Alumni Stories

How Tim Found His Purpose

tim la

tim laTim’s Story

“My name is Tim La. I used to be a Business Development Intern and a Table Tennis Instructor, now I’m a Software Engineer.”

Tim La tried a variety of industries from business development to politics, from social media marketing to table tennis instruction, but still felt like he hadn’t found his purpose. Eventually, Tim found an interest in coding and decided to explore it further. After a few attempts at teaching himself, he began searching for a more structured learning environment. 

“I tried to teach myself programming through different websites,” Tim said. “But I kept losing momentum because, in hindsight, I needed what Kenzie offers: a community that has supported me since my first day of joining Kenzie. I also chose Kenzie because of their remote program and it was the perfect decision because of the COVID lockdown.” 

Tim found a good career match in software engineering. “Nothing gave me fulfillment and happiness like programming does,” Tim said. While a learner at Kenzie, he thoroughly enjoyed getting to learn alongside like-minded learners. 

“Name any person at Kenzie and I am confident I can say at least three amazing and wonderful things about them such as their strengths, their kindness, and their willingness to go the extra mile to succeed for themselves and their families.”

Now, Tim is beginning his next chapter in his first software engineering roles. “Within two months of graduating Kenzie in January, I received three dream opportunities,” Tim shared. 

Tim’s dream opportunities included serving as a Front End Web Developer Intern at SuperWorld and working part-time as a Full Stack Web Development Teaching Assistant at George Washington University. After gaining experience in these roles, Tim landed a full-time Associate Software Engineer position at Infosys. He’ll be relocating to the Indianapolis area in the coming weeks. 

A mantra that kept Tim motivated while completing his coursework at Kenzie is: “It’s not you who’s holding you back. It’s who you think you’re not.” Tim shared some tips for current and prospective learners to find success in the Software Engineering program. For Tim, creating weekly goals, planning ahead, and taking ownership over his job search have been incredibly helpful in his successes in the program and the work world. 

“Programming is new for many Kenzie students, but from meeting and talking to over 100+ Kenzie students this past year, I realized what held them back from excelling and (what was) losing (their) momentum was the self-doubt,” Tim said. “The ‘secret sauce’ in succeeding at Kenzie is staying consistent in believing in yourself. When you have a positive outlook on yourself, you snap out of the mental prison you put yourself in and are reminded about the resources Kenzie has provided you to succeed. These resources include the helpful lesson plans and activities, the tutors and facilitators, the Placement Team’s blueprint on how to do well in the job-hunting process, and the truly wonderful Kenzie staff.” 

Enjoy reading about Tim La’s journey to software engineering? Read more from Kenzie graduates by heading to our alumni stories page


Ready to jumpstart your career as a Coder? Learn more about our Software Engineering program, or check out our free beginner’s coding program Kenzie Free.

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