Unser Schwarm Lena: Erst Neuseeland, dann Neuland (1)

Moritz Bierling searched for a long time and found his suitable educational offer with the advanced training as a web developer at neuefische 

"For me, being able to program is the key to helping shape the digital future."

Our graduate Moritz successfully completed the Web Development Bootcamp, subsequently worked as a freelancer is employed as a Junior Frontend Engineer since March 2021.

After graduating from high school, I did a voluntary social year at the University of Münster to get in touch with students. Sitting at home and pondering whether I wanted to study - and if so, what - was not an option for me. I preferred to get a taste of university life and make a decision about my future through contact with students. In Bayreuth, I enrolled in the bilingual program Philosophy & Economics, which is unique in Germany. However, long conversations with my mother during the first semester break and the book "Antifragility: Guide to a World We Don't Understand" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb made me rethink. The studies were too theoretical for my taste and I realized that a classic, academic education with little practical relevance was not a good fit for me.

That's why I applied to TUI Cruises and landed one of the coveted dual study places at HSBA Hamburg. After an Exosphere workshop, which really impressed me, I took some time off at TUI Cruises to participate in the Exosphere Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. Exosphere is an independent, international organization that uses alternative education to encourage people around the world to use their potential as entrepreneurs to transform the economy ethically, morally and sustainably through fresh thinking.

During two unforgettable years in Chile and Brazil, in addition to organizing educational camps, I deepened my knowledge of blockchain technologies and understood that there must be a digital future for everyone, even away from large corporations. It is important to me that people are given the opportunity to become digitally independent through a decentralized form of organization.

After returning to Germany, I worked for Neufund, a platform that is an alternative to the traditional stock exchange. With the experience from the start up, I was able to independently consult international founders from the digital economy for two years around the topics of strategy and storytelling. During these consultations, I not only gained deeper and deeper insights into the startup scene, but I also realized that I not only want to understand programs, but also be able to develop them myself in order to actively participate in shaping the future.

The bootcamp was the solution for me

It was immediately clear to me after my experiences at university and in dual studies that neither an apprenticeship nor going back to university was the right way for me to learn programming. When I discovered the advanced training to become a web developer at neue fische on Instagram, I immediately got in touch to apply for a place in a bootcamp. After the first interview, I already had the feeling that I had found exactly the right thing for me.

Having had some experience with alternative education, I was thrilled to find that at neue fische, despite the tight schedule, the curriculum is not simply "crammed" through. For each course, it is revised, updated and adapted with feedback from partner companies and former participants. With founder Dalia and her team, I had the feeling from the beginning that the focus is on imparting knowledge that will enable a successful entry into the profession after the bootcamp.

Self-study would be conceivable, but is associated with many pitfalls

Due to my previous knowledge, learning programming languages is easy for me. This would certainly be a good prerequisite for me to find my way in a distance learning program without presence. Nevertheless, I am glad to have chosen the coding bootcamp at neue fische. Here I get regular feedback from Jerry, our coach, the curriculum is up to date and I also don't feel like I have to question the quality of the content.

I quickly felt at home in our colorful course, although we implement teamwork a little differently than planned. For the first time, the course is divided into two teams, front-end and back-end, starting in the fifth week. Through a survey in my network, I decided to join the frontend team and am working intensively with React, a Javascript software library developed by Facebook.

On the way to the capstone project

The Capstone project is a brilliant idea from founder Dalia Das. For me, it's more than a business card to land a job as a programmer. Work has to make sense to me and I want to use it to show what's important to me for the digital future. That's why I'm toying with the idea of building the backend of my app with Holochain. Holochain is a post-blockchain technology that comes without the scaling problems of existing blockchains. For me, this decentralized peer to peer technology is the key to more digital empowerment.

My future after neue fische bootcamp

In the current climate, it's hard to plan for a direct transition into a job. Although it's becoming clear right now how much digital professionals are needed, I'm not sure how companies are filling positions in the current situation. That's why I already have a plan to expand my knowledge while still self-studying on the Ruby on Rails programming language, an open-source web framework.

Beyond that, I can imagine anything from self-employment to starting as a programmer in a company. Even though I don't know if I want to work exclusively as a programmer, at neue fische I have found what I want to do in the next few years to help shape the economic future.