How I got here.
Like many people, I imagine, I've had quite a few different jobs, and throughout those jobs I've asked myself the age old question of "What do I want to be when I grow up?" And as we grow older that question of course grows more and more ironic. So we change it to something more along the lines of...What do I like to do? Or What am I good at?
And if we knew the answers to those questions we probably wouldn't have ended up in a job that we were less than fond of. So I heard someone suggest changing the questions we ask: What are things I've liked about old jobs? And What are things I've hated about old jobs and or current jobs?
Sometimes the answers to those questions can even be related, for example I hate having to be in front of customers all day(yeah selling cellphones for a year was hard) and similarly, I like working on projects alone. I also discovered that although I like working alone, I also need a team to come back to at the end of the day to motivate me, to feel a part of a bigger whole.
I came up with a lot of different answers that eventually lead me to believe a developer might be what I want to be when "I grow up":
- I like solving problems.
- I like thinking of creative solutions.
- I like seeing the results of my work.
- I like organizing information.
- I like researching topics online.
- I like working on the computer.
- I don't like doing the same monotonous tasks everyday, I need variety.
- I don't like my work depending on other people (especially sales)
- I don't like needing to put on a smile for work.
And I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture, but even after making that list, it can be difficult take a dive into a new field. I'm a bit of a cautious person and so I've been trying to learn on my own off and on for the past 3 years. I've had some success, but it's been slow going. I ended up learning though that I really do enjoy writing code, and making new projects, which encouraged me to take a leap and to sign up for a boot camp. I'm currently enrolled in Flatiron's fulltime online program and I'm loving it so far.
But if you're a person who has considered web development or any other type of development in the past, and you're not sure, well ask yourself some of those questions and give it a try in your free time, maybe that'll help push you one way or another. Coding isn't easy, but it is rewarding, at least that's been my experience.
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