Hello James. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your story ?
Of course. I'm from Canada but I've been traveling a lot around the world. I did several jobs in my life, I've been a truck driver for 4 years in Alberta for example. I travelled by bike and that's how I landed in Switzerland. What an adventure!
I have always been interested in web dev and AI and I wanted to do something about it. So after a few temporary jobs here in Switzerland, I did Le Wagon to change my career and start a new life in the Tech industry.
How was Le Wagon for you ?
Amazing! I learned so much. Being surrounded by so many talented and motivated people pushed me in the right direction. It was intense but I've no regret at all. To be able to learn so many languages, it was something completely new for me but it wasn't just that, I had to learn how to think as a dev. This is something you discover step by step. Then, when you understand that, it allows you to be completely free and independent in your work, how you code and how you see the solutions.
Can you explain what you did after Le Wagon ? You wanted to specialize in AI ?
Le Wagon taught me how to learn. I spent a few months learning by my own with online courses, youtube videos, etc... The hardest was not having any feedbacks and not being in work environnement anymore. This is something that was missing in my daily life after I finished Le Wagon. But I was highly motivated. And if you commit every day, in the end you learn a lot. I also did some TAing (Teaching Assistant) for Le Wagon a few times. And one day, Thibault, the driver of Le Wagon in Lausanne, put me in contact with a startup that was looking for a product owner/dev in the AI field. It just clicked.
What are you doing now ?
I've been lucky enough to join a company that specializes in Machine Learning solutions to business data problems. I've been tasked with learning the tech stack that company employ, identifying issues with products in pre-production, suggesting improvements with the goal of eventually having an overview of the entire product cycle from inception to production. This means that I am usually not coding, instead, I'm using the learning strategies from Le Wagon, along with the technical knowledge and problem solving skills I've cultivated to attack real world problems with Machine Learning solutions. It's such an exciting field! We daily touch on a variety of subjects and build ideas up around inspiration and conversation.
