A Journey through Life
Making a Career Choice
Learning to walk
Choosing what you want to do in life can be incredibly overwhelming no matter where in life we may be. In our youth, everyone says to us “do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” So, what to do? They are adults so of course they know better than us! Now I am not saying they are totally wrong. Of course, we must do something we love if we are going to do it for the rest of our lives. But what all have we done in our limited time on earth at that age? How can we know what it is we love when we have only done a fraction of what is possible? Not only that but most adults do not tell teenagers what kind of income is necessary to live the type of life they aspire to live. I personally love cars, so I decided early in the 8th grade that I was going to be an automotive technician. After high school graduation I attended a trade school and off I went with my career. While it was good to me, I realized that I was unable to live the life that I aspired to live. The older I got the more I started to realize that there were things out there outside of the things I liked as an 8th grader. I started to see the importance of not just what I liked to do but of what I needed.
Adapting
I knew I liked solving problems and realized the technology in automotive was ever growing. This is when I started to investigate careers in the technology sector. Finally, when I was 26 -armed with my newfound knowledge of what I need in my life- I did real research and came across software engineering. Software engineering is solving problem after problem. It sounded like what I was already doing. Amongst some of the differences were that I would be able to stay indoors away from rain, heat, cold, etc., and that I would access my tools through a keyboard rather than a toolbox. Not just that but it is in a field that will most likely never go away. In the automotive industry, there are already fully electric vehicles, and more companies are following suit. The internet is not likely to be replaced as easily as the internal combustion engine. All of these are positives to me. After sifting through hours of YouTube videos to see if this is what I wanted I started looking into what I needed to do to acquire the knowledge to be successful in my new career.
Taking a Chance
There are different paths to take to become a software engineer. I originally chose to get a degree at my local college. I took an application development program that made me take classes that weren’t actually related to web development. I soon realized that I was not getting the skills I would need to succeed in my new career and changed course. I researched different bootcamps until I found the one that I felt best fit my needs. While it has been immensely challenging, I have enjoyed it. As of this writing, I am in week 4 of a 15-week immersive program. My skills have developed in that short time far more than in the 3 semesters I took at my local college.
Know what you don’t know
While doing research I kept finding several different things on how to become a software engineer. It was difficult to decide on what I needed to do. While it is great to learn of other’s experiences, it is important to remember that we are all different. Get to know yourself. Make sure to do what is necessary for your own success. Do not be afraid of mistakes. There are lessons in our successes as well as our failures. This being my first ever blog, I thought I would just spill my thoughts onto my screen and talk of the journey I have taken to be where I am now. May they be of some use to someone at some point.
