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Graduated in 2018 from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee with a major in (classical) Percussion Performance.
Position: Software Engineer at Metal, a company allowing its users to easily trade blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. Joanna works remotely on a team of four, using agile methodology. She is focused on front-end development, meaning turning mock-ups into working webpages and working with the designer to come up with new idea to improve customer experiences.
Overview: During Joanna’s time at BoCo she worked a student-job in concert production. In her third year at BoCo, Joanna developed performance anxiety and felt that her work/life balance was unhealthy. She audited a class at MIT with Berklee Ice and became interested in technology, before continuing on with classical music. She graduated in 2018, and hoped to go to a graduate school in Germany. They told her that she was too old (at 22!) to pursue a career as a classical drummer, but she should try marimba. She spent the year after graduation preparing for her audition at the same school as a marimba player, while working a variety of jobs. Although she got into the school, she decided that she valued being with family and friends more than where a classical music career would lead, so she declined admission and moved back to California.
Back home, Joanna briefly considered a career in teaching music, but wanted to try something new. A friend and former duo partner at BoCo recommended the coding boot camp App Academy, and Joanna moved to San Franciso and stared the program in August 2019, finishing up that December. Soon into her job search, the pandemic hit and many opportunities dried up, but Joanna noticed that App Academy was looking for a course materials developer. Her excellent performance there as a student and an equally excellent cover letter that showcased her people skills got her the position, which went well, but wasn’t really being a software engineer, so as opportunities started to come back in the summer of 2020 Joanna started applying for jobs, and was hired into her current position in October.
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You can see Joanna’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “Software engineering is really creative, making different wireframes / mocks come to life. And when I was a classical percussionist it felt like I wasn’t allowed to be creative and had to stick to rules in music. But coding feels like this whole forward-moving thing where there are no boundaries and the focus is on the future rather than the past. Also, in a performance you can’t undo an error, but with a software project you just add a bug fix to do later, which makes things much less stressful for me!”
My Concert Services manager really shaped me into the professional I am. Communication / collaboration skills. You also need strong attention to detail. That’s completely transferrable to any field. Also, as a concert producer, visual aesthetics were always important to work with. Planning a concert stage, you’re aware of those little details–and this applies to my work as a front-end developer.”
“Just narrow things down to what do you want in your day-to-day to make you happy. Some people may find complete fulifllment with their career. But some people, including me, want stability in their job but also to have time for the people in their life. Think about how you can be happy as a human — and start from there to formulate your plan Also, try not to stress out too much about a career change. You’re very young. My friend was 30 when he did the boot camp. I thought I was so old when I did it, but I was only 23.”
“If you want to be a software engineer, find a community or a mentor. I have a friend of a friend who self-studied software engineering by using Reddit. The internet is at our fingertips. There are folks out there to help others grow. Use that to your advantage!”
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