Jon Farrell

I've always dabbled in technology - my Dad has always worked in technology and as far as I can remember I've been building computers for fun. By the time I finished school, I knew I wanted to do technology and I enrolled in a tech degree.

I spent my first semester working super hard and getting really poor results. The traditional style of teaching couldn't get me to a point where I could visualise how to fix a problem and then design or code the solution. Although I had a strong background of computer literacy, I was a terrible programmer and a rookie designer.

I got set up with Treehouse in December of 2011. Since then, I've spent a lot of my time learning how to code from the most simple HTML & CSS through to JavaScript, PHP and iOS. The better I got, the more problems I found myself solving. Treehouse offered me a real entry level style of teaching that allowed me to break into design and development and pursue it all the way up from not really having any knowledge at all, and get me to a point where I now have my own client base.

As well as allowing me to build out sites for my own clients, I now also work as a Digital Marketing Executive. I've had the pleasure of offering my insight to a marketing team to build a fresh and up to date digital marketing strategy. The scope for this starts at basic marketing channels like email marketing and goes all the way up to offering my knowledge of user experience design and front end development.

Design and development is a unique career because really all you need to get started is a computer and some knowledge. I am so thankful that Treehouse has allowed me to get started and follow something that I'm truly passionate about.

Within my company, I've started to teach my colleagues through a weekly program. We use Treehouse to go through a new lesson and then spend some time building an internal project. Treehouse has an easy to swallow curriculum that makes some of the most complicated lessons easy to digest and as satisfying as that is to see personally, it's ever more satisfying to observe others learning about technology.

Design and development is a unique career because all you really need to get started is a computer and some knowledge. I am so thankful that Treehouse has allowed me to get started and follow something that I'm truly passionate about. I've been fortunate enough to start a business as well as work within a big company. Without the skills that I've learned and continue to learn through Treehouse, I wouldn't be able to talk to clients with the confidence that I can build most of the things they request or go into an interview and showcase everything that I can do.

It's been an interesting ride so far, but one thing I've noticed is the enormous need for designers and developers across the board. Treehouse can get people started in this wonderful industry and take them all the way up to being professionally qualified.