In this episode we'll talk to Ethan, who is a recent graduate from the Coders Campus Bootcamp and managed to land a job within two months of starting the search.

Ethan and I talk about how, from a young age, he was guided away from learning technology because his teachers didn't feel he was cut out for the field.

In this interview we'll learn how wrong his teachers were and how Ethan was able to complete the coding bootcamp while also raising a small child with a pregnant wife and working a full-time job.

If you'd like to get in touch with Ethan, feel free to add him via LinkedIn here

Interested in starting your coding career?

I'm now accepting students into an immersive programming Bootcamp where I guarantee you a job offer upon graduation.

It is a 6 month, part-time, online Bootcamp that teaches you everything you need to know to get a job as a Java developer in the real-world.

You can learn more via www.coderscampus.com/bootcamp

Episode Transcript

Intro / Outro 0:09

Welcome to the coders campus podcast, where you'll learn how to code from one of the best teachers in the industry. Whether you're an absolute beginner or a seasoned pro, the coders campus podcasts will teach you what you need to know to master the art of programming. And now, your host, Trevor page.

Trevor Page 0:27

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, fellow coders Welcome back to this what is episode 59 of the pod cast. So thanks so much for joining. In this one, we have another one just like the previous one where we are interviewing, we are checking in with a graduate of the coders campus boot camp. So we're going to speak with Ethan Bradley, He is a fellow Canadian resident of Ottawa, Canada. And his story is a good one. I'm specifically highlighting stories here of people who didn't have, you know, degrees or you know, big, huge software backgrounds or anything like that these are people who came into this whole process with the assumption or the the prerequisite or not the prerequisites what I'm trying to say here, with the prior mindset of thinking that maybe they can't do it, right, they come into this, you know, being told that they are bad at math or being told that they are not have the correct mindset or something to be successful in the world of technology. And I just want to highlight what you know what, I don't want to use expletives on this podcast. But if I were the Malarkey, there we go. That's That's my go to which I never say in real life, the the absolute Malarkey, that that that that statement is for for the vast majority of people who would categorize themselves as someone who is not tech savvy, it frustrates me because most people can achieve this, but not without significant effort. Right, not without significant amount of sacrifice. But maybe it is like sacrifice. It's it's a lot of work to learn this stuff. Which, you know, if you're this deep in the podcast, if you listen to every episode that you know, this is a lot of work that goes into learning how to code. And it's constantly a moving target and whatnot. But it doesn't mean that you can't do it, right? If you have more than just motivation. If you have motivation, plus this insatiable desire to figure this out this, this unstoppable attitude of Yes, I will achieve this goal of learning this stuff, so that I can get a job. And I'm not going to quit until I make it happen. So if you are of that mindset, I just don't see how you can fail. I haven't seen it yet, in my experience. So anyway, having said that, Ethan came into this with exactly the correct mindset. And we are going to learn all about that mindset. Shortly. When we flip over to the interview, we're going to learn how he was able to finish the coders campus boot camp and actually get a job as an entry level programmer before his pregnant wife birth to their second child. So as I am now saying shout out to Matteo, hopefully I pronounced that correctly. He was born just a couple days before I recorded this episode. So it seems like everyone's Healthy Mothers healthy babies healthy, everyone's happy. But Ethan managed to win in that race towards getting a job before the baby was born. So congrats on that all around to Ethan and his family. We're also gonna learn about Ethan sort of accidental secret that he landed upon to his success on his journey in the bootcamp, it isn't just that he was dedicated and and put in the time and the effort. And you know, got, you know, while he was knocked down, he would get back up. No, there was there was something that happened, a constraint if you will, on him that I think was an advantage. And we'll dive into that. And finally, obviously, probably what you guys want to hear about is, Hey, how did Ethan actually get a job as an entry level coder? After graduation? What magic did he do? What? What craziness if you have to, you know, did you have to pay off a bunch of you know, officials or something to get a job? No, we're gonna dive into exactly what he was able to what tactics he did in order to eventually land that coveted first beautiful entry level position. And now he's working the job and loving it. So anyway, we're gonna talk about that in this interview. So without further ado, I'm gonna stop talking. It's been almost five minutes of me talking. Let's get into the interview with Ethan Bradley. Today we're joined by Ethan Bradley, as I've already introduced him excited to get into his story because I think you guys are going to like just like Dustin before him, he's another rock Star students in our coders campus boot camp that I've spoken about many many times. So I want to learn for you Ethan what what was life like before the boot camp paint the picture of Ethan's working life and I don't know however whatever many details you want to pay to in terms of what life look like before the boot camps,

