One Students Journey from Freelancer to Software Engineer

Here at ZTM, one of our core goals is getting you skilled up quickly so you can start applying for roles ASAP and get paid.

So when I saw this message in our community Discord, I knew I had to reach out and learn more.

(Especially because of the Squirtle profile pic!)

This is what they had to say…

Who are you and what do you do? 

Hi, my name is Huzaifa Ali, and I'm 21 years of age.

I live in Pakistan and I just managed to land my first job as a Software Engineer in an established startup here in Islamabad, called Woltrio.

How long have you been in that role?

I’ve been here for about 3 weeks now.

What did you do before you got your new job?

I mainly did freelance coding work.

So to give you a little of my background, I had learned some basic C/C++ in high school and that was it. Then years later while at college, I felt like the courses weren’t teaching me anything useful that applies to the real world.

This is when I decided to learn Web Dev for fun, and I took Andrei’s Complete Web Developer course.

Beginner

The Complete Web Developer in 2025: Zero to Mastery

40 Hours •401 Lessons

Learn to code from scratch and get hired as a Web Developer in 2025. This full-stack coding bootcamp will teach you HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node.js, Machine Learning & more.

Andrei Neagoie

I think I saw a sponsored YouTube video back in 2022 and knew that this was the fit for me. I really liked that the instructors all work in their industries so they have experience of what you need to know.

(Editors note: We now have 39 expert teachers at the time of writing!)

I was a little hesitant due to the pricing and exchange rates with the USD here in Pakistan, as it’s a little expensive. However, I took the Web Dev course and then started getting work freelancing.

I enjoyed this but wanted to look for more permanent work, although I did have some issues at first…

What has been the biggest challenge in your journey from learning to code to getting hired?

I think the first thing, honestly, was imposter syndrome. Sometimes you just don't feel like you’re good enough which can then stop you from learning etc.

This definitely tied into the fact that I applied for a few jobs but I wasn’t getting to the interview stage.

However, rather than give up I decided to keep learning:

• I took the Junior to Senior Developer Roadmap course to see what I needed to learn

• From there I took the Complete React Developer course and built out a few projects.

• This then led me to being interested in Machine Learning and Data Science

I spent 1-2 months on each of these, and then started building some deeper learning projects. I used Node for the backend and then went into server side using Next.js.

As you can imagine, I suddenly started to get more and more interviews as my skills improved!

I took a free internship to get some on the job experience, and after that I did a few interviews and then landed my first job which is where I am today. It wasn’t easy because the job market where I live is pretty bad, but the main thing was I kept learning and improving myself.

This (along with the projects) helped remove some of that imposter syndrome and gave me a better understanding of what I can do.

Also, the ZTM community and advice was super helpful!

Now that you have your new position, how do you feel? 

There's definitely a lot to learn but I feel amazing!

What advice would you give other students who may have been in your position and are now considering joining the ZTM Academy?

Everyone’s situation is different, and we all face hardships.

The thing is, to succeed isn’t that difficult. It’s just doing the hard things again and again. Keep learning and working hard, and improve yourself so you’re better than the competition.

Hard work beats talent 9 times out of 10.

So never stop improving yourself cuz it always pays you back 😁.