Ever since grade five, I knew I wanted to become a doctor. I even wrote an essay about it - and I still keep it to this day. By the time I graduated, my classmates had signed my farewell shirt with “House MD” printed across the back. That should tell you how fully I’d embraced the dream.
For years, I chased that goal with everything I had. I put in the hours, the effort, the late nights, determined to help people and make an impact.
But somewhere along the way, something shifted.
It wasn’t that I stopped caring. In fact, maybe I cared too much. The system I was in made it hard to care without burning out. Good work often went unnoticed. There was little room to breathe, to grow, or to experiment with new ideas.
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A Quiet Pull Toward Tech
Even while immersed in medicine, I felt a quiet pull toward technology. Looking back, people around me saw it too. Friends would say, “You’d be great in tech.”
The first time I truly explored that possibility was when I built a website for a brokerage project. The freedom of creating something from scratch, of seeing an idea come to life - it left a mark on me.
And then, later on, watching someone close to me thrive after their own career switch gave me the final push I needed. I realized I didn’t have to stay stuck. I could make a change too.
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Why I Really Left
I didn’t leave medicine because I gave up on it. I left because I realized there are many ways to help people, and sometimes the timing matters more than the title.
Software engineering opened up a space for me to keep solving problems, just in a different language. It brought back a sense of structure and forward momentum. And it offered something medicine could not at that moment: a fair shot to build, to test, to learn - without being defined by where I was from, my degree, or my connections.
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What I Gained
Coding showed me I’m still capable of taking on hard challenges. It showed me that I can adapt, learn, and grow - even after years spent mastering something completely different.
Maybe the biggest surprise? How many of the skills I built in medicine still help me today:
• Problem-solving under pressure
• Empathy for real-world users
• Attention to detail
• Commitment to quality
The transition wasn’t easy. It was scary, even. But it taught me that reinvention is possible, no matter how far along you are in one path.
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Over to You
Have you ever made a leap like this — from one world to another?
I’d love to hear your story, and maybe share more of mine, too. Feel free to connect or drop me a note anytime.
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👉 Let’s connect on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arttheache/) or check out my projects on GitHub (https://github.com/ArtTheAche98).
Top comments (2)
Life's like that, you will often find you're pulled this way and that.
I've always been into tech, been coding since I was 11 years old back in 1982 on an old micro called a Dragon32. I hated school but I love tech and computers, I was coding Z80 assembler when I was 15, left school at 16 as computing just wasn't really taught in school back in the 1980s. I worked a series of jobs to break into the IT world and I've worked as a sysadmin with coding skills since.
However around age 40 I suddenly decided to try photography, just something to destress from work. I loved it, it later led me to gaining places in national competition wins, sales of my images to companies like Microsoft and Samsung, I've even written and published books on the subject. All this from a loser kid who hated school!
I'm now in my 50s and I'll be honest, I'm fed up with IT and tech, it's just too hard these days. Sure I still like my job, it's still challenging but the drive has now left me and I'm getting ready to start planning to retire before I'm 60. I'll be chasing my dream of being a pro photographer, teaching landscape and nature photography full time once I retire.
The secret to life is adaptability. I hope your new path gives you the joy and satisfaction you seek. It's a great line of work to be in, trust me my 40+ years in tech have been amazing but I feel it's time for me to move on, passionate people like yourself to move in!
Thank you for sharing your incredible journey! Your story really resonates with me - there’s something powerful about those career pivots that follow passion rather than just convention.
Going from a Dragon32 in ‘82 to national photography competitions is amazing. It shows that the problem-solving mindset we develop in tech translates beautifully to other creative fields. Your transition at 40 gives me confidence in my own path from medicine to development - it’s never too late to chase what energizes us.
I love how you framed it as adaptability being the secret to life. Coming from medicine, I’ve learned that too - sometimes the best solutions come from completely changing your approach.
Best of luck with the photography teaching plans! The tech world’s loss will definitely be photography’s gain.