With all the newcomers to the engineering world these days, I thought it would be nice to share how I broke into the engineering world. On my journ...
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Inspiring post Molly! I had a similar situation deciding to go back to school after being in manufacturing most of my adult life, then switching from culinary (I still love to cook but realized doing it for a career would probably destroy my relationship with my then girlfriend, now wife) to software development.
The hardest part of it was telling her that I was going to switch degree paths after just one semester in culinary arts but luckily once I laid it all out there for her she backed me 100%. Honestly, this is just one of many reasons I consider her a saint! Now I just need her to hold out a bit longer in what has become a protracted job search trying to find the right team and project that excites me.
Glad to see everything is coming up Aces for you and hope that your future remains bright!
That is amazing that your wife is so supportive! It is incredible how much of a difference having that support can make. I consider myself very lucky to have had my husband by my side throughout the transition. Good luck with your job hunt!
Thanks so much for this motivational piece Molly, it was very much needed! I'm looking for junior roles after a recent redundancy. Having started coding over a year ago, I thought maybe I could make a go of it but without any commercial experience it's been a difficult few months, so hope was starting to wane. Feeling re-inspired!
I might add getting involved locally like at coding camps or other events can really boost the job hunt. Letting people know you're looking for work at events or lending a hand has worked for me. 😁 Usually companies have someone already in mind when they post jobs online. Best of luck.
I'm so glad you found it inspiring, that means the world to me! Keep at it, I promise, it is SO WORTH IT once you find your place! And don't be afraid to apply to small companies. At least when you apply to them you are sending an email to a person rather than some processing system doing key word searches 😝
Thank you for this post! I found the title funny because it is very true for me. First I meet love then I married (he is a dev) and now I'm learning to code. :D But my story is more like I tried very different stuff, nothing went very well, I was so frustrated for not having a career and just decided I would be a dev because "it at least will be a skill I can work wherever I want to build whatever I'm interested in".
I started learning Python but then I found a company I liked looking for junior Rails devs so I switched to learn Ruby. I'm having much more fun now than when I was trying all other things. So I'm trying to learn enough to apply to this job. Let's see how things will work. Your post encourage me. I was feeling very afraid the past few days. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your story!
I love the idea for your WaterCooler project — I see how developers could use something like that.
I'm wondering if that filled a need for community for you (which I also feel)... and how that need has changed over time for your career.
Since WaterCoolerMeetings never really got going it never provided a community I could use which is why I went looking for a job.
Throughout my career I have always strived and enjoyed being a part of a tight knit work community. That small startup that I got my first job at got sold 2 years later to Groupon. Our team ended up being split up across all different projects at Groupon. I never felt like I could find "my community" at Groupon, so within 6 months I left and started working at my current company, Kenna Security. At the time, Kenna was 30 employees and the tech team had 7 people on it. There, once again, I found that tight knit community that I had been missing at Groupon. Even though we are over 120 people now, I still am very close to all the coworkers I started with.
In addition, within the past 5 months, I have discovered even more incredibly supportive communities online! Between CodeNewbies on Twitter and blogging on dev.to, I feel more support now than ever. The internet can be used for so many vile things, but if you can sift through the trash, there are some truly awesome supportive groups out there!
Great story Molly, glad you took a chance on you!
ps. it seems that HackerNews is good for something after all 😬🤣
Excellent story. At the risk of cliche, I think we fail to recognize our opportunities merely because learning technology is an isolating and independent venture most times. I had a similar path to yours. Best of luck with whatever's next. 😁
This is such an encouraging story! I'm currently in a similar situation and am glad to hear it's possible and well worth it!
This is so refreshing to read! Thanks for the piece Molly 😀
Thanks for your inspiring story Molly.