.
I probably spent around 8-10 hours doing this PD work.
I think my biggest challenge right now in the job search is feeling out whether or not I should apply to certain jobs based on qualifications. There are a bunch of jobs that I have some of the qualifications for, but not all. Also, a few of them say "one year of experience" - so it's hard to tell whether or not my time at Turing would be included in what they consider to be experience or not.
Also, I've reached out to a few different people who work at companies I am interested in. On LinkedIn, it shows if there is a Turing Alum working at the company, so I've reached out to those people on Slack yesterday (4 people, 4 different companies), and I've only heard back from one. I don't want to be annoying by reaching out again on another platform, so it's a bit difficult to tell what I should do here.
Generally just building out connections from Turing is pretty difficult as well. There are so many job postings, but not many of them list that there are Turing Alums working at the company, so I feel a bit uncomfortable reaching out to people I have absolutely no connection with.
One of the major things I will take away from Chris' talk is that the worst a company can say is no. I have all of this anxiety about being denied, but at the end of the day, it's not like they are going to verbally assault me. It's worth just reaching out and seeing what I can do!
Another thing I will take away from Chris' talk is having variety across all of the platforms I use. If recruiters and companies see the same kinds of things on my LinkedIn, resume, GitHub, etc. it will come across as repetitive and bland, so I'd like to spend some time individualizing each platform to highlight different things, so that when a recruiter or company takes a strong look at all of my platforms, they are always learning more.
One really exciting thing from this week was that I made a pretty strong connection with the woman that conducted my mock interview. She is a recruiter at Slalom. I was very nervous heading into this interview, specifically about the possibility of technical questions. Fortunately (in a way), she didn't ask any technical questions (although it probably would have been good for me to get some practice) - her questions were entirely behavioral, which I feel like is my strongest suit. She said that almost every question I answered was exactly what they want to hear - she got particularly excited about my passion for diversity and inclusion, and she said that generally I would be a great culture fit at Slalom. The only piece of feedback she gave me was when she asked me a question about a time when I've either had to give or receive difficult feedback. Unfortunately, I gave more of a general answer rather than a specific example, and she suggested that I have some sort of concrete anecdote on hand for when I answer a question like that. We were cut off at the end of the meeting, but I immediately messaged her on LinkedIn thanking her for her time, and asking if I could send her a resume and cover letter. She responded and was also super excited that I had messaged her, and said she would pass along my information to a team she believes will be hiring in the next couple of months.
I also have another connection - it is one of my very good friends Wyatt. He works for a company called NewsCred, which creates marketing and workflow software for over 80 companies around the world. I sent him a cover letter and resume as well, and he said he would pass it along to their software team to see if they'd be interested in an interview.
UPDATE I literally just heard back from NewsCred via email, and they said they were very excited to review my application (especially because it was a referral), but unfortunately they 1) are not hiring for any junior level positions right now and 2) they prefer to hire juniors with more full-stack / back-end heavy experience. They told me to keep in touch though because they sometimes do have front-end specific positions opening up. I responded and thanked them for the email and let them know that I am actually planning on gaining more skills in the back-end and will keep in touch if at any point I feel as if I'm ready to help them out.
Outside of the job search, I have been trying to brainstorm on things I will do while unemployed to continue to buff up my resume. I'd really like to pick up a back-end language, so I did some research last night and looked into & applied for a Python program at General Assembly, which is part time and about 8 weeks long and starts right after Turing. I am consideirng doing something like this because I think some full-stack experience would really benefit my resume. I also looked into an accredited program at CSU - I am thinking I could just take a few of their self-paced college classes geared towards Computer Science fundamentals. My boyfriend is an engineer at Amazon and worked at Google for four years as well, and he thinks that is a major aspect of developing software that Turing is missing.
What are some examples of skills/traits/knowledge that you have that you can use to leverage in negotiation?
I think that my prior work in mental health, along with my prior work in high-end customer service will be hugely helpful. From both of those sectors of experience, I have really learned a lot about respectfully and compassionately communicating with teammates and superiors alike, and I think that I will be strong in politely inquiring about salaries. I also think that these prior professions, specifically mental health, will help me in having a high level of respect for myself and my own experience and making sure that I accept and ask for what I deserve as a knowledgeable developer.
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Collin Kallery and I am a young software developer and soon-to-be graduate from the Turing School of Software & Design, with a specialization in Front-End Software Engineering. I am coming to you with a great interest in working at NewsCred as a Software Developer.
