Student profile : Damien Belaud, from hotel management to visual programming

After an initial career in the hotel industry in Asia and the USA, Damien joined the fifth class of theAlegria.academy. After several self-taught projects, including an e-commerce site. Damien began his professional reconversion thanks to Nocode.

Background

Damien, 27, studied hotel management and worked in Thailand and China. He was particularly attracted by the Asian approach to customer service, which differs from the French approach. After Asia, he will continue his hotel management studies as part of his MBA in Los Angeles in 2020, a strategic choice as it will give him the chance to improve his English.

Why did you turn to Nocode and Alegria.academy?

It was in the USA that he discovered Nocode and started his first project with his brother. He developed his first e-commerce site with Shopify and managed the import of Asian leather goods. In 2021, when he returned to France, he created websites for his family and friends using Wordpress and Wix. In his day-to-day work, he realizes that he's always coming up with new ideas to optimize check-in and check-out management, for example. Damien explains, "I became interested in traditional development and attendedThe HackingProject bootcamp, where I discovered HTML and CSS. He sees in Nocode the possibility of realizing his ideas more quickly than in traditional development.

"What attracted me most to the Alegria.academy training program was the fact that I would be trained in the major Nocode tools, whether in automation or visual programming," explains Damien. Although the decision to "go back to school" was not an easy one, he has no regrets.

What are your impressions of the first 3 months of training?

In addition to getting to grips with the main Nocode tools, Damien is really satisfied with the teaching methods and has two main points in mind: 

• The training is accessible to "non-tech" profiles, thanks to courses in HTML, CSS, Js and algorithmic logic given right from the start of the bootcamp, so that everyone has the same basic understanding of how Nocode tools work.
• The fact that you come out of the bootcamp not just with a global vision of digital project management, thanks to the various related modules (design, organization, etc.), but with the basic skills needed to do it yourself.

During his first 3 months of training, Damien fell in love with Bubble. This Nocode tool makes it possible to manage a project from A to Z, encompassing both database management and design. This confirmed his choice for the Visual Programming specialization. 

How is your internship going?

Damien began his work-study program last June at the Nocode Turnk agency in Bordeaux as a Product Builder specializing in the Bubble tool. As soon as he arrived, he was able to get to grips with the various projects already underway at the agency. What he likes best about working in an agency is the variety of projects. "I can also work on real estate and hotel projects. At the moment, I'm working on 4 Bubble projects" illustrates Damien.

Can you tell us about a project you've been working on?

The project Damien is currently working on is aimed at developing a simulator dedicated to calculating carbon emissions. He is carrying out this project using the Bubble platform, and in collaboration with 3 other people. In this team, one person is in charge of UI and UX, a second person is in charge of designing the Conceptual Data Model (CDM), and a third person is responsible for optimizing the simulator's workflows. Damien is thriving in this project: "I'm exploring the different facets of application design and development, and this gradual rise in skills stimulates me enormously." Using the Bubble platform, he has to establish a link between the application and the company's customer-specific algorithm, using an API, while ensuring data sharing with the Sales team via HubSpot.

What next?

Damien is delighted to have discovered the Nocode sphere and will continue to work in this field because he enjoys it. Working in an agency allows him to blossom, and the diversity of projects is a plus for him. For the time being, he sees himself staying with the Turnk agency, but it's not impossible that in a few years he'll become a freelancer.