Becoming a Software Developer

It took a while to figure a right path

When I was younger, I wanted to become a truck driver. My mind was changed when my mother told me that I will likely suffer from back pain and piles from sitting down all day long and poor diet. So I became a software developer instead...

In between that, I was intending to become a psychotherapist. In the last semester of my undergraduate degree, I took an elective introduction to philosophy unit where we learned the basics of propositional logic. This quickly drew my interest because of its rigid structure. You learn the rules, how to apply them and off you go. There is no gray area - only logic. It immediately fascinated me. It so happened that our lecturer mentioned that philosophy shares a lot in common with programming, as both draw from mathematics and both build arguments and logical chains. This was the first time that the idea of learning more about programming was first planted in my mind.

I completed my degree and started looking for a post-graduate school, as I also happened to move countries, to be closer to my family. I wasn't in a rush to start my postgrad because I was working to save up money to fund my studies. This was also a time for me to consider my path and plan out the next few years. I toyed around with the idea of moving away from psychology and move into software development, not sure how to approach it. At that time, it almost looked like admitting fault, perhaps recognizing that I wasted time studying psychology.

There were a few snarky comments here and there, regarding the fact that I was about to give up on one profession and moving onto something else. There were, in fact very negative comments made from close members of my family. I believe I made my decision for the right reasons. It was not money, opinion of others or level of difficulty - it was to find what I enjoy and working restlessly until I get there.

Before committing to the whole thing, I wanted to get a little taster of what programming is and on a recommendation from a friend, I signed up to a free Harvard University course - CS50: Introduction to Computer Science

If you are currently considering software development as your profession, I cannot recommend this free course enough. Try it out, as it will help you understand whether this whole thing suits you. Remember that up until the point of trying that course, I have not written a single line of code. Don't let that stop you either!

It's turning out to be a rather long post

I realize this may be somewhat of a disjointed post to read. I am still finding my writing feet and it will probably take a while for me to get there. But I am excited because I am about to publish the first article in the series that I really hope will help someone one day to create a career of their dreams.