Before becoming a professional full stack developer, Brandon Lee was a student. Captivated by a love for technology and programming, he bounced from short course to short course, enriching his technical portfolio with an impressive and growing number of developer skills. Soon he bounced into his HyperionDev Full Stack Web Developer bootcamp, where he cemented his skills, started a tech internship, and soon landed his first full-time position as a full stack developer. We asked Brandon about his journey in coding, how he started out learning programming, and what it took to officially kick-start his career.
Brandon Lee’s start in coding and development is a familiar one in coding circles: it all began with a computer and a heap of curiosity. Right from the first moments he touched a computer, he was fascinated. He wasn’t sure how it all worked – how a black-and-white box and lines of words could make so many amazing programs, games, and websites; he just knew he wanted to find out.
“Ever since I got my hands on a computer at the age of 13 I was intrigued by Command prompt and HTML. I could only make very basic commands and websites, but it was the start of something beautiful.”
His love for computers and technology really took off in high school, when he started building his own programs and projects.
“I really got into software engineering in Grade 12, when I got my hands on a Microsoft C# book. This led to me making many WPF and Xamarin projects (which I would often restart halfway through because I felt I could do better). I started learning more and harder things: animations and fonts, colour schemes, even inserting information into a database and displaying the data back. Seeing all these things I made myself actually work made me so happy.”
Brandon kept developing his tech skills after high school, learning the critical fundamentals of coding through a combination of short courses and self-driven learning. With coding books, online learning, and a voracious appetite for tutorials, he picked up a range of coding skills, including C#, object-oriented programming, database management, and more. Pretty soon, he heard about HyperionDev from a student who was taking a bootcamp of their own. Driven to take the next step and officially kick-start his tech career with the ‘job-ready skills’ bootcamp, he decided to sign up full-time to learn full stack web development.
For Brandon, signing up for a HyperionDev bootcamp and finally becoming a full stack developer was about career choice and freedom.
“I love the idea of being able to work from wherever I want, and being able to control my time. I’d also love to travel, and I know that with my programming skills I’ll have a lot of work opportunities overseas. I decided to take this bootcamp as it’s practical and a good way to get your foot in the door for this career. ”
The bootcamp gave Brandon exactly the sort of hands-on, skills-focused developer job preparation he was looking for – with an added layer of personalised learning support and expert feedback that helped him to learn industry-grade techniques.
“HyperionDev made it much easier for me, as there were a lot of real life projects, and great support with good feedback on each coding task. “
He summed up his experience with our learning and support structure quite succinctly:
“Just needs one word: Great! Seriously, the code reviewing process was very supportive. It showed me alternative ways of solving programming challenges. It took my coding to another level.”
Soon after graduating from his full stack developer bootcamp, Brandon started an internship, which soon led to his new career as a professional full stack developer.
“Right now, I work at NewEra Agency and I’m a full-stack developer but mainly focus on backend development using the MERN stack. In five years’ time, I definitely see myself closer to a formal position at Microsoft.”
For Brandon, his long and gradual journey in learning to code was all worth it – and he strongly encourages others who are thinking about learning to code to take the leap.
“Do it! It’s exciting and worth the risk!”
Are you looking to take your passion or curiosity for tech, and add a wide and deep range of professional, job-ready developer skills to it in just a matter of months? Our expert-guided coding bootcamps will teach you industry-aligned, practical coding skills and knowledge to start your developer career, just like Brandon. In as little as 3 months, you could start your first tech job as a professional full stack developer, software engineer, or data scientist.
Enrol in one of our world-class coding bootcamps.
