DEV Community

Discussion on: What jobs did you hold before you got into software?

View post
Collapse
 
scrabill profile image
Shannon Crabill • • Edited

I had a fair amount of odd, non-tech/non-software jobs.

High-School

  • Babysitter
  • Receptionist. This was at an optometrist office where I did some insurance billing

College

  • Digital Printing Technician
  • Designer at the Department of Student Affairs
  • Student Ambassador (volunteer)
  • Visitor Services Operative. I worked at the International Spy Museum for a season.

Post-College

  • Mystery Shopper
  • Production Assistant. I did behind the scenes work for a Nickelodeon event for a day!
  • Graphic Designer. Mostly one-off contract work, backfilling for someone's maternity leave, etc
  • Retail Associate. Funny, I was almost 30 before I had my first retail job. A friend had a pop-up shop last holiday season and I worked Black Friday while she was out of town.
Collapse
 
karlredman profile image
Karl N. Redman •

Mystery Shopper has got to be kind of the programming mindset! my guess. All of these things you list seem to have been preparation for development (working with people, understanding production systems [production assistant], and the creative aspects overall.
cool!