Who am I?

Hey everyone! I’m Sam, and I’m making a career pivot at 31. Am I crazy? Sometimes I certainly think so, but when is there going to be a better time to do it? I just sold a business, moved across the country, have an energetic little toddler with another one due in December. The timing is never going to be perfect, right?

My background is in mechanical engineering - I’ve spent the majority of my previous career in the Oil & Gas field focusing on pipeline design and project management. I’ve had some incredible opportunities over the years – fresh out of college, I found myself in SE Louisiana managing a job that was so remote, the only overnight accommodations were houseboats at the local marina. I ate shrimp right off the boat and shot pool with the contractors that had traveled in from Texas. My indoctrination into Cajun culture happened fast. I loved it. Despite the heat and humidity, the hospitality, food and familyesque feeling was intoxicating.

I spent the next 5 years in Louisiana, where I eventually met my fiancé. We got married in New Orleans, and ended up moving up to Utah for a few years. After having our son, we decided it was time to move closer to at least one of our families, so we ending up relocating back to Louisiana. We had an incredible time in Utah, and will cherish the memories made there.

But back to my career pivot – why am I making the move? What’s the motivation?

The pandemic affected everyone differently. My wife and I started our first business in October of 2019, several months prior to the global pandemic settling in. It was extremely tough. We were starting a business in a location that we had no ties to, no network to leverage. I had the opportunity to tackle everything from marketing, sales, HR, operations, etc. – all during a global pandemic. I was involved in a local entrepreneurial group, and we used to joke that the best part of owning your own business was that you got to CHOOSE which 80 hours of the week that you wanted to work. In hindsight, 80 may have been an understatement during those times.

It was an extremely challenging endeavor, but my wife and I are grateful for all the valuable lessons learned through hardship along the way.

The pandemic made me realize that in order to better guarantee income security for our growing family, I needed to adapt my skillset to be able to generate revenue in a remote setting.

That realization was fairly easy – develop a skillset where I can hold a remote career (if needed). I explored whether or not my existing career as a Pipeline Engineer/Project Manager could be pursued in a remote role, and I really struggled to find a solution that offered long-term growth opportunities.

I realized that if I wanted to be able to work remotely, I needed to change paths entirely…..but what would I do?

I researched as many options as I could: starting my own consulting firm, semi-absentee franchise opportunities, etc.

Although I haven’t given up on the entrepreneurial dream, I decided that starting another business wasn’t the best idea at this stage of life – I needed to be able to provide a steady income for my family.

I spent some time to more deeply reflect on my interests and what I found fulfilment through. I originally got into engineering because I love solving problems. I love the rush of adrenaline when you finally “crack the code” to the problem that you’ve been working on for hours, days, or even weeks. To me, there’s nothing like it.

This is how I stumbled on coding. Its very essence requires that you are solving a problem with every keystroke. I started to teach myself Python, and loved it.

Before long, I found myself enrolled in Flatiron school on their software engineering tract. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far, and I find myself excited to get my hands dirty in some code every day.

Although I hit the pillow most evenings with my brain fried from the overload of new concepts I’m trying to digest, it’s such a refreshing feeling to be excited about learning again. The hardest part right now is pacing myself so that I don’t stress over the literal ocean of material that I have yet to conquer. I can’t wait to get into this field and grow as a developer.