Yang's DrupalEasy Fellowship Experience: Taking a chance on a career change
In this fourth part of a four-part series, Yang talks about her background, the projects she's worked on, and the vision for her professional future
There is no one way to change a career path. Palantir.net’s four most recent fellows - Paak, Tessa, Travis, and Yang - all joined us through the DrupalEasy program. With their different professional backgrounds and experiences, each offers a unique perspective into what interested them in Drupal and their journey to becoming integral members of Palantir.net.
In each of their written entries they share, among other insights, how they have each adjusted to a fully-remote workplace, how their own skills supported their success as a Fellow, and the importance of Palantir.net’s culture which encourages asking questions, remaining curious, and reaching out for help.
Here's Yang's story.
Where I Started
I was looking for a career change.
I was in the process of getting a nursing degree, but I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted to do. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine suggested I learn to code.
When the COVID pandemic started, I had a lot of extra time at home (like many people!), and I started watching coding tutorials on YouTube. I found that I was fascinated by the idea of coding, so I took the initiative to learn HTML and CSS on Codecademy. Slowly - but surely - I went on to complete even more web development courses on Udemy. I had learned a lot but still found I didn’t have the confidence in my skill set to apply for any jobs in the field.
Earlier this year, my friend sent me a link about the Palantir.net Fellowship program to attend DrupalEasy. I wasn’t sure that I was qualified for the opportunity, but she encouraged me to apply. So I did.
And now, here I am!
The adventure of learning Drupal is like riding a roller coaster: I felt great one moment, but the next thing I knew, I was banging my head against the railing. Then, rinse and repeat.
After 12 weeks of DrupalEasy, I had the opportunity to improve and apply my what I learned during my Fellowship at Palantir.net.
The Fellowship program is run by our talented Palantir.net colleagues, with a professional structure and many great resources that accelerate and support our Drupal learning. I also love Palantir.net’s culture, which is very transparent, collaborative, and co-creative. I have learned and continue to learn new things everyday from my coworkers.
For me, the most important aspect of working here are the people. Everyone contributes, shares, and helps others develop their current skills and learn new ones. When I don’t know something, I feel free to ask questions. I learn from others and feel confident experimenting and making mistakes, learning and growing as I go.
I’ll be honest: learning Drupal is harder than I thought, but the end result is incredibly rewarding. My advice to others who might be feeling daunted by learning Drupal or to code would be, don’t give up! Keep going! You can do this.
Where I am Now
I know that every great programmer was once a beginner, and that is exactly where I am now.
In the future, I hope to be a great programmer and to pass my own knowledge to the very same community that helped me get where I am today.
There are a lot of talented, welcoming, and fun people at Palantir.net, and my goal right now is to learn as much as I can from others to become a full-stack developer. I am currently beginning to develop my personal skill set. I’ll be taking another PHP course in the near future to gain additional back-end knowledge.
I know I still have a long way to go, but I look forward to learning new skills every day and applying them to real projects. In my opinion, consistency is the key to learning anything new and, over time, I am confident I will reach each goal I set for myself. I’m unsure whether my future holds being a full-stack developer, project leader, or something else. But the door to opportunity is wide open, and the only real way to get there is by doing the work.
Fortunately, I am on the right path with the right people.