DEV Community: Steven Garcia

The Journey, the Struggles, and the Road Ahead

Steven Garcia — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 22:21:20 +0000

Almost ten years ago, the Lord blessed me with a beautiful baby girl, my first and only daughter. People always say, “Kids change your life,” but change barely scratches the surface. Transform, that’s the word. She transformed my life. Everything I do and every decision I make is about her and my family's future. That’s where the idea of pursuing my dreams and switching careers came into place.

You see, I haven’t exactly had it easy in life, but that’s in the past and we’ll leave that story for another time. Let’s talk about a decade ago. Before she came into my world, I was already doing well, newlywed and happily married, full of dreams, and excited about the future. But here I am at the start of 2025, realizing that in the blink of an eye, she’ll be turning ten. A decade. And as I reflect on this, you might be wondering why this matters and why I am sharing this.

The Weight of Time and Goals can have a heavy impact. When I first set out on my journey to become a software engineer, I gave myself a strict deadline, a time frame to make it happen. But here’s the honest truth. I have blown past that deadline! I am officially a year overdue. And I am not saying this with regret or disappointment. I am saying it because I want my future self and anyone who stumbles upon this to use it as proof that the journey is not about if you will reach your goal, but when.

Life has a way of throwing you off course. It certainly did for me. The past year and a half have been some of the hardest I have ever faced. The year 2023, in particular, was brutal and took a heavy emotional toll on me. But through all of it, that little girl I mentioned at the start is the reason I kept going. She does not even know it, but she has been my anchor, my motivation, and the force that keeps me pushing forward.

Even if it doesn't sound like much I've been making significant progress, one step at a time despite the setbacks, especially after enrolling in a new software engineering bootcamp at the end of 2023. This is actually my second bootcamp, but in hindsight, it is the only one I should have joined from the start. It has sharpened my programming skills, built my confidence, and reassured me that the finish line is near.

Now, I want to highlight one part of this journey that I have found to be the most difficult, something I never truly anticipated. The job hunt.

Yes, I am officially in that phase, applying, networking, and building connections wherever I go. And let me tell you, if you have ever been lured into tech by podcasts, YouTube ads, or stories that made it seem easy, take it with a grain of salt. I do not say this to discourage you. I say it to be real.

For someone like me, transitioning from a non-programming background, with no prior industry connections or tech experience, the job search is an uphill battle. In many fields, people naturally connect with those who have walked the same career path. But in my case, I have yet to meet someone who made the leap from being an automotive technician with fourteen years of experience to software engineering.

I may not fit the typical mold of a software engineer, but I refuse to see that as a disadvantage. Instead, I see it as proof that there is more than one way into this field. If no clear path exists for someone like me, then I will create one because at the end of the day, persistence and adaptability matter just as much as technical skill.

"From Automotive to Software Engineering." It is and will continue to be a rare transition or at least one you do not hear about often. But that only fuels my determination to make it happen.

With that said, I will keep pushing forward. And if you are on this journey too, keep your passion alive. Keep growing, keep learning, and do not let the challenges discourage you. Your timeline may shift, obstacles may arise, but as long as you refuse to quit, you will get there.

For me, it is no longer a question of if I become a software engineer. It is only a matter of when. And when that day comes, I will look back on this moment and remind myself why I never gave up.

To anyone else chasing their dreams, stay the course. Keep going. Just as my little girl transformed me, your transformation is coming too!

I'll start out by saying that almost ten years ago the Lord blessed me with a beautiful baby girl, my first and only daughter. When they say kids change your life, let me tell you change its close to explain it. I'm use the word "Transform". Yes! She transformed my life, I was already doing good prior to her coming into my life, happily married with a new wife and excited for my upcoming future...many ideas and goals to meet... But let me tell you that as I'm writing this post it's still the beginning of the 2025 year and before I realize it she will be 10 years young! Why do these details of my life even matter now? why am I writing about this? how does this concern you, you may be wondering?

Well it has to do with time and goals. When I first starting my journey to becoming a software engineer I gave myself a "deadline" or "time-frame" to meet that goal, and to be honest I way well past that. I am a year past that to be exact, and I say this with complete sincerity because I want the future version of me and others that will stumble upon this, to use this as an inspiration to themselves, to use this as proof that you can meet your goals as long as keep pushing yourself and giving it all you got! It is NOT if I become a software engineer, is WHEN I become a software engineer I will do this, that, more of this and that... I think you get my point. Life has it's way to throw off course but it is up to you to steer yourself towards the end of the course to accomplish your journey, and life has made no exception with me because I haven't exactly had it easy in the past year and half and I won't bore you with the details but let's just say that the 2023 year was a very bad year that brought a lot of emotional damage to me and that little person who I started to talk about in this post is the one that kept me going, she doesn't know it but she is the reason why I am still going and growing strong and I'm still in journey to becoming a software engineer. With all that said and aside, I've made a lot of progress thanks to a new Software Engineering Bootcamp that I joined in the of the 2023 year, this is actually my second coding bootcamp but to be fair it is the only one I should've ever joined because it has help my knowledge about programming skills grow, it gives me the confidence that the end of this journey is near.

I do want to emphasize one thing or actually the one step that I find it to be very hard and this entire journey, or perhaps it may be because I never had to go through this, and that is the "Job Hunt"! Yes, I'm officially in the job hunt process and also been building connections wherever I go and with whoever I meet. Now I don't know how you particularly got interested in tech but it is not as easy as it sounded from whatever podcasts episode, commercial, video ad, your favorite youtuber or whereever else got this idea fueling in you. Keep your interest alive, keep growing your knowledge and absorb everything about the actual technologies you are learning, but when it comes to landing a job perhaps take it with a grain of salt. I don't mean to discourage you, I just want to be open and honest that from someone like me with a non-programming background, not having any connections, nor previous employer experience it is not very easy. I'm even going to tell you that sometimes we tend to connect a lot easier with peers that have done or been in the same line of work we have in the past but not in my situation, in fact I've never even met anyone who has migrated from the same line of work which was automotive technician that I did for the past fourteen years to this field kinda rare to believe but it is.

