I used to be a writer; now I'm learning to code
In January 2025, I enrolled at Makers Academy, a selective, 16-week, full-time, London-based bootcamp designed for career switchers. I chose the software engineering and DevOps tracks to build on my previous experience in front-end design.
During the course, I gained practical experience in group collaboration, paired programming, agile project development, TDD, Python, AWS, and CI/CD workflows. On the DevOps specialism track, I worked with tools such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform. Now, I'm teaching myself TypeScript, Node.js, and Vue.js.
With an award-winning education in art history, and background in web development and digital comms & media, I understand the value of visual design and analytical thinking. As a former magazine and copy writer, I know how to communicate complex systems in simple terms. These skills, combined with my curiosity, growth mindset, constant motivation (and varied work history) means I can talk to you about the controversy of the C in CSS, and the parallels between RESTful APIs and beehives, and why Deliveroo was inevitably doomed.
Take a look at my work on GitHub, bring me onboard as an open-source contributor, or meet me for a coffee: hi@jkwlsn.dev