Narek Hakobyan

Hello, my name is Narek Hakobyan. I am a beginner full-stack web developer. I have a Neuroscience degree from the University of Toronto and previous job experience as a legal assistant, and I am now pursuing a career as a web developer. The reason I did not pursue a career in science after I graduated from the University of Toronto is that I realized from working as a research assistant that gaining knowledge of science was more exciting than actually applying it. After graduating, I decided to change my career path. Therefore, when I was given the opportunity to work in the legal field as a legal assistant, I gave it a try, even though it was out of my comfort zone. It was exciting to see the inner workings of corporations and work with lawyers / CEOs, but the excitement dulled as the mundane paperwork piled high. I did not feel like I was enjoying the process of working as a legal assistant. 

After I brought up these concerns with my older brother, who is a web developer, he recommended that I try web development as a career path. He told me that working as a web developer has been a rewarding career path that stimulates a creative spark within him. He also introduced me to CareerFoundry's full-stack development course so that I could get started. I was skeptical at first, but getting to learn web development and make applications as part of the CareerFoundry boot camp ignited a passion within me that grows as I learn more about web development. Additionally, I realized that my previous experiences in both fields of law and science taught me skills like detail orientation, problem-solving, and organization, which made the transfer to web development quite easy.

Legal Assistant

Solutions Corporate Law Clerk Services Inc. 

-Worked in a fast-paced office, taking on multiple corporate filings, extra-provincial registration, invoicing, large document organization, and other tasks.
-Communicated professionally with law firms, directors, and other clients to provide them with a personalized service resulting in great feedback on my work.
-Used to-do lists, notifications, and notebooks to organize and time manage every activity to make sure no tasks were left undone which is very important in time-sensitive matters like corporate filings.

Research Assistant

Genomadix

- Created Agar plates for Legionella growth in the Biosafety level 2 laboratory by following all the safety procedures, including the aseptic technique for managing Legionella cell culture
- Used microbiology techniques to grow bacteria and run qPCRs to quantify the bacteria growth, generated and stored data to be further qualified, and reported the results to my supervisor 
- Carried out the cleaning and disassembling procedures in Spartan Bioscience for all the lab areas

CareerFoundry

Full Stack Web Development Jun 2023 - Dec 2023

- Intense project-based training program focused on Javascript, HTML, CSS, and most prominent libraries, frameworks, and tools.
- 500+ hours of hands-on training with the guidance of an industry-leading tutor and mentor.