Nikita Vidal

Nikita completed her studies at BrainStation Miami (Formerly Wyncode Academy).

Where are you currently working and what is it that you do there?

I currently work for General Electric as a Front-End Engineer.

As a Front-End Engineer, what does a typical day look like for you?

It starts with standup first thing in the morning, and then directly afterwards, you have work items. Sometimes you'll have to talk to colleagues in other departments, like UX/UI Engineers, but it's mainly working on task items all day.

There are a few days where you have meetings, but generally we have a pretty good balance of getting a lot of work in and getting tasks done.

Can you tell us a bit more about your education and career?

I struggled a lot in college, probably just like everyone else. I had to work a lot and that caused me to fail a lot of classes, so I was really frustrated because of this. I was actually in college for computer science, but I felt like I wasn't going anywhere. The content that I was learning wasn’t very up-to-date and I definitely couldn't get the job I have now had I continued through college. My brother was the one who told me about this school where they teach you how to code in ten weeks. I decided to check it out, and the rest is history.

Had you always been interested in web development or was that something relatively new for you at the time?

I’ve been interested in it since high school actually. I was in IT in high school. I was always the nerdy person there. I remember seeing this amazing promo about Google at the time, this was around 2008, YouTube was still kind of brand new and all this stuff, and they were talking about Google Engineers, and their lifestyles. Originally I thought that was what IT was all about, so I was in that stream for a very long time. It wasn't until later that I realized that I wanted to do software development, which then eventually translated into web development.

What was the highlight of your learning experience at BrainStation Miami?

I mean, it’s hard to narrow it down to just one because there are some pretty cool experiences. But honestly, my favorite part was graduating. On graduation day, you have the opportunity to present your project, and to present it in front of your family. My entire family came out to see it and that definitely was a highlight for me. I would say it was probably one of the best nights of my life for sure.

How did your final project impact your professional development?

It helped a lot. It made me really start questioning execution, and we executed the project to the best of our abilities. It also really helped you become comfortable working with multiple people and I really liked that. That experience of working with other people really translated over when I started working at my first internship.

Will you describe the impact your Educator had on the learning experience?

It was pretty amazing. The Educator really took his time to go through all the content, especially if there was something you were stuck on. It was a really good experience overall. Sometimes people were afraid to ask questions, but he would stop and look around to make sure that everyone was following along and understood what they were being taught. He was really good and it was a really great experience.

Can you tell us more about your final project?

My project was for children who had experienced sexual abuse. One of my colleagues, she had had an experience, and she said it'd be so amazing to have a platform that was really catered to survivors and others who had gone through similar experiences. It was a very eye-opening learning experience. The idea for the project was a one-stop-shop, where you'd be able to talk to Psychologists, interact with others through a forum, journaling, and the inclusion of some Psychologist-recommend practices for people who've been through that type of trauma. It also allows people who haven't gone through that experience to provide support for survivors. The project was an entire social media platform that was focused around self healing.

It was a very nice experience for me. We had a great Hiring Manager at the time, Miguel. I'll never forget him. He actually helped me land my first internship after the bootcamp. The team at BrainStation Miami also encouraged me to go out there and network. So while I was still going through the program at BrainStation Miami, I spent a lot of my own time networking, and didn't just let that responsibility fall on them. By the time I had gotten out of the bootcamp program at BrainStation Miami, I immediately got hired for an internship. It was amazing.

What was the job search like after the bootcamp program?

It was a very nice experience for me. We had a great Hiring Manager at the time, Miguel. I'll never forget him. He actually helped me land my first internship after the bootcamp. The team at BrainStation Miami also encouraged me to go out there and network. So while I was still going through the program at BrainStation Miami, I spent a lot of my own time networking, and didn't just let that responsibility fall on them. By the time I had gotten out of the bootcamp program at BrainStation Miami, I immediately got hired for an internship. It was amazing.

Fast forward five months and my internship is over. The startup that I was working at didn't have enough money to take on any of their Interns. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I just kept networking away during that time. Then eight months after graduating from BrainStation Miami, I got hired at GE. I've been working there ever since, since 2017.

What would you say are the most valuable skills that you learned during the bootcamp?

The most valuable skill that I got was understanding that you can learn things very quickly. When I first started at BrainStation Miami, I thought there's no way I'm going to know how to code in 10 weeks. But being put in that fast-paced environment, you soon learn how to pick things up quickly.

My number one piece of advice is just to get started. If you're thinking of a career change, especially into a field like computer science, everything you learn can be translated into almost any profession, in any field. You can really make a difference and an impact, even if computer science is not your love, but something that you are able to do. I would say just get started. If you're on the fence about it, just do it. The sooner you start the better, and soon you will realize that you can really code and make a difference.

What advice would you give to other professionals out there that might be considering a BrainStation Miami course or bootcamp?

My number one piece of advice is just to get started. If you're thinking of a career change, especially into a field like computer science, everything you learn can be translated into almost any profession, in any field. You can really make a difference and an impact, even if computer science is not your love, but something that you are able to do. I would say just get started. If you're on the fence about it, just do it. The sooner you start the better, and soon you will realize that you can really code and make a difference.