Kwentong KodeGo Part 2: Featuring Lorie Ann Pascual

The second installment to our Kwentong KodeGo Series, this story is about a musician's journey to healing and getting a second chance through KodeGo's educational and employment support. Meet Lorie:

Lorie Pascual, Web Developer at Aemorph

Before the pandemic, Lorie was a music teacher who was teaching basic piano lessons to children at tutorial centers. She was also a church musician and played at events, mostly at weddings. At the same time, she was studying as a music major at UP Diliman.

In 2017, she was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, which put a halt to her studies. She tried going back to college but her health wasn’t getting any better so she stopped doing music altogether. Just when she finally decided that it was time to get back up again, the pandemic came to crush her dreams.

“Sinubukan ko ulit pumasok sa ganong buhay, yung pagiging musician. Nagsisimula pa lang ulit ako tumayo, then bigla namang nagkaroon ng pandemic. Naguumpisa pa lang ako tapos biglang nawalan na naman ng direksyon dahil hinto lahat ng trabaho.”

Although it seemed like all hope was lost, it didn’t faze Lorie. Instead, what others considered were trying times helped her realize what she needed to do to change her life. She thought, “What if this pandemic lasts for a long time? What will happen to me? I need to find a way to survive and at the same time help my family.”

That was when the universe seemed to give her a sign through a post she found on Facebook about the top 10 careers with a high salary. She saw that most of the jobs mentioned are in the line of technology, which got her thinking, “why don’t I try studying a tech course?”

“Nung pandemic, nakapag-ponder ako kung anong dapat kong gawin dahil naisip ko, pano kung magagal ‘tong pandemic na ‘to? Anong mangyayari sakin? Kailangan kong gawan ng paraan. Nung nakita ko yung post sa Facebook na puro mga nasa linya ng technology, naisip ko, why not kaya i-try kong mag-aral ng ganito? Tutal meron naman na akong laptop at internet. Sabi nga po, start with what you have, so dun ako nag-start.”

One day, Lorie’s churchmate who was also studying at KodeGo at that time sent her a message and encouraged her to join KodeGo’s full-stack web development bootcamp. KodeGo offers various online tech courses such as web development, UX design, and mobile app development that students can complete in as fast as 12 to 16 weeks.

Even though her real passion was music, Lorie was also into technology and enjoyed researching topics like cybersecurity. When her churchmate saw her posts about web development and reached out to her to introduce KodeGo, she took a leap of faith and began her journey to pursuing web development.

Coming from a very different background, one would think that Lorie would have doubts about diving head-first into uncharted waters, but doubt was the furthest thing running through her mind when she decided to take a new direction in her life.

“Wala akong naramdaman na doubt. Ang nasa mindset ko talaga that time, ito na yung pinaka chance ko; pagka sinayang ko, wala nang mangyayari sa buhay ko.”

Web development was Lorie’s last plan. With music, she wasn’t able to reach her dream so she told herself to try and see if maybe web development is what’s really meant for her. After overcoming depression and seemingly hopeless circumstances, Lorie wanted to stand on her own feet again and was determined to “step out of the box” and go through the bootcamp, no matter what it takes.

Twelve weeks of full-time classes went by and Lorie completed the course. From a struggling musician, she transformed into a full-blown web developer. Since she was a career shifter, the bootcamp was no easy feat – but according to Lorie:

“Pagka talagang gusto mo yung isang bagay, di mo maiisip na mahirap ‘yun eh kasi talagang gagawin at gagawin mo kahit gano kahirap. Although mahirap po para sakin na walang background sa IT, naenjoy ko po dahil sa nagtuturo po sa amin noon at sa mga ka-batch ko rin.”

Because KodeGo’s industry-driven curriculum is supported by hands-on teaching from our instructors, peer programming, and real-world projects, KodeGo students become successful developers at the end of every bootcamp.

“Napaka-laking achievement sakin na natapos ko yung bootcamp sa KodeGo,” Lorie said upon remembering what her psychiatrist told her. One of the signs of being bipolar is wanting to do something one minute and then not wanting it the next, so she had the expectation that she might not be able to finish the things she starts. So for Lorie, it was really a great achievement to be able to finish the bootcamp.

“Kung ano man yung sitwasyon ko compared noon, talagang napaka-layo po ng aking narating at na-achieve bilang tao kasi di ko akalain na bigla akong nandito sa career path na to, from music to web development.”

Only two months after the bootcamp, Lorie already got hired through KodeGo’s placement services and is currently working as a web developer at Aemorph. Even though her heart belongs to music, she says she feels grateful and fulfilled that her current career gave her the means to live more comfortably. “Sa career na ‘to talagang secured yung aking pamumuhay at income, unlike sa music na seasonal.”

On a final note, we asked Lorie if there’s anything she would like to thank KodeGo for, and we were moved by how she said that it became a way for her to turn her life around.

“Talagang stepping stone po ang KodeGo sa success ko ngayon. Naging daan talaga siya para mabago yung buhay ko.”

We are proud that with KodeGo, our students do not need a college degree or a lot of money to start a better life. Stories like Lorie’s are the reason why we here at KodeGo continually strive to uplift our fellow Filipinos’ lives through quality education and career assistance.