Justin Wang

My parents are both software engineers, so I was already exposed to computers and programming at an early age. Growing up, I found that I was drawn to solving math problems, specifically word problems. This gravitation toward problem solving led me to study chemical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. However, one of the drawbacks of this field was that it was frustrating to physically understand what was happening to the chemical systems being manipulated and reacted with each other, as they were either theoretical classroom problems or taking place in a reactor away from my view. The one time I was able to have some visualization of these elements was when I took a MATLAB course, using computer programming to model reaction equations and printing out graphs, so I could really see what was happening to the reactants. This was my first real exposure to coding. After graduation, I decided to teach myself Python using online courses as I looked for jobs in chemical engineering. As I spent more and more time each day learning about algorithms, data structures, and frameworks, I realized that this was what I enjoyed doing. I wanted to change direction of my life and go into software development. I sought my parents' advice on the best way to proceed and get into this field, and they suggested a number of bootcamps in San Francisco that would arm me with the necessary knowledge and skills. After 12 intense weeks at App Academy, a full-stack web development bootcamp and my top choice, I've become an industry-ready software engineer, ready to take on my next challenge.