Student Spotlight: Marta Fonda, IronHack

Marta Fonda needed to improve her web development skills in order to compete for jobs at her dream companies, so she enrolled in IronHack, an 8-week intensive programming course for developers and entrepreneurs. We talk to Marta about how she succeeded in the class and got a job as a front-end engineer at floqq.com!

What were you up to before deciding to enroll in IronHack? Did you have a technical background before applying? 

When I decided to enroll in IronHack I had just finished my degrees in Software Engineering and Business Administration. When I finished my studies I realized that my background in mobile and web development was not enough, so I was looking for an opportunity in a company that would bet on me.  
I'm a very motivated person and, in fact, I interviewed with companies like Google and IBM but I did not have enough experience. It was around that time that I found Ironhack bootcamp and I decided to try it.

I had technical background as a software engineer but most of my experience programming was based on languages such C, Java or SQL. I needed to improve my skills in order to become a better developer.

Was IronHack the only bootcamp you applied to? What about IronHack convinced you to go there?

This was the only bootcamp I applied to and the main reason was that they were looking for people like me. Motivated people who had the drive to become a great professional and were only lacking the opportunity to show their potential. They train people in modern languages like Ruby. 
This was not only an awesome opportunity to learn Rails, but also to be in an environment that is difficult to find in other places. I was learning from the very best professionals and from an incredibly talented group of students.

Can you talk about a time when you got stuck in the class and how you pushed through?

IronHack is an intensive bootcamp, you must be sure that you are able to push through any problem you have and my classmates were an important point to lean on. On one of my very first days at IronHack I was having trouble understanding one of the concepts that we were covering and it was through teamwork with my other classmates that we were all able to understand it.

My classmates were as motivated as me so it was easy to find people to continue programming on weekends or after the class. It was great for me.

What were your classmates and instructors like?  

In this bootcamp I was surrounded by the very best professionals from all over the country, so I can only say that it was a pleasure to convert their knowledge into mine. Being able to share this experience with my classmates was awesome. If I could have the opportunity to do another Ironhack bootcamp it would be amazing. They are the fastest two months I've ever lived.  

Tell us about your final project! What does it do, what technologies did you use, how long did it take, etc? 

Well, my final project was about a travel application. With this web application you were able to save, organize and share all your trip information. This project was developed in two weeks and in order to achieve all the features that I wanted to include on it, I used Rails. As I wanted to demonstrate all the things that I had learned in IronHack, I decided to include Responsive Web Design (using CSS3) and JavaScript, jQuery and HTML5 functionalities like geolocalization or web storage to improve the user experience.

At the end of those two weeks I had a huge frontend project, which was more than I'd ever expected. Thanks to my hard work and efforts in this project I was one of the finalists in the Hackshow (the IronHack final show where the finalists can show what they have made in two weeks) and I could show my project to more than a hundred people.

What are you working on now? Do you have a job as a developer? What does it entail?

Thanks to the Hackshow two days after the end of IronHack I was working at Floqq.com, the biggest online education marketplace in spanish all over the world. Nowadays, I'm frontend developer and product manager at Floqq.com and I'm working doing what I love to do.
IronHack gave me the opportunity that other companies didn't give me. I had no experience and nobody wanted to hire me and now I'm still learning and improving my skills in the best place I could ever find.

Would you have been able to learn what you now know without IronHack? 

It would be impossible to learn what I've learned in IronHack in two months on my own. But it's not only about the development skills that I've improved in those two months, it´s also about the personal skills that I´ve been able to develop and the opportunity to meet the best IT professionals from all around Spain. IronHack was just a 180º experience that changed my whole life, and that allowed me to do what I believe I was born to do.

Want to learn more about IronHack? Check out their School Page on Course Report or their website here.