Hello!
I've been trying to decide on what path to take in the industry, but have been running into a couple self-made brick walls.
I'm curious to find out, from those who have found their path, and also from those who are still finding their way around, I'd like to know:
How did you decide on what path/field you wanted to pursue within the tech industry, and if you are still trying to decide, what are you trying to do in order to find out what interests you the most?
For the past couple of months, I've been learning a lot in the Machine Learning/A.I./Deep Learning ocean, and while I've been enjoying it a ton, I'm not sure I'm ready to go even deeper. I've been trying to see what courses are on offer to help build the foundation to get a good grasp, but I've yet to pick a route to go.
Latest comments (30)
Got to a certain point and decided it was time to grow up and get a real job, because I needed $$$... most things computers have always just sort of been second nature, found a place that would hire me, started working.
This career, for me, has always been pretty exclusively about cash. It's a means to an end really. I can't say I'm particularly passionate about software development.. I dunno maybe I am, but I surely don't feel that I am. At the end of the day I just want enough cash to not have to worry about it, and to not have to work if I don't want to -- or put another way, to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want.
It's been a long road, but I'm getting close to that point. :)
"...I'm not sure I'm ready to go even deeper..." Then you already know that path is not the one you want right now.
The great thing about tech is there are so many paths. Not to derail the question, which is very legitimate, but I like to look at questions from different angles.
Why are worried about the path? Find what you are a) good at b) enjoy and c) can pay the bills with. Everything else is extra.
The answer the question of how did I find my way? I wanted to make a website, PHP was the most approachable (Visual Studio was/is very expensive). So I built a the entire thing front to back. Found I was good at it and easily grasped the abstract concepts involved in system integrations. 20 years later I've been a
professionalfor nearly a decade and for the most part go home at the end of the day and general feel ok about what I did that day.I think I just picked the most interesting opportunity in front of me. You have to always be learning, so I wouldn't be afraid of learning something you might not stick with. In fact, I'd assume you won't stick with it. But that doesn't mean it won't be useful. Over time, these experiences give you better answers of what to do next and develop your unique value by connecting the dots.
I’ve simply followed what I believe I am strong at.
Honestly, I could have been a good doctor. But I didn’t want to spend another 10 years studying.
I could have been a good lawyer, but I do not want to end up protecting a criminal.
Programming was my best choice, and it is what I am strong at.
A good friend of my parents was always taking care of our computers at home. He developed the logic for car parks (lifting the barrier, payment and stuff) and was always somewhere else in the world.
It fascinated me to watch him typing really fast when he was fixing things on our computers or setting up something. I wanted to do this too so I started to dig into the topic and learned VB6 and later C++.
Back then a year before I was graduading I had no idea what I want to do afterwards.
My parents told me I should study but I didn't want to spend a single day in school anymore.
The deal was either I do an apprenticeship in a company or I have to study.
So I applied as software engineer trainee (in Germany you have 3 years combined working with school education) and got two offers with 2 applications (lucky me :-) ).
Since then I moved along the path, learned new stuff, met new people, switched companies etc.
Lemme tell ya something, there is no other way yet in 2018 to find what suits you better other than TRYING EACH SINGLE FIELD !
My journey since 2009 has gone through (all online courses & forums):
Guess what... I like the last one more than any other, and I feel that I can master that.
Sadly, there is no existent system that finds your passion.
Even, the educational system won't help choosing your passion, it kills your passion actually.
What is "Ethical Hacking"?
In university I focused my studies on systems programming because that's what I found the most fun and challenging, but when I looked at the job market I had to pivot. Viable choices in my area are web, mobile, and medical. Medical dev is a special kind of Hell from everything I've heard (MUMPS, anyone?), so I experimented with Android dev and web dev in my senior year. Turns out Android app development is also one of the circles of Hell. So now I work in web dev and play with my TRS-80 CoCo III and μCs on weekends.
tl;dr What I wanted to do isn't a viable career path any more, so by process of elimination I landed in web dev.
I'm still in the process of getting my CS degree so my path can still definitely change, but as it stands I want to get into Mobile or Database development.
At one point I saw the world of software development as a buffet and I wanted to try everything. I would read articles about new tech, talk to my peers about their passions, watch videos of live-coding; I tried to get a taste of everything to figure out what I liked.
But then I took a class where I had to do a group project. My team wanted to make an Android app and my primary job was to get the DB working...and truthfully that's when it clicked for me. I was coding and reading Stack Overflow and coding and thought to myself, "Oh snap, this stuff is pretty dope".
So for now I'm sticking with it. I've been spending some time on a personal project and I'm taking a DB class right now. So far so good, i.e., I haven't changed my mind...yet.
My career in tech kind of just developed on its own. I started working at a computer shop when I was still in high school. One day, a customer came in and asked if we could connect his two business networks at his locations across town from each other. My boss (also the owner) asked if I could do it. I said "yes" without hesitation. But here's the thing...I had never even tried something that before and didn't know the first thing about point to point VPNs, firewall access rules, ports, WAN vs LAN, any of it. But, I dove into it anyway and figured it out as I went. Myself and both of my brothers are engineers in the tech industry and, while my dad is the least technical person on the planet, he taught us a simple rule to follow for personal development: "Be humble about what you know and arrogant about what you can learn." All three of us lived by that and it took us far. After that network gig worked out, that customer referred us. Two years later I was recruited by a bank to come on as a routing and switching engineer. The staff at the bank was super skeleton in IT (as in there were 6 of us, including only one software developer caring for 1200 employees and their equipment and managing office and ISP issues in 20 states) so a lot of us wore a bunch of hats. One of the hats I decided to wear was as a Windows Automation technician. Basically, I used Google to learn enough Powershell to help take some of the load off. Eventually, the employee number rose even more and Powershell wasn't enough. So I started developing some automation scripts and basic reporting software using C#. Out of pure luck, I happened to automate some process that was on our Software Engineer's task list. To him, it was a simple thing, but to find it already done led him to ask who had done it as he was the only code jockey at the company. Eventually, he tracked it down to me and asked if I wanted to help him with some other projects. I agreed immediately because writing the scripts were really fun and interesting. Fast forward 6 months and I joined him as his junior, then eventually left to pursue other things. That was 5 years ago and now I write web automation, data aggregation, and ML software for local businesses.
I guess, long story short, if it interests you, dive into it. The idea of a topic being "beyond your abilities" is only going to get in your way. Yes, learning how to think in algorithms, debug your code in your head when your not at your computer, take the math of statistical and predictive analysis and translate it into functional or OOP terms, are difficult things to do. But as with any niche, there are things only experts can do, and things more suited to junior devs. But the difference between those two groups is two things: experience and fearlessness. So if you like deep learning, machine learning, AI, and the like, go with that. Technology changes so fast that even senior guys have to pretty much relearn the ropes at EVERY new job they go to. So if you work in that field for awhile and you don't like it, try for a different niche. Your experience with one niche will pay dividends in any other niche. And even if you went to a new company doing the same job, you'd likely have to learn how to do that job on a different stack, with a different codebase and different colleagues which is basically like starting at square one anyway. Do what you like but be flexible. Most of us are specialist developers who will make decent money doing what we do so, at the very least, you'll pay the bills while you find out whether or not you want to stick around.
Personaly, I just fell into my job. I was an artist, I wanted a portfolio, I liked making the website more than the painting.