Before joining Flatiron, I worked in the field of veterinary medicine. Being a vet technician was a career that started out as a passion, where I could focus my love and affection towards animals of all shapes and sizes in their rehabilitation and medical treatments. However, throughout six years of the industry, I had come to a point of dragging myself to work with a lack of motivation. Working ten hour days, six days a week, I realized I had lost my spark. Ultimately, I had to accept I was burnt out from always being understaffed, lack of recognition, low pay, and overall physical fatigue.
Since the pandemic years of 2020, there was always a seedling of thought for a career change. I thought of going into nursing, possibly starting a cooking channel on social media, or breaking into tech. I spent those late nights in bed looking up "How to switch careers" and "How to get into the tech industry". I didn't take it seriously. These initial thoughts had previously always been shot down and discouraged by those around me. I was always being told that the risk was too great for my age, and the grass was not always greener on the other side. I started to genuinely believe a person like me wouldn't be able to learn something new, completely out of my specialty.
Despite my hesitations, my curiosity and interest towards software engineering continued to grow. After focusing my research on S.E., my stars began to align. I was meeting people who were software engineers, people who graduated from a Bootcamp and are now doing what they enjoy and living a healthy lifestyle. I knew I deserved that for myself too. I knew I was capable of doing the same thing as long as I set my heart to it. I decided I was not going to let another person tell me if I can or can't succeed in the tech world. I decided to enroll in Flatiron.
Now I haven't proved the negative voices wrong yet, but what I can prove is that I have a new interest and drive. These past four months, were difficult beyond belief. Highlighted by early mornings and late nights, I constantly had to fight through bugs, error codes, and an ever-imposing sense of doubt. However, despite all of this, I'm now on the verge of completing the Flatiron course for software engineering. Along the way, I've met good people, created healthy habits, and most importantly, I've gained coding skills that will last a lifetime. This skill and experience that I've acquired, I will take and manifest it. It's up to me to continue to grow after Bootcamp. The next step won't be easy but I'm excited for what's to come.
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