Ethan Bradley 5:18

so I before that, I've been a breaking stonemason. So junk between bricklayer and restoration masonry back and forth for like eight years. Because in high school, they told me I was a little bit. But he told me I shouldn't go into technology, because I was a little too. Not correctly. binded I guess if it's bad man, and all those things. Anyways, so yeah, just I use the years leading up to boot camp. I just hated managers. It's just bad breathing work. Like I'm tired all the time, dusty, because I'm getting rasterization. Like, right now. I got one week before I start my new job. A good description of my job is I'm in a target in scaffold. The sun is beating down. It's like 30 degrees outside. So it's like 35 inside cells yesterday, we had like a plastic sweat suit with the respirators, like chipping dusts, jaw joints, is vast.

Trevor Page 6:23

It sounds awful. You say to get to 3035 degrees Celsius, I assume that's yeah, so So yeah. So that's like,

Ethan Bradley 6:29

I don't really measurement. Yeah,

Trevor Page 6:32

that's a very, it's very hot. That's, well, very hot for me in I'm Canadian. So I don't know what that would be in Fahrenheit that that's probably I don't know, in the 90s or something. That's my guess I could ask Google but who cares? It's hot. And to be in a in a plastic suit in a tarpit environment with dust everywhere and physical labor. Yeah, it sounds. Yeah. Sounds like science

Ethan Bradley 6:52

to me. The alternate is in winters, right? either. It's freezing work. It's really weird. Either you're freezing. You're outside doing stuff. Or you're in a darkened scaffold with Peters blasting on you. So it's even just as hot as so hungry. Totally moved super dry. Or you have no work for you to work. It's treated as a seasonal rate.

Trevor Page 7:16

Rats. Right. Okay. So not great. i That's a not not a great job, I think for Yes.

Ethan Bradley 7:23

People love it. I don't. Fair enough.

Trevor Page 7:26

And I think you you said something that is, is a very common thing that you hear is that oh, if you're not good at math, you know, why would you get into something like computer science or programming or like, Oh, you're gonna you're gonna do awful, you know, even don't dare do that going into grade 11.

Ethan Bradley 7:44

I really wanted to get into technology like I wanted to do here on Earth, because electronics engineering was the course I was looking at. And so I took like, physics, chemistry, math. A just passed, and they told me, you should switch. Yeah, I did. Well, and I guess treat all that. This is why I wanted to historic masonry was like, history. Gotcha. It was cool to me. But it wore off quit. Yeah. That wasn't my job. Yeah. Which is okay. And it's paid my girls that got one daughter, who's almost two, she was born 2020. Not meant to be a pandemic, baby. But she ended up being one. Same with my youngest son. Yep. Yeah. And now I've got another one who's supposed to be born in any any day now? To do on the 30th.

Trevor Page 8:37

Okay, so if all of a sudden you need to run out the door, we won't. We won't hold you to this, this interview. Okay,

Ethan Bradley 8:42

I did it. I did a couple of years in the military, the Army Reserves as well, just before the boot camp, I actually like left just as I was about to start the boot camp because I was like, This is too much stuff. I want to go in this year, I need to draw up some things to do this. Otherwise, I wasn't gonna be able to do it.

Trevor Page 8:59

So then what? So it's a lot of different stuff. That's obv