David Thomas

Get to know David Thomas

What are you looking for in your next role?

As I'll be starting in a new career that I'm very excited for, I'll be looking for a role that will help acquaint me to a new industry as well as providing opportunities for growth, advancement, and eventually for team leadership and senior management.

Why did you decide to change career and/or educational paths? What was your prior path and how did you end up down that road initially?

Life events (including COVID) had thrown my life off-balance for a number of years. I took a job in Events to be able to come back to Boston from Virginia, but I knew from the start it wouldn't be long-term. I decided to sign up for Launch after a few of my friends (who had graduated from the program) recommended it to me, and I also determined it'd be a good way to try a new career while still incorporating elements from previous jobs in data analysis. I worked in data analysis for a number of years after college, with my degree in Biology/Astrophysics landing me in the New England Fisheries industry at first. I learned base SQL and ArcGIS skills there, and I'm thankful that I was able to establish that base for my new path in software development! I'm looking forward to being able to incorporate my previous knowledge alongside the new skills I've learned, and to apply them in an exciting field that finally feels like the right fit for me!

Where have you been involved in the tech community (events attended, volunteer activities, etc.)?

I'm very interested in mentorship opportunities, and am particularly interested in working on open source projects.

What has been the most fulfilling aspect of your journey towards becoming a web developer? What's been your biggest challenge and how have you overcome it?

The most fulfilling aspect has been feeling like JavaScript was no longer a foreign language. It was like I had been plopped down in another country and I spent the first few weeks fumbling how to get around, and then all of a sudden I had a base understanding of the language and could communicate with the locals. My biggest technical challenge has certainly been grasping basic JavaScript logic and syntax, and through practice with whiteboarding and technical questions I have learned how to break it down and understand each individual part.

If you had an unlimited budget and resources, what would you build?

If I had an unlimited budget and resources - I would absolutely love to create a "social media network" of sorts for those in recovery from addiction. While services like BetterHelp exist to connect people to therapists, I think that a peer support group is an absolutely invaluable resource for people in recovery. While support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous exist, more often than not they are not "up to the curve" technologically-speaking, and meetings can be pretty hard to find for most. The service I would build would be an easy way to connect people to like-minded people in recovery in their area, and allow them to seamlessly start up support groups for meeting in person or virtually through the app.