How coding brought Enes from Ankara to Berlin

Suat Enes felt lucky to be able to study computer sciences at Bilkent University in Ankara with a full scholarship. He completed his studies in six years while working in web development and digital marketing to help his family's business.

"I actually started working before graduating. The pandemic happened at that time, and I had to help my family's business since computer science was my field. So I started building websites for them."

But as Turkey's economy started deteriorating after the pandemic, he had growing concerns about his job prospects if he stayed in Turkey.

"The economic situation of Turkey after the pandemic started going bad. I actually have a friend who suggested that I should look for jobs outside of Turkey. I kind of did some research on where the job opportunities are, and Berlin seemed to me like the new European Silicon Valley."

Enes started checking out open roles in Berlin, understanding that it was an up-and-coming tech hub. Scrolling through job descriptions, Enes discovered that to get a job there, he'd need to learn React.

"I looked at job descriptions and saw that I lacked the skills and modern technologies they use. That's how I actually met with React Bootcamp organized by Re:Coded."

Preparing himself for the real world

Enes was accepted to Re:Coded's React Bootcamp on his second attempt. And thankfully, he found not just theoretical knowledge but practical skills that would prepare him for a job in the global digital economy.

Enes benefitted from using Figma for prototyping, Slack for communication, React as a library, and English as a working language— all skills he'd need to succeed in an international team.

On the hunt

Once Enes finished the bootcamp, he threw himself into the job hunt. He added all his projects to GitHub and spent time developing new projects, all to showcase his new skills to potential employers.

But, as he expected, the low salaries of junior developers in Turkey were a real concern. So Enes had to reevaluate his approach.

Testing the waters

With the help of his friend, Enes managed to arrange a 3-week trip to Berlin to get familiar with the German market.

For Enes, this had some obvious benefits to the interviewing process, "When you are in the city you want to work in, you can say, 'I am around if you want a quick interview. I am happy to stop by your office for a coffee.' It shows confidence to recruiters."

Additionally, the ease of face-to-face interaction allows companies to get to know you as a candidate better.

The visit also has some practical benefits too Enes shared, "If you want to relocate even in the same country, I would suggest going to the city first, and you know, feel more confident about going there."

Landing the job

Pliant, a fintech startup based in Berlin, found him on LinkedIn as they were looking for someone with the skills he had listed on his page. The interviewing process lasted three weeks, at the end of which he got an offer he negotiated.

"At the end, I was quite happy that it's a fintech. It's a completely English-speaking and young company, and they were using the tech stack I was taught during the bootcamp and some other technologies I was interested in learning."

Pliant employed Enes in July after two months of graduation on a remote contract, after which he will be relocating to Berlin.

Enes felt that he wouldn't have been able to get here without the bootcamp: "This experience clearly changed the path of my life. I have a life now that I never dreamt of."

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