One of the first, and most simple reasons that I would like to join your company is how impressed I am by the UX and the UI on your main website. The experience is cutting-edge, sleek, and very easy to use. I admire the design at play, and the hard work it took to create such a visually-pleasing, user- friendly website.
I admire the mission of NewsCred as well. In and outside of work, I've always made my best efforts in maximizing organization and efficiency. Well-made software is a necessary tool in creating a dynamic and conducive workflow, and in large companies, this is a crucial but often arduous undertaking. NewsCred unarguably takes this mission on with grace, assisting companies around the globe to learn, grow, and assist in the organizational development of employees, workflow systems, and marketing strategies.
I do not doubt that I will be able to assist in the maintenance & development of the software NewsCred produces. Turing School of Software & Design has given me heaps of technological skills, including a firm understanding of Vanilla JavaScript, React, Redux, various testing frameworks, AGILE workflows, and much more. Most importantly, however, Turing has taught me how to learn, and how to learn quickly. In their highly condensed, top-rated 8-month coding program, Turing has allowed me to create a wide variety of functional applications with a focus on SOLID ES6 syntax, robust Test- Driven Development, and detailed version control.
This is why I believe I will be a major asset to NewsCred - I am highly willing to immerse myself into new technologies and apply them to produce something larger than myself. I not only have experience and knowledge of Front-End software, but I also have extensive experience in high-end, refined customer service, and mental health treatment for children (both highlighted in my Resume). From these previous careers, I have taken many skills with me: highly organized long-term planning; compassionate, empathic, and open communication with coworkers and customers alike; the ability to react quickly to difficult situations; strong drive for group-oriented work & goals; and a mindset of placing the customer first, to ensure a unique, reliable, and efficient experience for every user.
It would truly be an honor to be at the forefront of the technologies NewsCred is producing. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Collin P. Kallery 7/1/2020
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Collin Kallery and I am a young software developer and soon-to-be graduate from the Turing School of Software & Design, with a specialization in Front-End Software Engineering. I am coming to you with a great interest in working at Slalom as a Software Developer.
I had the wonderful opportunity of briefly meeting Grace Serani yesterday during a mock interview set up by Turing. To be completely honest, I was quite nervous stepping into this mock interview. However, Grace very naturally created a friendly, approachable, and safe environment for me to talk a bit about myself and my experience, in and outside of Turing. After my experience with Grace, and some research about the company, it is clear that Slalom greatly facilitates in the building of a diverse, inclusive, and exciting work environment - something I can definitely see myself being a part of. I believe that diversity and inclusion is one of the most pivotal aspects of writing good software. With more diversity and inclusion, comes more ideas. With more ideas, comes better code. With better code, comes more inclusive, innovative, and accessible software. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I believe that I have a valuable position to offer. At the same time, however, as a white male, I strongly believe in acknowledging my privilege. Oftentimes in and outside of the workplace, white males are automatically given the floor to speak and discuss their ideas. Because of this, I take constant precautions to ensure that I assist in the elevation and amplification of other marginalized voices, which in-turn increases efficiency and creativity in the software created, and ultimately creates a safer environment for everybody.
I do not doubt that I will be able to assist in the development of the software Slalom produces. Turing School of Software & Design has given me heaps of technological skills, including a firm understanding of Vanilla JavaScript, React, Redux, various testing frameworks, AGILE workflows, and much more. Most importantly, however, Turing has taught me how to learn, and how to learn quickly. In their highly condensed, top-rated 8-month coding program, Turing has allowed me to create a wide variety of functional applications with a focus on SOLID ES6 syntax, robust Test-Driven Development, and detailed version control. I also not only have knowledge of Front-End software, but I also have extensive experience in high-end, refined customer service, and mental health treatment for children (both highlighted in my Resume). From these previous careers, I have taken many skills with me: highly organized long-term planning; compassionate, empathic, and open communication with coworkers and customers alike; the ability to react quickly to difficult situations; strong drive for group-oriented work & goals; and a mindset of placing the customer first, to ensure a unique, reliable, and efficient experience for every user. It would truly be an honor to be at the forefront of the technologies Slalom is producing. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Collin P. Kallery 7/9/2020
So far, I really feel as if my resiliency within the job search is pretty strong! I've been denied by a couple of companies, and it took little to no emotional toll on my outlook. I plan to continue to widen my scope of applications and outreach so that the disappointment that comes from a given "no" is pretty reduced because I will have my eggs in many different baskets. I also look at each time I'm declined as an opportunity to learn why exactly they were not interested in hiring. For example, with my application to NewsCred, the woman told me that they typically look for engineers with more full-stack & back-end experience, because that's where the bulk of their software lies.
