“Change is the only constant in life.” - Heraclitus

Back in 2015, when I switched from working full-time as a developer to working as a Software Development Instructor at Treehouse, it felt like a dream. I had always wanted to teach, but I thought that was something I’d do when I “retired”. I learned all that I could and hoped that the opportunity lasted long enough for me to establish myself as an educator.

When I was unexpectedly laid off from Treehouse in June 2019, I wasn’t sure what was next. Would I be able to find another education-related job? Or would I need to return to working as a developer?

The same week that I was laid off, I met Curtis Schlak from App Academy. Curtis found out about the layoffs at Treehouse from a friend of a friend of Nick Pettit, one of my coworkers who had also been laid off at Treehouse. Curtis viewed Nick’s Twitter feed and saw his retweet of my Tweet announcing that I was looking for work.

Curtis sent me a message through LinkedIn wanting to know if I’d be interested in teaching a 10-week C#/.NET bootcamp in NYC. To be completely honest, I was a bit skeptical. Was this a “real” opportunity? Do people actually just go and work in another city for multiple months? And if this was a real thing, could I make this work? Could I make the leap from teaching asynchronously online (via video) to teaching synchronously in-person?

Of all of the options that were available to me, pursuing the opportunity with App Academy felt like the riskiest, least predictable option. But it was also the option that I was most excited about, so I decided to go for it. That turned out to be a good decision.

Teaching in NYC last year turned out to be some of the most challenging, meaningful, and rewarding work of my career, not to mention the amazing people that I got to know at App Academy and WOS (the client that we were delivering the bootcamp for). After the completion of the bootcamp, I joined the team that was developing the curriculum for App Academy’s new online bootcamp. This allowed me to work remotely (back home in Portland) and to provide for my family during uncertain times.

While I’ll always be very grateful for the opportunities that App Academy has provided me over the last year, it’s time for a new challenge. Next week, I’ll be joining Genesis10’s Dev10 Program as a Lead Instructor. I’m excited about the opportunity to return to teaching.

I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to continue to focus on my passion for helping others become developers. Thanks so much to everyone over the years who have helped me get to where I’m at today. I intend to make the most of my situation.