Career change, my thrive, what actually keeps me going.

Steven Garcia — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 21:42:24 +0000

"I never thought that learning this new industry would be easy. On the contrary, it’s hard, but it’s not impossible. Let’s analyze this: If it were easy, everyone, or at least a greater number of people, would be doing it, right?

I’m not trying to get off-topic here, but let’s think about something for a minute… The number of high school or college friends we stay in touch with is very small, maybe even zero. So, it is safe to say that most of the social connections we introduce into our lives come from family and work colleagues. This leads to some of us starting new careers and possibly spending more time with our co-workers than even our own families. Mind you, on most days, the time spent with our family is not what we would label as "quality time." Think about it: we get home from work, often exhausted, and all that is left is perhaps 3 or 4 hours before we go to rest, if that.

Now, the reason why I’m bringing this up is to highlight the fact that we surround ourselves mostly with our co-workers. When one of them decides to leave the workplace, it’s usually because they are going to work for the competitor, relocating, retiring, or getting let go.

Due to this, it is hard for someone to go off course and take a different path or start a new career. But if you do, or even start thinking about it, you’re going to value and consider the reactions of your co-workers a lot more than you should. But let me remind you that most people don’t like the idea of change. The truth is, the typical path out of your current work field, your tenure, your co-workers themselves, and the idea of change shouldn’t hold you back. It should definitely begin and end with you making the decision. After all, it’s your life, and no one else would be in your shoes but you.

As I’m writing this, I’m having a difficult time concentrating on the content that I’m learning: new topics, exercises, answering questions, rules to learn, to remember, when to use, when to omit, etc. Does it get frustrating at times? Yes, it does! But it is for this very reason that I’m pausing the subject at the moment to write content like this—not only to remind myself of why I’m pursuing this but to encourage and motivate others who are in the same position right now or will be in the future when reading this.

Think about how gratifying it would be to look back a few years from now and say to yourself, “I did it!” The feeling of accomplishment that comes with that would bring a lot of positivity to yourself and, in turn, you can pay it forward to others. There is no better, more justifiable advice to give someone than when you’ve definitely experienced it yourself.

My number one reason is to be more passionate about what I do on a daily basis than I was before in my previous job. Here’s some food for thought: it has been over 14 months since I left my previous job, and I’ve lost over 16 lbs. I have more energy, which means I get to do more of the physical things I want to do, spend more time with my family and friends, get more quality sleep, and put more miles on my motorcycle instead of having it collect dust in the garage simply because I didn’t have the desire to ride it.

Keeping in mind what I mentioned earlier about spending more of your day at work, having to wake up and go into a job that you dread is not healthy, either on a short or long-term basis. With that being said, I advise anyone in a similar or like situation to at least commit to thinking and planning where you want to end up with however many years you have left in your working lifetime.

In conclusion, if you’re not happy in your current role or even with your career at all, by no means am I saying you should find something different to do instead. It could be very hard and depressing to even think about "throwing so many years of experience away," as some may refer to it. But like I mentioned in the beginning, it won’t be easy. But don’t be afraid of making a big move! Your experience is valuable elsewhere, and you owe it to yourself to figure out where it belongs. If you want to challenge yourself and switch careers like I did, just know that it’s not impossible. There will just be a few more hurdles to overcome.

And remember one thing: the people you currently look up to, follow, or take advice from, who are in the position or have the title you want to end up with, may not have your previous knowledge. With that being said, don’t belittle yourself. When you end up in their spot, that irrelevant experience, combined with new knowledge and fresh insights, can bring a lot to the table. Always think: just by doing this right now, you’re already ahead of those who are still contemplating the idea of doing something different than where they currently are. By moving on and advancing, you will be rewarded!"

What exactly led me to push myself into learning how to code?

Steven Garcia — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 02:59:52 +0000

"Hello world!" Some may have seen or heard this hundreds of times but for some of us it was the first phrase we typed when learning to code, and Ironically enough this is my very first blog to the world so indeed 👋🏼 Hello world!

This may sound kind of cliché, but when I was still working at my previous job the thought of doing the same or similar repetitive tasks everyday until retirement led me to face a reality that I was struggling with for quite some time. Can I really switch careers at this point and time of my life? Should I pursue what I really have been wanting to do or should I find an easier job that pays better just for the money? Should I open up my own business? And if so, how can I do it?

So many questions, but yet I always knew the answer. The how usually reveals itself after the yes. You just have to want it bad enough to find that it's never too late to switch careers. Once I made my decision, I chose the technology path, it's always been in me and it may sound odd but living in a small two bedroom apartment when I was a teenager with very little entertainment around the get-away from that was the computer, even with no internet around.

That’s right, remember the dial-up internet connection days? There were days where someone at home had to use the telephone so I wasn’t allowed to connect to the internet as this was the only affordable way to go online, but I would still find myself occupied and entertained by either figuring out how programs would work, exploring and tweaking multiple settings, using windows explorer, playing around in the command prompt among other things.

Anyways, still to this day I ask myself lots of questions when using programs, applications, websites, I even get upset when using an app and finding lack of simplicity; I’m the type that keeps using an android phone due to its versatility to root them for better performance in the earlier days and in the present time for freedom to customization, even when downloading updates I’m that type of curious person who always reads what the update brings to the device. So, needless to say, I love technology and it's a combination of all these things that led me to push myself to learn how to code so that I can be a contributor to many of these new technologies that we all make use of everyday.