Programming Origins

Sep 24, 2024

In 2020 I witnessed many changes in the lives of my friends and family. Most notably in their work. Some were laid off, others quit, and many were shifted into newly created remote roles. These changes transformed how we engage with the world and one another, prompting us to rethink many aspects of life that had long been ingrained as the status quo.

Movies like The Great Hack and The Social Dilemma, along with the rapid shift to remote work, highlighted our world’s increasing dependency on data-and by extension, code. I had done some programming during a few college courses, but it wasn’t until realizing this dependency, that I became truly captivated by it.

For some time leading up to this realization, I had been considering a career shift that was more aligned with my passion to create, learn continually and solve problems, but I wasn’t sure how to get there with the skill set I had. Initially I had been exploring paths in data science and analysis, but that quickly changed when a friend recommended Automate The Boring Stuff with Python.

As I worked through the book and learned to automate everyday tasks, something clicked. The process of using Python to streamline repetitive jobs into efficient workflows resonated deeply with my desire to problem solve in ways that required creativity and innovation. It was as if a light went off in my head—I had finally 'found my thing.' Programming was the career direction I had been searching for.

I dedicated more and more time to teaching myself all I could about programming, but eventually realized that if I was serious about making a career change, there was far too much for me to learn than I could fit into solely my spare time.

It became clear that learning would have to become my full-time focus. After careful consideration I decided to reduce my current responsibilities to my full time employer and commit fully to my education. In an effort to learn everything I could I took various online courses, participated in code jams, and completed multiple full-stack web applications.

I faced numerous challenges but thankfully made some very helpful friends along the way. After just over a year of learning and creating I eventually landed my first full time position in the field.