Why did I decide to do Software Engineering?
The world of Software Engineering has been one of those things, where it seems invisible and nowhere, until you notice it once, and then it’s everywhere. At least, that is what it was like for me.
I can either thank cosmic re-direction or a techy algorithm that some team at Google built that started pushing me everything and anything tech related. Either one, is plausible and phenomenal.
The story began in January 2020, I started a role within a marketing team, where I needed SQL to pull data and information to be used for sales and marketing pitches. Having no-one else to ask, I started learning how to use SQL myself and that was pivotal for me — SQL was simple and direct and had a perfect ‘training-wheels’ syntax to ease me in... What I loved most was: what I wanted, I wrote and then the database would spit it out. It was such a rewarding experience and I felt I was learning something new for the first time in a long time. From there, I picked up a few courses on Udemy for SQL and Python and my love for programming began.
Being able to build tools that continuously impact our current world is meaningful to me.
In March 2021, I decided I wanted to pursue programming and for it to be more than just a hobby. One of the most interesting things about the field is that you barely need any form of certification to become a legitimate programmer. In most cases, and in most huge companies, as long as you have the skills, tools, curiosity and tenacity to learn and build on your existing skill-set, a self-taught programmer could be just as good or even better than any other form of programmer. So I thought, I would take a chance and apply to a bootcamp and learn to code in 6 months.
There is no clear answer as to why Software Engineering suddenly became something I wanted to pursue so passionately, but to me being able to build tools that continuously impact our current world is meaningful to me. Being encouraged to continuously learn and improve is invigorating to me. Being able to learn and be self-taught and still be employable is liberating to me. The way things work, the way our world works is fascinating to me.
Who knows where this road will lead, whatever happens, there is no where else I would rather be.
