What We Have Done | 
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan
“Find yourself a good mentor and this will save you from a lot of painful experiences during your learning journey. Persistence, focus and continuous leaning are also very important.”
Name: Nick Liou
Hometown: Segamat, Johor
More about Nick:
- Graduated from Asia Pacific University in Information Technology, specialising in Forensic Computing
- Interned in BDO as a penetration tester. Also has experience as a junior iOS developer in a startup
- Learnt the fundamentals of coding back in university, as well as from seniors in previous workplaces but was never exposed to any web application development
How did you hear about the Web Development Bootcamp?
From our Master Teng (Josh Teng). I saw his post on Facebook looking for apprentices to test out a nine-week program to learn how to code. Unfortunately, the program was occupied. I later saw the bootcamp as an alternative and felt that I should give it a try.
What made you apply for it? Is there a story behind this?
Even though I graduated from university with a specialisation in Information Technology, my undergraduate studies did not expose me to how to build a web application from scratch. I struggled with finding the most reliable resource on good coding practices, which tutorials to follow and so on. Besides that, I am not the kind of person who is capable of learning things on my own. I know that being disciplined, focused and consistent are not my strengths, but once I found out that I was accepted to the bootcamp, I was very excited and set my goals to nail it.
What are your thoughts on the Web Development Bootcamp?
It’s the best among all the extra courses I have joined in my attempt to learn coding. Prior to this bootcamp, I had taken four to five professional courses during my time in university. But all the training sessions I went were part-time courses, and they were rather heavy on theory and lacked hands-on, practical experience.I think that NEXT Academy’s curriculum was extremely effective in training me to be a web developer. After completing the bootcamp, I have gained more confidence in developing web applications all on my own. And because I now know what I am capable of building, I have gotten more passionate about coding.
What were some of the most challenging parts of the bootcamp? And how did you overcome them?
The hardest part of the bootcamp was the questions/challenges I had to solve. Luckily, I had a bunch of classmates and mentors who were willing to guide and teach me patiently. I learnt to be daring to ask and seek help, because whenever I was stuck at a problem, seeking advices from my classmates was eye-opening. It’s amazing to see how different people have different thought processes, and how they approach the problems from different angles. There’s no a single correct answer in programming.
What advice would you like to give to future participants of the bootcamp?
You need to do all of the preparation work that is sent to you by Master Teng before the course starts. This is super important and will make your life much easier.
What do you intend to be doing in the next three years?
I want to keep coding and become a digital nomad. I want to meet different awesome people from different countries.
Any words of wisdom?“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordon.
At NEXT Academy, our students come from all walks of life. This is the reason why we strive as a community – we learn from one another and are all united with the desire to do better and have a common goal of wanting to make an impact on society whilst growing ourselves especially in our career and in our personal lives. Nick graduated from our October 2014 intake.
