In a town full of talent, Nashville Software School (NSS) has turned more than a few musicians into software developers. The latest among them: Noah Bartfield. The Berklee College of Music graduate spent years as a songwriter and artist in LA and Nashville. Seeking a new path, he tried out software development and was hooked. “I wanted to find something that required similar creative thought and teamwork. What I found was a new passion.”
NSS EXPERIENCE
Having heard NSS alumni speak positively of the Web Development Bootcamp, Noah said the choice to attend was an easy decision. He and his fellow students in Cohort 34, spent their days learning front-end and back-end development, building applications on tight deadlines in an Agile environment. The road to becoming a software developer is not without obstacles, as Noah quickly learned in bootcamp, but, he said, “that’s exactly what being a software developer is about. Facing problems and figuring out solutions.”
With his curious nature, he said that the best part of his experience was learning something new every day in a community of similarly passionate people.
To those just beginning the Web Development Bootcamp, Noah advised students to recognize that the curriculum is a product of tireless work and planning on the part of NSS instructors and staff. He emphasized the importance of trusting the learning process. In software development, as in music, there’s more than one way to reach the end result.
“Every problem has many solutions. It’s your job to learn, ask questions, and discover new things. Lean into it!”
CAPSTONE PROJECTS
Noah’s background in music underpinned both his front-end and back-end capstone projects. For his front-end capstone, he built Hum, an application similar to popular music recognition app Shazam. Hum allows the user to hum tune of a song, which the app recognizes, returning song lyrics and additional information. The user can enter comments about songs as well as edit or delete any previously saved song. This app was built using React, Google Firebase, and third-party API, AudD. Experience Hum for yourself here.
His back-end capstone, Lyrics First, is a full-stack application made for songwriters. It’s a platform for users to write and collaborate on the lyric writing process, offering such features as rhyming and autocomplete assistance. Noah built Lyrics First using React, C#, .NET Core, SQL Server, Entity Framework, and several third-party API’s.
HIRED!
In scoping out jobs, Noah looked for roles that would allow for growth and learning. He started his new position as a developer just days after graduation and credited referrals from an NSS instructor and alum for success on the job hunt. “I owe my new career entirely to NSS,” he said.
Learn more about Noah and his capstone projects on his podcast or website.
Check out all the recent grads on Web Development Cohort 34's class website and hear the graduates share their journey into development and their experience at NSS in their podcasts below.
