Looking back at 2019, we had the privilege of welcoming over 100 students in Montréal. They joined us from diverse professional backgrounds (architects, designers, teachers, entrepreneurs, marketing specialists, photographers, finance specialists, and chefs, to name a few), different cultures (from 22 countries), and were increasingly female (35% of students were women).
Let’s start 2020 with a tribute to the amazing people who make up our great alumni community!
Rachelle, from restaurant to tech
After studying multimedia design and development in Toronto, Rachelle wound up returning home to Quebec and working in the restaurant industry. Two years later, she felt the urge to study coding again, but didn’t want to commit to another long educational degree.
She decided to pursue Le Wagon’s web development bootcamp in winter 2019 and a few weeks after completing the course, was hired as a software developer at Beslogic.
“I had a philosophy teacher who decided one day that, instead of giving us the scheduled course, he would give us an introduction to HTML. He showed us how to trigger text to appear on a photo by hovering over it with a mouse. It was very simple, but it struck me! "
Daniela, outdoor photography meets the gaming industry
After studying history, Daniela embarked on a few trips around the world and fueled a burgeoning interest in photography. Upon returning to Montreal, she set up a photography workshop for adventure and outdoor enthusiasts. Feeling like she wanted to gain more technical knowledge, she joined Le Wagon’s winter batch. The rest is history: she is now a narrative designer at Ubisoft Montréal.
“I have always been interested in understanding how websites work behind the scenes, but it wasn’t until I started building my own website for my workshops that I started to take a more serious interest in coding and the creative side of tech. I’ve always had a certain curiosity about UX/UI design and I needed to set myself a new creative challenge."
Jose, in a tech-for-good mission
Jose started a tech start-up 7 months prior to joining our spring batch to help a family member prevent a chronic disease. His company,
Arkangel.ai, is a personal AI health-guardian that uses AI to protect people from incurable diseases. Soon after launching an initial prototype, he found out he needed to level-up his technical skills in order to advance.
After building an
MVP for Arkangel during the bootcamp, his team raised $69,000 in non-equity funding and they are on track to raise even more. Read more about
Jose's journeyClaire, the freedom to move and travel the world
Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Claire has a background in international relations and is passionate about politics, travel, and undertaking new challenges. Today, she works as a freelance web developer.
“I decided to learn to code because it struck me as a skill that will always be in demand in the future, and that will allow me to exercise my creative skills and to have the freedom to move and travel around the world.”
Alma, from fashion to tech
Alma’s professional background is in the fashion industry. After a couple of years working as a technical designer at Frank and Oak, she decided to take on a new challenge in summer 2019. She joined the bootcamp to transition her career to tech. Following the bootcamp, she teamed up with a friend and fellow classmate to launch a web company together.
Guillaume, it all started with wanting to make coffee
Guillaume graduated from the spring 2019 batch and went on to become a full-stack developer at Surmesur.
“Thanks to networking and Le Wagon’s extended connections, I got 4 offers only one week after searching for a job and having interviews. So networking counts. Tech skills count. But soft skills too, especially when you are a junior like me. I am actually not even junior, I am a noob who needs to learn from other people. Hence the soft skills.”
He shares his best advice in this
article.
Claire, on the front line building new ideas
“I’m changing gears in my career to be on the front line building new ideas instead of just translating them!”
Before joining Le Wagon in Montreal, Claire spent five years in Japan working as a translator and interpreter for Amazon Japan and the municipal government.
During the bootcamp’s last couple of weeks, Claire and her team developed an app that matches people learning each other's languages and facilitates meetups between them.
Philippe, on course to start a freelancing career in Toronto
Originally from the French West Indies, Philippe used to work in Ireland as a Fraud Prevention Analyst, monitoring suspicious accounts and preventing money laundering.
He joined Le Wagon Montréal’s web development bootcamp in fall 2019 to acquire technical skills and transition to a career in web development. He is now living in Toronto and working to establish himself as a freelance web developer.
“Believe it or not but I love cold climates, so when the opportunity to spend two years in Canada presented itself, I took the leap. After the bootcamp, my goal is to work as a freelance web developer in Toronto. The city reminds me of the atmosphere in Ireland that I used to enjoy a lot”
Morgan, gaining the ability to be more efficient at work
"I've been interested in learning to code for a few years. I took some classes, but I was missing the structure and intensity of a bootcamp to be more efficient. The full-time program was incompatible with my work schedule, so I seized the opportunity when the part-time program opened in Montreal"
Morgan worked as a Caregiver in France before joining BRP in Montreal as a Health, Safety and Security Analyst. She holds a bachelor degree in Security and Criminology and joined our first part-time batch to improve her skills and learn new ones. Her goal is to develop better health, safety and security tracking tools for her current work.
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We wish everyone a fantastic and happy new year! Let 2020 be full of new challenges—and of course, more learning!
