After separating from her husband in June, single mom Shannon Lance found herself suddenly needing to earn enough to support four children.
Lance began her job search after completing an intensive 14-week program with Washington-based Coding Dojo. Just six days after beginning her job hunt, Lance secured a six-figure offer from travel expenses firm SAP Concur.Value your 'soft skills' She said she was upfront about what she could and couldn't do, taking the approach: "I don't know a lot about it, but I do know a little bit – and I'm willing to learn more."
"One challenge was the amount of time it took to get through everything. I don't think I had trouble with the actual program, but I didn't have any tech background, so every assignment would take me one and a half times as long as everyone else," she told CNBC. "I'd have to skip forward and go back again – that's not a good strategy," she said. Instead, she got through all of the reading and learning materials for each topic before attempting to complete an assignment.