Congratulations to these four Scholars whose incredible stories were voted the most popular by you, their Grow with Google Developer Challenge Scholarship classmates. Thank you for sharing your personal journeys with us!
Click HERE to see all the 18 Student Story finalists.
Sean's story
I've wanted a career in software development my entire life. As a young kid, I planned to attend college for Computer Science. When I was in seventh grade I was in honors for math and science. Unfortunately, it was around this time period that my sister (who was a year old at the time) was diagnosed with stage four cancer and given six months to live.
My sister battled cancer for five years before passing away. During those years, my family and I went through a lot of transitions. We moved to Memphis, seeking treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We lived in the Ronald McDonald house for several months before local families started extended their homes to us. During all of this, my mother decided to homeschool me...
I was homeschooled from eighth grade through my senior year. My mother did a very poor job teaching me, given the circumstances. I discovered that she never properly registered me as a homeschooled student, so I was forced to get a GED. After attaining my GED, I looked into attending college for Computer Science. Because of my GED, I didn’t receive enough tuition assistance to pay for my classes entirely; not to mention the initial struggle I had in classes, as I had the equivalent of a seventh grader IQ. Nevertheless, I pressed on.
I enlisted in the Air Force to help offset the cost of my education. I’ve been in the Air Force nine years now. I've deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, which is the war on ISIS. During my time deployed I built over 600 small diameter bombs that were expended in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Because the Air Force has an annual tuition assistance cap, I could only afford six classes per fiscal year. It took me eight years, but I finally graduated. I finished my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree. I also finished with a 3.98 GPA and Summa Cum Laude, the highest distinction. After finishing my B.S.C.S. degree I still didn’t feel adequately prepared for the software development world. It was at this point I found Udacity. I plan to finish the Android Basics nanodegree and then take the Android Developer nanodegree course. Once I finish both I plan to take the Associate Android Developer Certification Exam and become a certified Google Android developer.
Kris' story
The circumstances that brought me to Udacity are quite numerous, but the main reason was due to my life changing disability. In 2008 while I was attending college for a computer science degree, I succumbed to a rare and debilitating side effect of radiation treatment to the brain, which left with hemiparesis on the left side of my body. After the aforementioned incident, I switched my major to computer information systems for personal reasons and continued my education.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get a job in a related field after graduation and due to my newfound disability, remain unemployed to this day...
I decided to apply for this scholarship because it seemed like a sliver of hope for my future at the time, but I did not have the finances to pay for an opportunity to help further my education. I also have a personal interest in android and software development in general.
This scholarship challenge has helped me in many aspects of my life so far. While it hasn't helped me with any job opportunities (yet), it has given me tons of motivation and hope for my future.
Since receiving the challenge scholarship, I have uploaded some of my old college programs to GitHub, created a LinkedIn profile, joined the Stack Overflow user forums, became interested in learning a new programming language and have checked out some of Udacity's other courses.
Sarah's story
After growing up in a poor inner city community, I became the first person in my family to graduate college. I did so at age 35 and while it was a very rewarding experience I have been unable to find a job.
For years I have been encouraging my children to get into coding; they play coding games, have tried out different languages and my son is even trying to build his own video game. One day we were talking and my son asked me why I wasn’t coding as well. It had always been a dream of mine to be a programmer, but for a variety of reasons I was never able to pursue it. His encouraging words gave me the push I needed to give it a go...
I began teaching myself HTML, CSS and Python. The immediate joy that coding brings is something I have never felt before. It is so rewarding and fun! Last fall I saw a notice about a scholarship opportunity with Google and Udacity. I immediately applied and after waiting for what felt like ages, I was accepted.
This scholarship opportunity has helped me in more ways than I can list in this form. It has given me a great set of tools that I will use for the rest of my life. It has connected me to an incredible group of people who have encouraged me all along the way. It has modeled to my kids to listen to the voice inside and to pursue their dreams even if life makes it seem impossible. It is taught me that my mind is still capable of learning. It has given me hope that I will be able to work again.
Jannaee's story
My husband and I decided to start our family soon after I made my career transition from Web/UI/UX designer to Front-end developer. I soon left my job to relocate and establish roots in Raleigh. I don't regret taking a pause in my career because unbeknownst to us, we were in for a very difficult pregnancy and rocky start as new parents. Now that my son is 2 years old and stable, I'm looking to get back into the workforce as the most knowledgeable version of me...
I don't just identify as a mother, but also as an artist, a developer, a creator and hacker of things. I became so wrapped up in motherhood that the other parts of me were neglected. I yearn to get back into the tech/art world. So I started to relearn and explore current trends in both UX and web development. Most of my brushing up happened in online bootcamps. I can attest that as a stay at home mom, online schooling is probably the best way to continue education and take care of a child and home.
I serendipitously came across an article about the GWG/Udacity 2018 scholarship. When I decided to apply, I explained wholeheartedly that I need to become a better and stronger programmer. Of course, I don't want to only secure a meaningful job, but I want to become a strong female role model for my son. I want him to see that despite the adversity that I may face as a woman and mother in a fast-paced industry, I can overcome these obstacles to achieve happiness and fulfillment in my career. I want him to see that when you put in the work and empower yourself with knowledge that you can achieve both a happy/balanced work and family life.
This course has been beneficial to me because it encourages me to find a balance between my family and studying life. But most importantly, it has helped me to make friends who have the same interests as me in a city that I am relatively still new to. A small group of us meet weekly online and in coffee shops to hack away at a side project that we are building alongside the Udacity course. Before this course, I often feared that I had taken off too much time from development and that I was no longer a viable candidate to any company. However, after doing a few bootcamps along with the Udacity coursework I feel as though I am up to speed enough that I could start interviewing for jobs shortly. And not only has the coursework improve my coding skills, but the moral support that I've received from Udacity's online community has been invaluable to restoring my confidence and desire to continue down the path of becoming a solid web/ux/developer. Udacity has been the confidence booster that I didn't know I needed!
Congratulations to all our Student Story winners!