Just out of school and completely out of my element, I start my first week as a software engineer.
So... this is it. What started as a casual curiosity as a musician seeking a career change transformed into a year-and-a-half journey through technical school and has culminated into this moment. School is done. No more training wheels, extra time on assignments or helpful professors to bail me out. It's time to get straight into the nitty gritty and find a capital J-O-B...
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Or so I thought. The stress of leaving school and joining the workforce was certainly something that weighed on me as I was in my final semesters of my Associates degree. With a little bit of college education, but no formal degree or work experience up until that point, I had no idea how I was going to navigate the workforce short of sheer dumb luck. In such a large career field, I wasn't even sure where to begin on applying to jobs or how I would even begin my journey.
Finding Develop Carolina
Luckily, in a way, sheer dumb luck was on my side! By the recommendation of a college professor, I applied for a position in a work fellowship called Develop Carolina. The program, based out of my home state of South Carolina, is dedicated to help bridge that gap that I was so worried about when I was finishing school. After a series of interviews with some of the friendliest developers I had ever met, I was excited to hear that not only did I manage to get a position in the fellowship, but that all the members on my senior-project team would be in the fellowship as well! The program is going to incorporate 2 parts learning and going through modules designed to help us grow as developers, with another 3 parts of participating in a work fellowship with a company in South Carolina. As we begin our first week, the stress has melted away from the initial worries I had when I was finishing up in school.
So, Why Are We Here
I am starting this blog for a couple of reasons. I am hoping to document my journey as a developer so that one day I can look back and see how far I have come on my journey. So, this is for you, future Jeremy:
Right now, my experiences in school have given me a background in mostly Java and Spring Boot. I am interested in learning about machine learning and data science, as I have heard really cool things about that part of the industry from senior developers I have happened to meet. I am recently married to my beautiful wife Brea and am excited to start this new adventure with her by my side. I love you future-self, but you better not give up playing music or become a grouch that works every hour of the day!
My second reason (and arguably, more important reason) is that hopefully others reading this that are on a similar journey in a scary, new career can read this and have some peace of mind that you are not alone. If you are reading this, I would first like to say thank you for taking the time to hear me air my opinions. I hope they can help you like others have helped me get to this point where I am at.
As I am about to start this new journey, my hope is that I can grow into a developer that takes pride in their work. I have always prided myself on being a curious and creative person, which is what drove me to programming in the first place. I would like to nurture that curiosity and have a few projects that I am proud of by the end of this 6 month program. I would love to learn more about machine learning and find out if that is a career path for me, but I am content with learning anything new that comes my way in this program. I also am hoping to find the work-life balance that I have always been looking for. While I loved my previous career as a musician, I found myself being consumed by my work and taken away from the people that I care about the most. I really want to find that balance between work and home life that I can be proud of, too.
Thank you for joining me and I hope you enjoy!
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