Originally from Columbus, Ohio in the US where he studied political science, Daniel Montague is a true traveller and entrepreneur. After learning how to teach English as a foreign language through the University of Texas, Austin, he embarked on a life of travel and work which took him to the far corners of Taiwan, China, and Mexico.
In 2016 he came to South Africa and started his own international recruitment agency, recruiting teachers and placing them in teaching opportunities around the world. However, the Covid-19 pandemic put an abrupt stop to that, and Daniel found himself in need of yet another career change.
Making the switch to a career in web development
He had always been interested in technology, and considering that careers in IT are in high demand across the globe, he launched himself into HyperionDev’s full-time online Immersive Full Stack Web & Software Engineer Bootcamp. He loved the intensity of the course but admits that, towards the end, things got really tough. Yet he pushed through, keeping his eye on where he wanted to go with a HyperionDev graduate certificate behind his name.
“I wanted to develop skills for an in-demand job, because I know that most companies need programmers.”
He’s right; developers enjoy some of the highest paying careers in the world, with the freedom and skills to find work remotely and internationally. After graduating from HyperionDev, Daniel found a whole new world had opened for him. He initially worked at JP Morgan as a software engineer, but when he saw a position at Ezoic in London, he applied. After three rounds of interviews and two technical evaluations, he was hired.
Ezoic is a Google award-winning tech platform that provides machine-learning and data-driven solutions for website owners. It turned out to be a perfect fit.
Life as a sales engineer
Ezoic’s sales engineers have their work cut out for them. They provide high technical insight to Ezoic’s UK Sales’, support, and success management team and liaise between the digital sales team, the software development team, and directly with website owners. Describing his day-to-day work, Daniel says:
“I do a lot of DevOps. I have to communicate effectively about code to those less knowledgeable and know the ins and outs on how thousands of websites work and go through our system.”
Daniel works mostly in JavaScript (JS), one of the most popular tech stacks of 2022. Because engineers use a single language through the stack, they have the opportunity to reuse code across the entire application, thereby decreasing needless reinvention.
Daniels says the coolest things he’s learnt while working for Ezoic are the intricacies of Domain Name Systems (DNS) and the ever-changing world of Chrome Dev tools.
From web developer to greater things
We asked Daniel how he sees himself growing in his new job and in the tech industry as a whole. He says:
“I love my company and see myself staying for a while. I’ve been given the opportunity to switch to a development role, but I did that at JP Morgan and find my current job as a sales engineer to be more suited to my personality.”
Daniel has also seen a huge jump in his salary from his days as a teacher and recruitment specialist. Where does he see himself in five years?
“I see myself as a circle lead or developing side roles inside the company as we continue to grow.”
The value of knowing code
When asked for advice for others who are interested in becoming HyperionDev graduates, Daniel highlights the importance of knowing how to code:
“You don’t have to become a developer to get into tech, but learning to code is extremely valuable. It’s brought me a ton of new opportunities which would have been more difficult to be part of.”
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If you feel inspired by Daniel’s story and want to follow his journey in tech, visit his GitHub portfolio. And if you’re ready to embark on your own journey toward a fulfilling career in the tech industry, consider registering with HyperionDev here.
Who knows, your success story may be next.
