What motivates you to stick with it?
Although I did some programming in college, I've only just recently started my path to becoming a software engineer. After thinking over this question myself, I realized that there are three main reasons that motivated me to make the leap into the field.
It's challenging.
In a good way, I find that software engineering is a challenge. While I was studying mechanical engineering, I learned how to analyze a problem as an engineer.
Understand the question. List any given variables. State your assumptions. Solve for what's left. Write up the solution and ensure that it passes a sanity check.
But when I took our only required coding class, I found that programming required a different kind of analysis: one that required logic and thinking like a computer. Although I ended that class with a D, I was hooked. Before that semester ended, I signed up for a computer science minor. Over the course of a year and a half, I exceled in those CS courses and proved to myself that programming was in fact for me.
I appreciate the challenge that comes with software engineering as well as the reward of getting your code to work how you envisioned it.
There's options!
The second reason I became interested in software engineering is because of the options you have for your career. One could be a software engineer for a tech or non-tech company, involved in everything from finance, biotechnology, or even paired with another discipline of engineering.
I like the prospect of having the option to explore different experiences within the umbrella of being a software engineer.
It's interesting!
This one just might be the most important. Having an interest in something not only helps you dedicate the time for it. It's especially useful whenever you hit that inevitable roadblock.
While working at the refinery, I find myself excited to go home and get back to coding. Spending a Saturday programming doesn't feel like a "waste" of a perfectly good weekend. In passing, I'm reading various subreddits related to software engineering to see if there's anything that may be helpful for me.
I believe that keeping the "why" at the forefront will help to maintain my focus, stay motivated, and reach my goal of landing that first software engineering job.
Thanks for reading!
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