From an Administrative Support Specialist to a Solutions Specialist

My Name is Isabel McIlroy, I am originally from Corner Brook, NL and live in St. Philip’s now. I am a Solutions Specialist at ICI Innovations.

What did you do before Get Coding?

After high school I did a visual arts degree. I then did various jobs such as working as a chocolatier and baker, before traveling to British Columbia where I lived in my van and worked for a year.

I then made the move back to Newfoundland to do a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) post diploma. 

Unfortunately I graduated in 2020 at the start of the pandemic and couldn't find relevant work, and ended up moving to Fogo Island and working an office admin job.

What made you decide to switch your career?

When I was doing my GIS diploma we did a few courses in HTML and CSS which I really enjoyed so when I saw the Get Coding article in the CBC, I thought that is for me!

Did you ever think of switching your career to tech?

I hadn’t really thought about it before seeing the CBC article, but I had been working on a website for my husband who is going to start a furniture making business. I was really enjoying that and thought that it would be a good career move for me.

Why did you choose Get Coding?

The past students seemed like they had good success getting jobs, after the program, they enjoyed, and gave good reviews of the program. I also liked the flexibility of the program, and that it was shorter in duration than most programs.

What did you build during Get Coding?

In my first section I did some work with a UI/UX designer, and we worked on a design for my husband's furniture website.

During the JavaScript section I built a sliding puzzle, a wood movement calculator and a guessing game with animated images. Then during the React and backend sections, I made an app for designing and sharing knitting patterns.

As well I did some volunteering working on the front end of the website for a local cake company, Cakey Hand. I also did some work on a project for TechNL, both the front end (React) and the back end (Python).

What are you doing now?

I am working as a Solutions Specialist at a company called ICI Innovations. I am doing a lot of work on our main app which is called ReportViz. It is an app that creates interactive storytelling maps for things like environmental reports.

I am doing work both on the data entry side and doing some work on the styling and CSS of the app.

What would you say to people considering switching their career to tech?

Do it!

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