I believe to better understand my reasons for deciding to learn software engineering, I must first dissect some of the factors that influenced most of the important moments in my life.
Growing up, a Jewish kid in the Greater Philadelphia Area, I had always felt a little different than the peers I went to school with. To be fair, there were only about three other Jewish families in my school district, and I had always been reminded that I stuck out a little from the rest of the pack. Of course, I was raised to be proud of who I was and whenever I felt an ounce of uncomfort I always had the support from friends and family at home. As I grew older, I noticed I felt a really strong connection to subjects like History and English. Language classes excited me. Science had always stimulated my wonderous imagination and thanks to my father, I was obsessed with anything to do with dinosaurs and space. However, the subject of Math was best represented by the phrase my Spanish teacher, Señor Grande used on days when the kids in the back acted up; “No Bueno”. I had always struggled with the subject of Math, even to the point where at one point I accepted it as something I naturally just couldn’t do.
As I entered college and started looking at areas that interested me for a career, every time I even contemplated a field that was more technical, I immediately dismissed it due to my own perception of the involvement of math within it. Obviously now I look back and understand that I was just ignorant to the reality of a field like Computer Science or Software Engineering as a whole. It is really a shame that I didn’t have the right resources or the right people to inform me that these were not the realities because technology had always been an area that seriously peaked my interest, I was just too quick to write it off based on poor misconceptions I had created. I eventually decided to pursue a degree in Communication. This naturally felt more comfortable for me and although I did not love it, I felt comfortable in the field.
After graduating in 2018, I began working as a Sales Representative in the Building Materials industry. I worked for a distribution company for a year and a couple months before I decided that I really wanted to make a change and get involved in the tech industry. I had some connections in Seattle and decided that would be the best place for me to begin this journey. In September of 2019 I reached Seattle after a cross country road trip and started my search for a sales role at a tech company located in Seattle. I worked a few different jobs to make ends meet until I signed my first offer letter in February 2020 for an SDR position at the company PayScale. It was exactly what I had been waiting for. Unfortunately, this all came crashing down once COVID-19’s impact on the economy forced PayScale to rescind their offer. Six months of hard work to land my dream job at the time resulted in being back to square one.
These events brought me to a place where I had the opportunity to pause and reevaluate my current goals and aspirations. Mark Twain said, “Experience comes from bad judgement”. I came to Seattle to get involved with tech, but that didn’t mean I had to stick with sales. Finally, I began truly diving into the possibility of making a career change to a technical field. Something I had been shying away from for far too long. I began researching Software Engineering, watching YouTube videos on the subject, speaking to connections I had that were working in the field, and asking all the right questions. I discovered Flatiron’s program and felt an immediate connection to the experience. After a month of bootcamp prep and my interview process, I made the decision to commit and it was by far one of the easiest decisions I’ve made.
I am so excited to truly give this program everything I have. Software Engineering offers me the types of aspects in a career that I need. Software Engineering offers structure, but the ability to stay creative. Mastery but infinite learning. These are the factors I needed that my previous educational systems have lacked. I never knew this because I was too afraid to step out of what was naturally comfortable for me. Now I can finally say that I have stepped out of what’s comfortable and although this program is going to challenge someone like me immensely, I couldn’t be more optimistic about my future within this field.