Shaphen Pangburn

Path to Software Developer

My journey began when I worked as an Autonomous Vehicle Operator at a tech startup in Fremont, CA. They needed help setting up the environment for their new hardware (laptops, desktops, etc.) and I volunteered one day to help. It was honestly very basic stuff like setting up Linux and running a few lines of pre-written code but the feeling that I could manipulate the computer to do whatever I wanted made me obsessed with finding out more.

I became curious about what this magical realm of software engineering entailed and began self-studying Ruby along with HTML and CSS basics. After spending a few months practicing and feeling relatively confident in my ability to understand the language and markup I decided to take it to the next level and go full-time learning software. I enrolled in App Academy, one of the leading bootcamps in the Bay Area with a 5% acceptance rate to their full-stack immersive program. I was very fortunate to have been surrounded by hard-working individuals who aided in my understanding of new languages and frameworks like Javascript, React, Redux, Ruby on Rails, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and jQuery. I've also had the amazing opportunity to create my first full-stack web application inspired by Discord (Badcord).

My journey has brought me to where I am today and I have no regrets as I continue down this path, expanding my knowledge in development and contributing to users across the web.

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What I am doing now

Today I am working full time in tech as a Software Engineer. I have plans to progress in this field for the foreseeable future as well as take on side projects in my spare time to further diversify my skillset and assist users across the globe with their software-related goals.