Alumni Q & A with Sarah Hooper

Meet Sarah Hooper, recent CCS alumnus who graduated in March 2021. With a degree in Illustration and a career in graphic design, COVID gave her an opportunity for a reset and she found herself taking a chance on coding and software development at the end of 2020 and jumping in with the first cohort of 2021. A month into her new job post-code school, she is learning something new every day, a contributing member to the team and enjoying the changes this new career made for her personally and professionally.

Tell me about yourself and your first exposure to coding/software development.

I am from Charleston and attended Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC for Illustration with a minor in Biology. I thought I wanted to create medical images but I soon realized that was not for me! Soon after that I took a coding class for fun. I taught myself java script for a project where I wanted to build my own characters for a different project and ended up working on it for 48 hours straight. I enjoyed it, but when I gave myself a broken blood vessel in my eye, I took that as a sign that it was not a good fit.  

What kind of experience did you have with technology before CCS?

After graduation, I worked in graphic design and taught graphic design at Winthrop. I loved teaching, but I was ready for something else. So I moved back to Charleston, worked as a lamp designer while I flipped an RV to live in. I made it work.

It was really scary to leave my job. I still like designing, but I didn’t want to get stuck building websites for people. I wanted to design/build things for people to make their day-to-day aspect easier. I found a free online class to get a sense of what I wanted to do. I had been looking for places that were just online, but they weren’t giving me the personal attention that I wanted for what I’d be paying for. That’s what sold me on Carolina Code School. So I packed up my RV and came up to Greenville to join a cohort for the beginning of 2021.

Can you share an interesting/fun fact about yourself? 

This is not so interesting, but I go for a hike everything morning with my dogs. I’m also here with my partner, Shawn. I was able to go to CCS because of him and our next trip in the RV will be out to Colorado while he attends school for Advanced Massage Therapy.

I love to build stuff and I’m not afraid to get dirty. My RV, for example, there are a lot of things that didn’t work, but I made it work. I’m not scared of a DIY project. Same thing for code school.

What was your experience like during the 12-week boot camp?

I just had to make it work. You put down that kind of money and you just make it happen. If I am going to do something, I’m going to do it! I asked a lot of questions right off the bat. I had a positive experience because I was not afraid to ask questions about what I was lost or feeling confused about. It became a relief when I figured out a solution to a particular problem and that drove me to go above and beyond.

I dropped my whole social life. It was just something I had to do for 3 months in order to get the most out of it and it was so worth it.

What was the most valuable takeaway from your experience with CCS?

Understanding that this is just the beginning. It was a very humbling experience to be able to come in and know very little and walk out 3-months later with a new career.

Everyone I’ve met in this community has been accepting of not knowing. I think it’s because coding is based on very specific knowledge versus a degree or job in a public-school setting. It’s a very supportive community.

Tell me about what you are doing now? Where are you working/what kind of work are you doing?

I landed a remote position as “Associate Software Development Engineer” at Snap One based in Charlotte. I work on the UI Development Team, specifically on Networking & Power Devices. I work on a software called OvrC. It is a software/application that you can use on your phone to control your products that you have in your home. It serves for both the “dealer” and the customer to make automating and troubleshooting products easier.

My role is front-end development with REACT, which worked out because Carolina Code School taught us REACT. It’s been super helpful to have that background and I think it’s probably one of the reasons I got this job. I’ve already learned a lot, too. For example, CCS taught us class components while Snap only uses functional components. I had to quickly learn the differences between both of those as well as type script vs. JAVA script. So there have been a lot of new rules I’ve had to learn, but they’ve been pretty awesome about it so far.

What was the transition like from CCS to working at Snap One?

It’s okay to not know everything. Companies want to know that you are still willing to learn. Mady helped me prep for my interviews and gave me the best advice. Don’t over-stretch the truth. Just be honest about who you are and what you know. I only got 50% of my questions right during my technical interview and I took the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the things that I didn’t know.

I did plenty of interviews where I took the same approach, and it didn’t work out. It certainly wasn’t fun to be rejected 40 times, but because I did this I felt so comfortable my first day at Snap One. They knew who I was and that I wanted to learn. Now, I’ve been here a month and they are impressed by how much I’ve contributed already. 

Do you have advice for those thinking about applying or currently in the program? 

If you are thinking about applying, find a free online class. Try to make something. If you find yourself laughing and wanting to learn more then you will totally be okay. If you don’t find joy in doing it as a hobby, you aren’t going to love doing it as a job.

For those that are about to start – get aggressive with it. You are in it. This is your life. It’s hard, but it’s so worth it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I think this is why I did so well and I enjoyed it. Everyday I asked at least five questions. Take advantage of this time with Mady and this community. It’s what your paying for.

Mady is the best teacher. She is so strong, but she cares so much. Everyday, I am thankful that she was my teacher. Lelia, Career Services, and the alumni community, they are all so supportive. It’s such a unique, special community.