He did the bootcamp, tried a dev internship, then found the role that fit

A degree, a break, and a cold job market

Dickson graduated from Sunway with an IT degree focused on cybersecurity and computer networking — a technical background, but not a coding one. "I only learned very basic coding back then," he says. A university internship as a network engineer put him off that path: the overtime and 24/7 standby meant no work-life balance.

Cybersecurity didn't fit either. The barrier to entry was high — certificates, hackathons, constant self-improvement — and though he had some offers, it wasn't a field he wanted to go deeper into. After graduating he took a break, and then reality hit. The job market was competitive, it was the end of the year, and few companies were hiring. Rather than sit around, he decided to fix the skill he lacked: coding.

A breakfast conversation

The decision to join Sigmaschool wasn't a long deliberation. "It's actually quite spontaneous, to be honest," he says. Over breakfast he told his mum that since he wasn't doing anything and companies weren't hiring, he might as well do a bootcamp. She said go ahead.

The money-back guarantee removed the worry about the fee. His mindset covered the worst case too: even if he never used the skills in a job, he'd still have learned something.

“Sometimes taking that first step is really important, because the effect will snowball. Back then, just one day, I decided to try something new. And now I'm here.”

Don't fall behind

His background gave him an early edge. The first module, JavaScript basics, was mostly revision from his degree. But as the course moved into more specific frameworks, things got foreign, and he had to lock in.

Most of his batch studied online, with a structured schedule and an instructor keeping everyone on time. "If you follow the instructions and do what you're supposed to do, I feel like anyone can do this," he says. "Just don't fall behind. You have to commit to it. You have to be a bit disciplined." His final project — building a complete website — stretched him, but he found it genuinely interesting.

Three months as a front-end intern

His batch ended just before Chinese New Year, so he took February off and started hunting in March. He studied frameworks he kept seeing in job descriptions, built small projects, and applied everywhere — LinkedIn, JobStreet, career fairs. "A lot of applying, a lot of interviews, a lot of rejections. That's just the reality."

After two to three months he landed a front-end developer internship, and the relief was real — watching friends land jobs while he searched had made him feel he was falling behind. The company used Next.js rather than the React and Vite setup he'd learned, but his React foundation made the switch manageable. He built reusable components under real deadlines, with a senior guiding him.

Towards the end of the three months, he realised full-time development wasn't for him. Staring at a screen all day exhausted him, and the isolation wore him down. "The main thing I didn't enjoy about coding was the lack of human interaction."

Finding the analyst path

During the internship, his project manager worked much like a business analyst — talking to clients, translating what they wanted into tasks for the developers. That caught his interest. As an introvert he'd never wanted a client-facing role, but when he studied the job properly, it wasn't sales. It was being the facilitator between clients and the technical team.

He applied for both developer and analyst roles, and kept getting rejected — until he looked hard at his CV and saw it was too general. "This is one of the skills I realised too late. The resume is very important." He rewrote it around his transferable skills: analytical thinking, logical thinking, and enough technical knowledge to judge what's doable.

The change worked fast. With the new CV, the whole process took about two weeks: two interview stages, then the offer from Stampede Solution.

Just do it first

Nearly two months in, the role fits. Stampede Solution's product focuses on debt collection, so client meetings come loaded with finance jargon he's still learning, and taking meeting minutes makes him nervous. But his colleagues are friendly and he enjoys the work. When clients ask for UI customisations, his bootcamp training lets him judge whether a request is doable — or whether he should tell them it isn't worth the money.

He's made peace with the winding route. "Sometimes making the right choice is the most important thing, no matter how much time it takes." His advice to anyone on the fence about the switch is simple: "Even if you're not sure, just do it first."