I had three majors I was juggling in my head my senior year of high school. They were Physics, Music, and Spanish. I mean, you couldn't really get a more eclectic selection, could you? They have almost literally nothing in common and I had no idea how to choose. Ultimately it was basically up to a whim and 5 years later I graduated with a Bachelor's in Vocal Music Education being certified to teach K-12 music in the State of Michigan.
10 years or so later I was having an existential crisis after failing at teaching after 3 years, spending a year at home with my kids, doing odd jobs for a year, and getting laid off from a "band-aid" sales job that I had been at for 5 years. I was 31 and I still didn't know what to be when I grew up. I turned to a good friend of mine for some advice and the topic of what I wanted to do when I was young came up.
Physics, Music, Spanish.
Without missing a beat he said, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense. They are all languages. Physics is math - the language of the whole universe. Music is the language of emotion. Spanish is... well Spanish is literally just a language."
I guess it isn't too surprising, then, that I ended up as a web developer. Just more languages to add to the pile. Here I've found a place where I can put all my geeky sides together. Working in code scratches my analytical/logical itch. Being on the front-end helps scratch my creative itch. I even get lots of opportunities to teach and work with people directly to satisfy all my ambivert needs. The best part is that I get to come to the office in shorts and a t-shirt and only sometimes with shoes (I know it was a stretch to get there but I liked the title).
I guess what I'm saying is that there is no "right" way to get into this industry. The umbrella is so huge and there are so many opportunities that literally anyone could find a place amongst the nerds. If you're hesitating to make the career change because you aren't sure if it will be a good fit then my advice is to give it a shot. We have beer.
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