What made me want to be a developer?

And how I got my first job

Hi Everyone!

Today I wanted to talk to you about my journey of becoming a developer.

It all started back in college. I was studying biomedical engineering with an electrical engineering focus. Many of my projects and labs required us to not only build electronic devices but also write the programs / algorithms to make them work. After a while I realized I liked writing the code for the devices more than designing and building the circuitry. I ended up taking an intro to CS as an elective and loved it... but didn't change course because I still wanted to work in the medical space.

Fast forward a bit, I got a job as a QA engineer (interesting story there for another day) at a research and development company. I worked as a QA engineer for several years at various companies. But this is where the story gets interesting...

I never lost the itch for coding, so in the evenings and on the weekends I started working on small projects where I could continue learning. Interesting part here was I was building more physical devices and projects.

Then one day I had a problem, I was training (ran track for a bit after college) by myself and needed to practice my starts. So I thought to myself, what could I build? I decided I also wanted to learn how to write iOS apps (good old iPod touch days). Long story short I learned how to create the app and host it on the App store. After that I was even more hooked if I wasn't already.

From then on I started shifting from building physical devices to web development. I started with learning the basics and built a few more projects for myself.

I enjoyed coding, and solving problems through coding. It energized me and still does. This is where I wanted to get a job full time as a developer. As many of you know, this can be tricky. Especially transitioning and showcasing you have the skills required.

At the time I was continuing to learn and build small projects, and met a now friend of mine that had a media agency and eventually I started helping him on small projects, but nothing super big. But it was a chance for me to start showcasing my skills and in a controlled low stakes environment.

I want to stress this point... If you have an opportunity to showcase your skills outside of side projects take them. Always be upfront with what you know you can and can't do. But take the opportunity if you can. No better way to grow as a developer than building something for someone else. You not only grow as a developer, but you also learn the skills needed to communicate with end users and determining their needs.

After a few small projects with my friend, I had a chance to showcase my skills for one of the companies I was working at. We needed to build a new product and there was a shift in thinking with some of the new developers for how we wanted to build the product. Luckily it was in my wheelhouse. They gave me an opportunity to work on small parts of the project.

Technically at this point I wasn't a full time software developer, but that would come soon at a different company.

I could go on further, but those details are for another day. I want to use the rest of this post to highlight keys areas I believe aspiring developers should focus on, especially those looking for a career change.

  • Start learning today! There are so many resources online where you can start learning for free.
  • Build projects. Scratch an itch. I find the best way to learn is by doing. You learn so much by building and applying what you learn. This is also a way to start building a portfolio.
  • Join a community. I didn't do this at the beginning and wish I did.
  • Take any opportunities that come, offer to build something for free, this helps add credibility when you are looking for your first job.

Till next time - happy coding!