Before Le Wagon
Jack Culpan was in business development in the UK before joining Le Wagon Bali, and he was building his own company as well as working for a tech start-up. Although he tried learning to code in his first year of university, it didn’t appeal to him at the time because they were teaching C++ and Java, and he couldn’t see how he could use it or how it would help him build a business.
After spending some time in the workforce and working on his business, Jack wanted to learn more about the technical side of the business, even though the product was a mobile payments app, he was strictly helping to develop business and managed a team of 50 campus ambassadors. He applied to an entry-level computer science master’s degree and was even offered a place but along the way, he met people who were building apps and starting their own companies with them. He also spoke with Le Wagon alumni who only had great things to say about the program.
Why Le Wagon Bali
Jack decided that Le Wagon would be perfect for his situation and it would help him decide if he should pursue a master’s degree in computer science. Bali was already somewhere he wanted to visit, and coupled with the enticing low cost of living, it worked out perfectly.
Jack’s experience of Le Wagon
Going into the Bootcamp, he wasn’t sure what to expect but seeing some of the projects that had come out previously, he had a rough idea of what he’d be building. It turned out that the program fit his way of learning impeccably. Since the day starts off with a lecture it was easiest for him to concentrate in the morning.
“I haven’t felt that way anywhere else,” Jack said, “in university and even now, the environment is incredibly different.”
On his final project
He thought about pitching an app that he could possibly use for his business, but he decided he wanted to put forth an idea that would essentially test what he had learned in the Bootcamp. He wanted to utilize APIs, something that piqued his interest and an area he would have liked to gain more experience in. They worked on a discovery platform that helps people find hotspots across a city according to their interests. “What we built was actually really cool and useful for me this past month (when I was TA at Le Wagon) in Berlin,” Jack said.
Le Wagon’s Impact
“I decided halfway through the Bootcamp that I still wanted to pursue a master’s in computer science, but without Le Wagon, I would not be prepared to pursue an advanced degree, he said. In addition to his business ventures, what it comes down to is that he really wants to keep learning, and Le Wagon inspired that. Like many of our alumni, Jack wants to learn different languages and our Bootcamp certainly makes it easier to do so. “I’m currently studying python in my master’s program and its focus is on machine learning and algorithms. It’s cool to take a step further into a more specialized area while keeping the knowledge I’ve gained from Le Wagon,” he said, “for my next course we will actually be writing using ruby!”
Why come back as a TA?
According to Jack, Le Wagon has a chill environment even though both the students and teachers work so hard. “It’s what I look for in a company,” he said, “and it’s very diverse.” He also emphasized the learning style in particular, “is something I had never experienced before.” “I was very motivated and I wanted to be back in that environment,” he said. Like many of our instructors and teaching assistants, one of the motivations for coming back to teach is that Le Wagon alumni inherently want to help. Even a week spent at Le Wagon Berlin was a great experience for him. “Coming back as a TA really tests your understanding of everything you’ve learned in the Bootcamp,” Jack said, “it forced me to understand the concepts and it became even clearer.”
Extended Community
Jack is still amazed at the support he’s received during the Bootcamp and after graduating. “I wouldn’t have gotten the Berlin opportunity without Dirk (Le Wagon Bali Founder),” he said. With our extended network in 35 cities and over 6000 alumni, we find it easy to help our students achieve their goals. In Berlin, “it was cool to see how many people were hired to TA within as almost all of them were Le Wagon alumni and it’s the same for Bali,” Jack said, “It’s quite rare to see that in a company.”
What’s next?
Speaking of Le Wagon’s growing network, many alumni stay connected after graduating and some even continue to work on the apps they built during the Bootcamp and become technical co-founders of a startup. Jack is actively keeping in touch with people from his batch, “there’s a few of us who want to go back to Bali,” he said. It’s somewhere he could definitely see basing himself for awhile once he finishes his degree, where he can work on his company and do some freelancing. “The lifestyle, the place itself is beautiful,” Jack said. It was definitely an effective learning experience, learning how to code in Bali. “When you stop coding you can just stop,” he said. As compared to learning in a city, where the environment is more fast-paced.