Interview with Xi Chen

Xi shares her amazing journey from the beginning to landing a 6-figure career in this exclusive interview.

Why did you choose a coding bootcamp?

I was a stay-at-home mom who didn’t work. I began looking for coding bootcamps at that time because both of my sons had begun their in-person schools, and I would have enough time to finally begin learning about coding and then look for jobs.

I spent years in school because I was pursuing a PhD. I chose the bootcamp approach because, at the time, I didn’t want to return to graduate school and spend two or three years merely getting a degree. For me, the bootcamp approach was more appealing because I could finish the bootcamp in 6 months and start looking for a job.

What problems did you face while self-learning?

So I began learning on my own before having my second child, but I found that learning on my own was not motivating enough. First of all, I don’t have a clear structure of what I should learn, and then, how can I drive myself to learn when there isn’t a project due or anything? So I thought about enrolling in a coding bootcamp that would keep me disciplined enough to achieve my career goals.

How did you find Deep Dive Learning Academy?

I wanted to learn swiftly and efficiently. So, I started looking for coding bootcamps that can teach coding and then help me with the job hunting process. So I didn’t have someone to give good advice or suggest how to get started. I was just searching online. That’s how I found Deep Dive Academy.

I used terms like “job guarantee,” “pay after you get a job,” & deep dive’s website came up, and I read through those. I went through the website and reviews, which gave me more confidence. One thing that attracted me most was the one-on-one mentoring thing. Also, the tuition was much more affordable than at other coding bootcamps.

What was your experience with the free class?

I’m kind of a cautious person. I believe that the free class is definitely beneficial since it gives me the opportunity to actually look at what’s in the course and whether I can handle it or not, and to be honest.

So looking at the free class boosted my confidence and made me think, okay, I can understand the stuff in the free class.

In my opinion, free class are excellent because learning HTML and CSS is a good starting point and a lot of my doubts were answered throughout the trial.

Was the program flexible enough for you?

Flexibility was very important to me. I believe that because I have two children, starting more than eight hours a day is really difficult for me. So it was a great relief when I realized how Deep Dive’s programs are more flexible than others because I have seen that some boot camps are for like 3 months. They give you only three months, and then you start working day and night, like all the time, and then after three months you start applying for jobs.

But at Deep Dive, I could learn at my own pace, which gave me more time to learn what I needed to know.

What was your personal mentoring experience?

So I just read through the curriculum material first for all the weeks. But I was just reading it without really coding. I forget a lot of things. So the 1-on-1 mentor session helped me remember what’s in the curriculum, which I think is really helpful.

It kind of gives me a lot of revisions in terms of what I’ve learned from the course materials.

I believe that the mentor’s teaching method is quite crucial because all of the basics of JavaScript, for example, are already covered in the course material. So I enjoyed how my mentor didn’t just repeat what was in the course material, but instead started with some real coding projects right from the start, from Ground Zero.

This gave me a chance to see how a project is started from the very beginning. So I appreciate that. For example, when my mentor taught me the JavaScript part, he wrote a game—a guessing game project from the beginning. I think those project based learning really helped me a lot.

How did Deep Dive’s Job Assistance assist you in landing your first job after graduation?

I would say Deep Dive’s Job Assistance part was a huge help! I got great advice on how to make a resume, build my own profile, write good cover letters, and apply for and get a high-paying job. I gave 3 mock interviews, which truly helped me gain confidence for my technical round of interviews.

Most importantly, I received a lot of motivation from my mentor, which kept me going. Initially, I was nervous and skeptical about the whole process, but through my 1:1 sessions with the career coach, I started to believe in myself more. I applied for around 10 to 15 jobs, and to my surprise, I received a job offer for the very first one! I had to pass 3 technical rounds of interviews, and my career coach patiently helped me prepare for all of them.

I received an offer as a Software Developer for Folia Health at a starting salary of $75,000! The whole process took me less than 45 days after I graduated from the coding bootcamp. I thank Deep Dive and my mentors, and I strongly recommend Deep Dive’s coding bootcamp to those who are looking for quality personal mentorship and genuine Job Assistance, at a cost that is quite affordable compared to the other coding bootcamps!