Dawid Cedrych

Treehouse showed me that learning tough things could be really fun. It gave me the opportunity to grasp really difficult knowledge and turn it into applicable skills for my career.

What first drew you to the web industry?

In 2004, I co-created scientist.pl with my classmates, which became the biggest Polish forum about general science. However, we were too young at the time to spot the opportunity, so instead of working hard to develop the forum further, we let it get away from us and it fell through. Fast forward 10 years and I figured that with a more mature approach I could make a good career in the web industry.

What work were you doing when you first joined Treehouse & what encouraged you to learn with us?

I graduated from the Silesian University of Technology and started my first full-time job in one of the world’s largest rail equipment manufacturing and services corporations. There, I worked as a junior Java developer. However, I quickly realized that the position didn’t suit me. Developing heavyweight enterprise software was a bit dull and I couldn’t see my future there. I read a lot about startups and young people who came up with cool ideas and turned them into valuable products. At that moment, I realized that this is exactly what I wanted to do. I had some previous experience with MOOC, but the knowledge I’d obtained was rather academic and hard to apply to real problems. Then Treehouse was recommended to me on Quora, where I was told that you could learn web development and modern technologies in the blink of an eye. I signed up, started watching… and here I am. :)

Tell us a little bit about Codepany, how your career has evolved since learning with Treehouse and the work you're doing now.

After several months spent on Treehouse, I quit my job and start running a small company with my two friends, who were also Treehouse students. We felt confident enough to challenge ourselves and start a business together. As luck would have it, we managed to pick up some projects, and soon we could actually afford to do what we wanted to do. Today, we can’t complain about our business and we’ve been working hard on both developing for our customers and creating our own products. You can meet us at Codepany.

What has the value of a Treehouse education meant to you?

Treehouse showed me that learning tough things could be really fun. It gave me the opportunity to grasp really difficult knowledge and turn it into applicable skills for my career.

What are your plans for the future, and what’s up next on your learning path?

My plan for the future is to keep pushing Codepany forward. I guess almost everybody in the web industry share this same dream: To create their own product and spread it all around the world. I wish that one-day people would talk about our latest release and how it's changing the web industry for the better. As to my specific learning path, I would like to dive deeper into lightweight backends such as node.js and keep improving my iOS development skills.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with new students who are aspiring web designers and developers?

Yes! Online courses, MOOC’s are the great way to start learning certain fields of knowledge. However, nothing will bring you better results than dealing with it on your own: Write your own code, deal with tough issues, search the web for solutions & keep asking questions. And the most important thing to remember, be patient, but never be afraid to challenge yourself.