In the beginning.....

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am Melanie known to most as Mel and to some as Marshmelly. I’ll tell you about that nickname someday… maybe 🤔

I would say my journey began at the beginning of a heartbreaking divorce. My life was changing because of it, but I didn’t realize then, how much it would really transform. I was really depressed, hurt and not seeking help. I plummeted into a lifestyle that led to destruction, thinking it would fix my problem. That lifestyle led me to make poor choices that had negative effects on my life. I knew I needed to make a change. I knew I needed to make better choices, and I had more to live for. I came to terms with the choices that brought me so low. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that I was in the position I was in to transform my life. I am thankful for that, because I wanted to live a life of abundance and excellence, and the road I was following was definitely not that. I became focused on what I needed to do to change myself from the inside out. It started with doing a self-evaluation and bringing out my feelings towards my divorce. I had to heal from that before I could begin to transform inside. I attended mental health groups to help me get it out and cope with what had happened. I knew I needed to take advantage of all opportunities that became available to me.

In rolls, The Great Bootcamp (not as awesome as The Great Gatsby), but hey pretty awesome in itself. My bootcamp was available to me to teach me about web development. Learning to code was interesting because I acquired a new skill that could lead to a new career as a software engineer. I made progress through the front-end languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and React. At the end of those lessons I applied my skills to a few web pages. I became confident in my ability to use those languages. I have been exposed to the back-end technologies, and I am anxious to be able to incorporate those into future projects. While being in the program I enjoyed challenges of re-wiring my brain to write code.

It has been a long, hard journey to get to where I am currently. I am so grateful for Develop Carolina and the apprenticeship offered. This apprenticeship is an awesome opportunity because I possess a desire to advance my knowledge of technical languages. I hope to gain problem solving skills, hands-on work experience, and a great network of software developers. This apprenticeship will be great for me because it will propel me into an incredible software engineering career.

This first week was a little rough for me. It showed me how much self-discipline I would need to complete it successfully. I start everyday with a 5-10 minute meditation. This helps me get my day rolling on a great foot. I am ready for this new journey and although it won’t be easy, I am up for the challenge.