How One ZTM Student Reinvented His Web Development Career

After over a decade at a company, it would be very easy to just stay there until retirement.

The work gets easier, you know everyone, and you find a groove.

However, it can be hard to grow further in situations like this. Either there’s no room for advancement, or you simply don’t need to learn the hottest new skills, because they’re not used in your company.

Some people are happy with this and that’s totally fine. They skilled up already for their role, and are reaping the rewards.

Sometimes though, you need to shake everything up and take the next step - no matter how scary it is. This is exactly what one ZTM student did, and what I want to share with you today…

Meet Kyle

Hi, my name is Kyle O’Brien, I’m a Front End Web Developer at Magnetic Mobile and a proud cat dad.

(The image above was from their announcement post on LinkedIn after I joined the team!)

I’ve been working here for around 3 months now.

Before that, I was a Web Developer and Designer at Wright State University for almost 11 years.

What was the goal or outcome you were hoping for from joining ZTM?

After working in the Web Development industry for over a decade, I had a gut feeling that I just wasn’t where I should be in my career.

I wanted a change, and to get a position with more income that focused solely on Front End Web development.

I have a BFA in Digital Art, and I self-taught myself web development back in 2011, so I’m used to picking up new skills. However, I had been mainly using very specific web dev tools that only really exist in Higher Education web development. This meant that if I wanted to change roles, I needed to focus on much more modern tools that would be required for positions outside of Higher Ed.

I had a look around and ZTM fit the bill very well and helped me pick up multiple different frameworks.

Editor’s note: We have 93 courses now at the time of writing, with 40+ that are relevant to web developers!

I took both the Full-Stack Web Developer, and Complete React Developer courses.

Spoiler alert, but I haven’t actually totally 100% completed either of these courses. I got the foundation I needed from them and then created my own projects and learned at my own pace.

Following along with tutorials is great, but actually developing something on your own is the best way to learn.

Editor’s note: We totally agree with this approach, as you’re applying what you learn and also creating standout projects.

Often we’ll suggest new devs build the projects in our courses, but then further customize them or use that experience to create unique projects for themselves - all for this same reason.

With my knowledge from these courses, I was able to create an ISS (International Space Station) tracking React app and showcase it in my portfolio, which then became a talking piece in all my interviews.

Did you check out any other platforms or learning options before joining?

I weighed up a few other options, but I knew that an online platform was the best choice for me, thanks to my previous experience and my goals.

I already had a decade of web development experience - I just needed to fill in the gaps in the best way possible.

Also:

Bootcamps are insanely expensive, and having helped run some at WSU, I knew they might not be the best option for me personally
I could have gotten a Computer Science degree through WSU, but it's way too much math. I much preferred the application to the broader knowledge

I knew that what I ideally wanted was an education platform with a community without too much overhead for additional classrooms and grading, etc. I also wanted to skip around and focus on frameworks and tools that interested me

I had used Team TreeHouse before, back when I first got started, and loved it. My plan was to revisit my education there, but there was a buyout that happened in 2021 with a lot of messy consequences, and it didn’t seem like the best bet anymore.

I saw that you guys at ZTM are always updating your content, the price was great, and there was a fantastic community around this platform, so I signed up almost immediately.

I figured if there were any issues or if it wasn’t a great fit, the price was good enough and I could try something else. There haven’t been any difficulties at all though. I’ve learned a lot, and I’m already putting those skills I learned earlier in the year to work in my professional career.