I've had the blessing of working very closely with Lauren during my time at Turing School of Software & Design. She has a well-rounded, refined understanding of technical front-end principles and values direct, clear, and concise communication with teammates. I worked directly with Lauren for two weeks (indirectly for 7+ months), and there was never a moment where the path to our pre-defined goals was unclear. She works diligently to create thoughtful and efficient organization in group settings, and has a contagious willingness to listen, learn, grow, and share ideas. Above all, Lauren's most striking quality is her compassion. It has been made clear to me that there are three primary areas in which Lauren's compassion guides her: compassion for herself, in regards to cultivating patience while learning difficult concepts and technologies; compassion for her teammates, in regards to making an effort to understand the emotional-standing of her colleagues, to nurture and elevate their ideas; and compassion for the society in which she lives, in regards to her boundless dedication to facilitate in the creation of a more diverse, caring, and inclusive world. If there's anyone I've met that writes her code with love, it's Lauren - and in a world of just ones and zeros, a compassionately intelligent and creative individual like her will be an esteemed asset to any company.
I am very grateful to have learned and worked with Collin at the Turing School of Software & Design. He is highly skilled in the use of tools and processes necessary for software development as well as community development. As a student, he not only built a strong foundation for Front End Engineering but also took on a leadership role as our cohorts Student Activity Board representative. In this role, Collin supported the success of up to 30 fellow students. He exemplified empathetic communication while emphasizing the importance of inclusion in our learning and longterm success in the field. I had the opportunity to work directly with Collin for two weeks building a creative React app using the HackerNews API. It was Collin's idea to improve the user experience of the original HackerNews site. We pushed ourselves to learn styled-components and to have 100% passing accessibility testing. Collin's compassion combined with his dedication to both people and programming makes him an invaluable member of any team!
Since receiving a "no" from NewsCred due to the lack in back-end experience, I've decided to sign up for a certificate program at CSU Global - it is called a "Certificate in Computer Programming" and has a really strong focus on some of the more foundational concepts within programming, like data structures and algorithms. It is a 6-course program, and they are taken one at a time. They are part-time as well, which is great because if I get a job I will be able to continue to work on the class while I am getting acquainted with a new job. I am almost admitted, all I have left to do is sending in my AP scores from high school. It is set to start right after graduation, on Monday, August 10th.
As I said above, I made a really strong connection with Grace Serani of Slalom (the woman I met in my mock interview). She had told me that she would pass along my information to a team she believes to be hiring over the next couple of months. A few days ago, I received an email from her. I will be having a call with her at 2:00 PM on Wednesday.
Hey Collin! Thanks for your patience on my response. 😊 It was great speaking with you and I’m excited to introduce you to Megan Spaans who leads recruiting for our analyst programs in Denver.
I’ll let you two find a time to connect from here!
Grace
Thank you for the introduction, Grace! Moving you to BCC to spare your inbox 😊
Collin,
It’s great to meet you over email! Grace had wonderful things to say following the Mock Interview event last week. I’d love to find time to connect to learn more about your background and what you’re looking for as far as opportunities. We’ll also have time to go over any questions you may have about Slalom.
Please let me know what your availability looks like next week to connect for a 30-45 minute call.
Looking forward to connecting!
Megan Spaans
Hi Megan!
It's so wonderful to hear from you. I'm glad to hear that Grace had some good things to say - as I said in my cover letter, she really made what would be a pretty nerve-wracking environment to actually be quite comfortable. I am really excited for the opportunity to learn some more about Slalom and the opportunities that may be available! Here are some times that work for me next week.
Monday, 7/20 - anytime after 3:00 PM
Tuesday, 7/21 - anytime between 10:30 AM and 1:00 PM
Wednesday, 7/22 - free all day except for 1:00-1:30 PM
Thursday, 7/23 - anytime between 9:30 AM and 1:00 PM
Friday, 7/24 - anytime after 11:00 AM
I figured I'd give you some times for each day of the week - any of those times work perfectly for me, so let me know what works best for you. Thank you so much - I look forward to meeting you!
All the best,
Collin
Hi Collin, Great updates for week 2! Your resume is shaping up! Missing the cover letter piece, but I am happy with the progress. I think while you are still at Turing spending 2 hours or so a week on the job search is reasonable.