From Circus to coding - how Milos turned COVID into an opportunity

At 32 years of age and after 10 years of climbing the ranks in the theatre industry, Milos Dokic from Australia had to start again because of the pandemic.

While many entertainment workers weathered the storm, Milos mustered the discipline to explore his growing interest in programming, enroll in a university course, and get ahead. The university course was fine but when Milos started to look for work he realized he was totally unprepared. There weren't many jobs around C or C++, which he was learning at school, and because Milos hadn't yet graduated, he didn't have any credentials to get in the door.

Around that time, Milos discovered Scrimba and the Front-end Developer career path! He built some exciting front-end projects and developed a stand-out portfolio and LinkedIn page. Along the way, he realized more of his experience was transferrable than he first thought.

Milos joins us to share all the specific details about how he found his job and what the interview process looked like. You will learn more about what to expect and how to succeed yourself!

Links

• Guest
  • Connect with Milos Dokic on LinkedIn
  • Join the Scrimba Discord and message Milos (their username is Samurai#3301)
• Host
  • Follow Alex Booker from Scrimba on Twitter

Timestamps

• Introduction (0:00)
• Milos' journey from Cirque du Soleil  to Junior Developer (00:50)
• When the pandemic hit Cirque du Soleil came to a halt but Milos was determined to turn it around (05:54)
• How Scrimba compared to Milos' experience at university? (09:31)
• Milos' experience buying a CV template from Etsy (10:19)
• Staying focused and on-track even when you experience setbacks (13:28)
• How learning Linux helped Milos feel comfortable with commands and servers (14:48)
• How Milos specifically found this job and what the interview process looked like  (15:49)
• Milos' take-home task and how it went (17:56)
• Changing carers at 32 and after 10 years in theatre (20:42)
• How to stand out among thousands of developers according to Milos (22:42)