This Father Changed His Life and Became a Software Engineer for His Family

Dads are stabilizing forces and tellers of bad jokes. They’re also people who want to live better lives and help their families. We’ve seen plenty of dads at Flatiron School who have decided to quit their jobs to pursue a better career and future for themselves and their families. They want to change things for the better— even if it means sacrificing some of that stability.

For Father’s Day, we wanted to highlight one dad who improved his life — and his family's future — through Flatiron School.

Flexibility for the future

Brenden T. was a cameraman with a good salary. But he was traveling a lot for work and missing valuable time with his family. “I traveled nearly 90,000 miles in my first year. I barely saw my wife,” he says.

He soon realized that what he envisioned for his future may not happen if he stayed in this job. “I was going to have to sacrifice some of the time I wanted to spend with my family and I wasn’t willing to do that.”

Brenden thought, at this stage, going back to college could be considered a selfish thing to do. While he put his research on hold and started to look for jobs, he and his wife learned that they were going to be evicted from their home in New Jersey.

They decided, as a family, to move to Denver. His wife was pregnant and there was a lot of uncertainty about the future. While in a hotel room in Minneapolis for work, his mind turned to code. Brenden remembers saying to his wife that their children should learn to code and that it was the future. Since he thought it was that important, he decided to try it himself.

He found a link to our Coding Bootcamp Prep and was hooked. He applied and had great conversations with a member of our admissions team. Brenden appreciated the personal attention and enrolled in our Online Software Engineering program.

Our Online Software Engineering program was designed to be flexible. For Brenden, that ability to learn on his schedule was important as he helped support his family. The flexibility let him be a driver on multiple ride sharing apps. When his child was born, he didn’t code for a week. He could do freelance work, be a driver in the morning, take care of his family, and code later.

A typical day for Brenden looked like:

This schedule helped him earn a salary and help his family while he learned to code. Flatiron School’s flexibility helped him find a way to secure a better future for his family. He’s currently in the job search phase after graduating. He says he’s a happier person and confident that a new career as a software engineer was the right move for his family.

If you're thinking about a new career but are wondering how to fund your bootcamp, read "How to Pay for a Coding Bootcamp."

Disclaimer: The information in this blog is current as of June 14, 2019. Current policies, offerings, procedures, and programs may differ.