Ep 31 - How to Become A Software Engineer with Torrance Evans

On this episode we chat with Torrance Evans, a software engineer at JP Morgan with an unconventional path. He earned a business administration degree on a basketball scholarship and has entrepreneurial experience in real estate, car rentals, and Airbnb. Torrance started coding through self-teaching and later joined a sponsored program covering his tuition. He's actively involved in the community, leading the Atlanta chapter of Black Boys Code, a nonprofit teaching African American boys coding and tech opportunities. Torrance also serves on the board of directors for the Atlanta chapter of Blacks in Technology. He builds community through his email list, sharing weekly networking events in Atlanta for tech professionals seeking career pivots, networking, or employment. RESOURCES Free Code Camp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/ LinkedIn Interviews: https://www.linkedin.com/advice/3/how-do-you-overcome-common-online-interview-challenges Codecademy: https://www.codecademy.com/ Educative: https://www.educative.io/ Microsoft LEAP: https://leap.microsoft.com/en-US/ JP Morgan ETSE: https://careers.jpmorgan.com/global/en/students/programs/emerging-talent-software-engineers-fulltime 𝕏 CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIALS 𝕏 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juwonthetechie/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuwonTheTechie Threads: https://www.threads.net/@juwonthetechie IG: https://www.instagram.com/juwonthetechie/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juwon-io/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juwonthetechie CONNECT WITH TORRANCE LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/torranceevans/ CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 1:55 - Community Work 4:00 - Learning Programming 5:50 - Building Connections 7:50 - Breaking into Tech 10:10 - Picking a Path into Programming 11:55 - Salary Progression 14:30 - Benefits of Joining Communities 17:30 - Learning and Doing 19:40 - Dealing with the Difficulties 23:25 - Combining your Talents 25:12 - Getting More Black People in Tech 30:42 - Resources 34:30 - Knowing When to Apply 41:00 - Learning on Your Own 51:45 - Picking a Good Bootcamp 56:23 - Job Security 59:25 - Certifications 1:04:25 - Final Words 1:05:20 - Conclusion