PineBaatars: Erdenedari.Ch "If you don't try it yourself, you'll just imagine careers in a traditional way, so first, try it out."

When I was choosing my major in 11th grade, I asked my older sister's friend, who works as a Software Engineer at eBay in the US, for advice. She said, "If you don't try it yourself, you'll just imagine careers in a traditional way, so first, try it out." So when I first tried writing code, I felt the same exciting sensation I get when solving a math problem and getting the answer – that was the feeling I had when coding. I realized this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life and chose my major.

When I had just entered university, in September, I asked my sister's friend for advice again. She introduced me to Pinecone Academy and said, "If you study here, you'll become more skilled than if you just studied at university. Go and check it out yourself." When I visited Pinecone, it seemed like it was giving me a huge advantage. Because if you think about it, in university, it takes 4 years until you can start working, but at Pinecone, it takes only 8 months to get into a job. I felt like I was gaining 3 years.

I had a huge fear of not getting a job. My graduation was supposed to be in June, but I sent my resume to 5 companies two months before that and went for interviews. To my surprise, I got job offers from all 5 companies. Now, I am working as a Software Engineer at ECM Billing Center. In the tech industry, it's not so much about whether you have a degree or not, what's more important is whether you can do the job and achieve the desired results. Also, the flexible hours in the tech industry provide me with a great opportunity to develop myself in many ways.

When I was at Pinecone, the atmosphere in the class was great, and on top of that, the teachers really cared about making sure none of us were left behind. They all tried hard to teach everyone, and I think that created a lovely community of people who cared for each other.

When coding, it's important to have the ability to think systematically and organize your thoughts. It doesn't matter whether you are good at solving math problems or not. The most important thing is that you come in with the mindset of learning that methodical way of thinking from the teachers. If you are eager to learn, I believe anyone can succeed.