The Platzi community

So, I knew @platzi was all about the community.

And after almost two years with the platform, a couple of challenges, a ton of meetups and now that I am in the @PlatziMaster community, I think I can paint you a good picture of what you'll find with them by your side.

If you've heard of Platzi, of its platform and the community around it, you probably know it's huge!

And there are tons of reviews out there, whether it is about a certain professor, a specific course or just a quick tweet that hopes to tell you whether Platzi is for you or not.

But the "part" I want to talk about is the community around every step of the journey that I've had with Platzi.

And I say "part" in quotation marks because it gathers every single person that is Platzi, whether they are teachers, team members, guests at a workshop, or users.

I'm not gonna lie, I was scared at first because of the decision I was taking with Platzi; changing my career after being fired because of the pandemic, going back to my parents house, and not having a personal computer anymore.

Still I used my dad's computer whenever I could, I installed my IDE, everything I needed to get on track, and for a couple months I was doing what I wanted and feeling confident about it!

Then I guess I got tired of being isolated and just stopped.

And that's how I ended last year.

But still, I wanted to become a developer.

It was about the beginning of this year that I hardly knew the fundamentals of web development.

Eventually I met Platzi Master, they were receiving applications, so I got mine, filmed me introducing myself, took the English test, and when it got to the technical tests I got scared I couldn't do what they were asking for, so I didn't do it.

I was mad about it, because I just missed a great opportunity for not knowing what to do.

So when a JavaScript challenge was about to happen I knew it was for me.

This is where everything became clearer.

The courses were amazing and the teachers as well, but what really stuck with me from those live classes, was the moment @fjuandc told us how we could never tell someone that they were not made for learning something.

Nobody has that power over us.

It was great to hear it because I had been telling that same thing over and over to myself.

And the fact that someone with much more knowledge in the topic than any of us in that class was telling us that, felt like it was also addressed for that part in me.

So I kept on going with the challenge and eventually the famous Platzi Master email came to my inbox inviting me to apply for the next Cohort!

I was thrilled because I hadn't forgotten what happened a couple months ago, and so I got selected!

It was overwhelming to be part of this program, and I started to feel the impostor syndrome already growing in me.

But they were also so supportive, and made me feel like I was in the right place, from the very beginning and sent me some resources to get even better.

My Professional Growth Expert told me it was great to be be centered and know what I was still missing but to also never underestimate what I was worth.

My Student Team Lead helped me with new ways to look at things I already knew and helped me to learn the ones I didn't.

My English teacher truly cared about my story and we shared some common likes on books.

But the cherry on top of it all was today when a management workshop that talked about empathy, shared a story about how important it can be, gave us a summary of a great book about it, and when I shared a story from my past job that still stung, she listened and gave me some great advice and the support I needed It even made me wish to one day work with her team more than anything in the world.

She's truly a great leader and human being!

And it made me think, of how people within the Platzi community helps each other in one way or another.

Just from today, I could take more than five people that made me feel more confident, comfortable and happy even when I still had to deal with something from my past, this everlasting imposter syndrome and a ton of work to get our first prototype of the project!

I worked today with two members of my squad from Colombia and they are far better than me at web development, but still worked with me like I was at the same level! Even offered their help for what's yet to come.

And to finish the day, I got in a breakout room with a dev from Venezuela, where we talked about self-sabotage and what stopped us from achieving something we really wanted.

And he went the extra mile and sent me some resources to get better at as a frontend dev.

But that's not it!

I thought of how I've kept on learning and every single time, there has been someone there that's somehow connected to Platzi.Remember when I thought of changing my career? It was a blogpost written by a student at Platzi that had done the same thing!

Remember when I was doing great and learning at the end of the past year? I just had joined a Python-from-scratch challenge and their Telegram group!

When I eventually bought my own laptop with my savings even though I was unemployed, it was after a Platzi Live that talked about its processor!

When my girlfriend got excited learning about photography, we were doing a challenge about it!

That eventually turned into her brothers purchasing their own subscription and got us talking about courses!

My mom listening to @freddier on Thursdays afternoons and eventually getting her subscription to finally learn English and improve her soft skills!

The endless blogposts that always share a story, some tips, the latest technology, the best practices!

And my notes that have always been feeded with all the help, recommendations and resources of the forum section of every course I've taken!

It's amazing how a community is so well developed around Platzi, that one day I joined and now I'm all the way into it.

I think that's best part. I didn't even noticed when I joined, but can always tell they'll be there to help.

I can't thank you enough for how you helped me.