Meet Injoong Yoon, who started Alchemy in Spring of last year. Now that he’s landed a role as a Software Engineer at Tivix and isn’t around campus any longer, we find we miss him and his very infectious laughter. Injoong finished our program in Fall of 2019 and immediately started working for us as a teaching assistant where he became an invaluable resource to our students and the lead instructors teaching our program. He’s patient and kind, and has a knack for getting students to understand complex material. He also spent time continuing to code and developing other projects while networking and expanding his Portland community
Learn more about Injoong’s experience before, during, and after Alchemy. We hope his story inspires you!
1. What were you doing for work before attending Alchemy?
Before Alchemy, I was working part-time as an instructor and an Education Program Assistant at the NW Film Center, a local non-profit film organization and part of the Portland Art Museum.
2. What made you decide to take Alchemy's FullStack JavaScript program?
I decided to take Alchemy’s FullStack JavaScript program after talking to my former supervisor at the Film Center, who went through the program himself and recommended it. I wasn’t being challenged at my part-time job, and it was part-time, so it certainly wasn’t going to be financially viable long-term. I felt like I needed to make a career change, which was scary!
3. Had you considered other coding schools? What made you choose Alchemy over the others if so?
I had considered other coding schools, but really the main reason I went with Alchemy is because I knew someone who had completed the program before (my former supervisor) and was able to talk to him about his experience. I also applied for a grant through TechRise PDX, and I was able to obtain a partial scholarship through them, which absolutely helped as well.
4. When did you graduate and can you expand upon your job search a bit? How long did you actually work on landing a job?
I graduated at the end of September 2018 and started my job search shortly afterwards. I got coffee meetings with many of the people already in the industry who had come and spoken to us during Career Week, and also applied to a number of engineering/developer positions. I was working full-time as a TA at Alchemy for the next cohort starting at the end of October 2018, so I spent my weekends writing cover letters and sending out applications.
5. What is your new position?
My new position is as a Software Engineer at Tivix, a software consultancy located in downtown Portland and based out of San Francisco.
6. Can you tell me about the types of technologies and languages you are using in your new role and did Alchemy prepare you well to learn/use them?
I'm currently using Django for both the frontend and backend, as well as Vue, React, and Polymer, in addition to the essentials (general GitHub/git workflow, agile methodology, etc.)
Alchemy absolutely prepared me - even if we didn't learn Polymer specifically, or Django specifically, the curriculum focused on fundamentals and the underlying goals of all the tools that we did learn. This approach made learning new frameworks and tools a lot easier.
7. Why are you excited about it, and how is it going to impact your life?
I’m excited about my position because being at a consultancy means that I'm exposed to a lot of different tech stacks and technologies in general - I’ve been at the job three months and both of the projects that I’ve been working on use tools and frameworks that I’ve never used before, which I love. There’s always something new to learn when it comes to software development, and being at a fast-moving firm means I get to take full advantage of that. It’s impacted my life in so many ways - having a full-time job, with all the financial security that comes with that, as well as being part of a growing industry where I can have a long-term career - all of it has been life-changing.
8. How did being a teacher's assistant help you on your journey to employment?
Being a TA was essential in reinforcing and solidifying what I had just finished learning. Nothing helps you understand the material than by trying to explain it to others. TA-ing gave me a reason to practice talking about code and explaining code every single day, an essential skill for a developer, and it gave me a big confidence boost.
9. What do you miss most about being at Alchemy every day?
What I miss most about Alchemy is the people and the vibe! Being in that space, surrounded by others who are learning with me and teaching me, was such a wonderful environment.
10. If there’s anything you would tell someone considering an education to be a software developer, what would it be?
If you know, or suspect, that you’ll like how software development challenges your brain, go for it! It’s a difficult and rewarding journey - coding teaches you how to think in general, which is an incredibly valuable skill, and you’ll always be faced with new problems to solve.
11. Was career services helpful for you after graduation?
Career services was absolutely helpful! I learned how to network effectively with others and how to go about finding a job. The things I learned (specifically about networking) directly helped me land the job that I did. Shannon works so incredibly hard, and her efforts and introductions directly led to me landing interviews and connecting with others in the industry!
About Alchemy:
If you are interested in learning more about our program or applying, we start a new session every quarter. Read about our course descriptions here, or email us at info@alchemycodelab.com with questions. You can also apply today if you fill out our online application (will not commit you to attend, but it starts the process to do so!) We also have an open house every Thursday at 12:30PM & a social hour on the last Friday of each month. Join us! Everyone is welcome!