Category: Education

Before attending wcoding, Tiffany Pang was a Customer Service Specialist. She is now a proud graduate of wcoding’s Dev Bootcamp 16th batch, and recently she has successfully pivoted her career as a Technical Product Manager at a B2B catering platform startup in Korea!

• What did you do before wcoding and what led you to wcoding campus? 

Originally I studied hospitality and tourism and worked in a hotel in New York. Then I came to Korea and worked as a Global Operation & Customer Service Specialist at a Korean gaming company for the past 2 years. 

In my last job, I felt a bit lost in my career because it’s nothing related to hospitality anymore and I found myself not interested in the job anymore so I wanted to look for other options that can be beneficial to my future career. 

I was in between doing a Master Degree in Hospitality or doing a Bootcamp to learn web development and coding. Finally, I decided to do the Bootcamp because I thought coding could open more doors for me. Plus, I feel coding can be a useful skill to me, even if I didn’t become a great developer in the end, I can still use it for something else or find other roles in the Tech industry.

• What made you choose wcoding campus as a way to change your career, rather than going back to college, or teaching yourself?

First of all, like many people, I’m not a really good self-learner. 😂  I prefer an environment where I am learning and collaborating with peers, with interactions and encouragement from the teacher. Also, I feel it’s important to have an instructor who understands how to guide and keep students on the right path, instead of us finding many online resources that we don’t know what to do with. 

Timewise, it’s also cost-effective and makes more sense to do a bootcamp rather than a whole Bachelor’s degree.

• I heard that you are also active as a content creator on Youtube. Can you share with us a day of a Content Creator while Learning at wcoding Dev Bootcamp?

I haven’t really been doing Youtube consistently, Youtube is just a hobby to record my life in Korea. During the bootcamp, since the course itself is already quite intensive (Weekdays, 10 am to 5 pm), I didn’t have that much time to think about it. 

Most of the days when in the class, at night, I was either studying or resting. During the weekend, I went to study with my friends. Usually I studied coding, reviewed or did the projects, but sometimes, I spared some time to edit videos and took it as my break time from coding. 😂

Tiffany’s Daily Schedule: 

8:45 am: Wake up

9:50 am: Arrive at wcoding and start the class

12:30 pm: Lunch

1:30 pm: Afternoon session

5:00 pm: Review session with Teaching Assistant or go home 

6:00 pm: Dinner

7:00 pm~: Homework time – Work on projects or reading materials for the next day

• What were some of your favorite projects that you built where you were in the program?

My favorite project is a secret chat messenger that we made together in class. Originally, we only did a ‘log-in function’ practice, and then we developed it as a messenger program, and finally we combined them together. I felt this project was more useful compared to other projects like mini games because chatting and log-in functions are in all websites and apps nowadays. So I actually felt these features are something that I can contribute to future projects if I work in web or app development companies.

• What would you say was the biggest challenge in your journey of learning to code?

Before, I enjoyed making websites prettier (in design aspects) when I created a new project. However, even though I enjoy doing it, I’ve learned that’s not all there is to making an actually functional website. So, if I think back now, I think the ‘problem solving mindset’ and the ‘logic parts’ of the code has been the biggest challenge for me.

I remember that it was the first week of learning JavaScript where all the complicated coding logics came in, and as a first-time learner, it was quite confusing. But I got familiar with it once I practiced more and it actually became easier to pick up other programming languages as I already had an idea of how the syntax and logic parts of the codes work.

• Many people said that the tech industry lacks diversity, how do you think about it? As a female programmer, what advice do you have for other women thinking about making a career change and attending a bootcamp?

I know lots of my female friends and acquaintances that are actually doing great as a software developer and I see other friends who finish the bootcamp are doing great, even the teacher I had at wcoding was a female as well!

However, I’m sure there are issues like this and that’s why there are organizations like Women Who Code that are advocating for the change up for the field. But I saw so many great examples that don’t let the lack of diversity stand in their way if they’re a woman, I would say if you see a problem with something, that’s even more of a reason to do something about it and show others that they can do it too!