Why I started my career in Web development?

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clark

This famous quote well describes the impact that new technologies have on us, sometimes so impressive that it makes us question how it can be real. How does this Instagram filter make me look older? How does Facebook know I’m looking to buy something and keep showing me ads? How can an Uber car, driven by a person I don’t know, who doesn’t know where I’m going, manage to arrive so fast and take me to my destination? The most magical thing of all is that there is no magic at all. They are just ones and zeros, binary signals being transmitted by cables and over the air, which properly organized can be translated into text, image, sound and much more. This is the main reason that made me want to move to the technology field: the possibility of solving complex problems in a simpler, more scalable and elegant way.

By saying that ones and zeros must be organized, we are talking about something quite complex. There are countless operating systems, programming languages and applications to allow us humans to communicate effectively with an inanimate object such as a notebook or a smartphone. From this need to define the interface between human and machine comes the fantastic world of software development, where the role of a developer or programmer is to solve problems through technology and the creation of computer codes. Undoubtedly, there are many ways to solve the same problem, but software development, combined with specific knowledge of the problem at hand, seems to me to be one of the most efficient tools that a 21st century professional can have.

The coronavirus pandemic in 2020, certainly the most tragic and challenging event in our recent history as a society, was a catalyst for the technological revolution, which had already been underway for a couple decades and was brutally accelerated. Virtually overnight, many were forced to stay at home and find new ways to do the same things as usual. In the mood for food from your favorite restaurant? Get Uber Eats. Want to buy something from that store in the mall? Order it on Amazon and have it delivered the next day. Need to have a meeting with your co-workers? Open a room in Zoom. These companies spend millions of dollars and many hours of developers sitting in front of a computer, trying to solve that problem efficiently.

Not surprisingly, the search for this type of professional is on the rise in the pandemic. In Brazil, the supply of qualified developers is not enough to meet the growing demand. In this context emerged Trybe, a school that aims to meet this demand by qualifying developers for the market, and where I placed my trust to help me in this career transition to technology. This demand translates into better compensation, which is another advantage of the field. Another interesting benefit is flexibility. Remote work was already a reality in technology companies even before the pandemic, and it is now widely accepted and consolidated in many as the main form of work. It is possible to work for companies from anywhere in the world, sometimes being paid in the contractor’s local currency. Can you imagine getting paid in US dollars living in Brazil? This aspect was certainly an advantage for me, who greatly value the freedom to be where I want to be.

That’s why I decided to start my career as a developer. More specifically in Web development, which is the area that combines the power of software with the scalability of the Internet, which allows your solution to be used anywhere in the world where there is a computer with a browser and a network connection. I’m just at the beginning of my journey, but just knowing the possibilities that exist is enough motivation to continue studying and evolving every day.