This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Catherine Hodgkinson
As a recent graduate of Flatiron School’s Software Engineering bootcamp, I have eagerly entered the job market in an industry that is new to me. Let’s face it, job searching can be overwhelming at times, but mundane and repetitive other times. In the midst of coding challenges and rounds of interviews and making time to keep learning, I’m finding it important to reflect often on why I started this journey, what got me here, and where I want this to lead me. I’m a firm believer that what is meant for me will find me, but I do also have some long term goals for myself in the tech industry, and when I find myself discouraged by a tough technical interview or automated rejection email, I think back to my “why” and that’s what I’m going to talk about here.
The thing is, I went to a private college-prep high school in a small coastal town in Connecticut, and while it was the best experience I could have asked for, looking back I was never presented with the opportunity to attend a coding bootcamp or take any route alternative to the traditional 4-year college or university. So, guess what? That’s what I did. I attended a small college, also on the Connecticut coast and almost immediately found I was looking for something much different. I knew what my interests were (foreign languages, music, writing, to name a few) and after one year at the college I decided to take on the challenge of backpacking around the world for the better part of six months, completely by myself.
It was in the mountainside villages of eastern South Africa that I found a new home. I have always studied Spanish, and have taken lessons in French and Latin throughout my schooling, so I quickly began Xhosa language classes with a local resident of the village I was living in and volunteered in the village in any way that I could, with minimal guidance but plenty of support from my volunteer leader. I pioneered a program in the local lower school where I was able to teach several large classes of children about the basics of using a computer, beginning day one with how to hold a mouse. We progressed to opening and using Microsoft Word documents and on my last day with the kids, each class drew pictures of a standard keyboard and colored it how they chose, but with the purpose of giving them a keyboard of some kind to continue to study and practice with, as none of the children possessed a personal computer.
Apart from traveling, I have been a musician for as long as I remember, and learned how to hold a violin bow shortly after learning how to hold a pencil. I’ve now played the violin for 20 years, and there were many times where I never thought I would be able to say something like that. I progressed through private lessons, and before graduating high school I began taking my first paid jobs in pit orchestras for local musicals, playing receptions or event dinners, and even teaching younger students. I was always the fastest learner in music theory classes, and can say that playing in the orchestra in college is truly one of the highlights of my music career. As a freshman in college, I auditioned for the orchestra and was placed in the fourth seat of the principal violin section, where an intimidated me sat among seniors at the school. I had to learn quickly and adapt to blend in with the seasoned musicians around me. Now this brings me to my next point, the reasons I know I am a great software engineer, even on the hardest days.
This has been a condensed version of some important parts of my life. An underlying theme I couldn’t help but notice before deciding to learn to code is that the activities and subjects I enjoy most are actually different kinds of code in their own way. Language and foreign languages are essentially all libraries of data structures, from verbs and adjectives, to sentence structures and dialects, and everything in between. Similarly, reading and understanding music is like a programming language in that it has standardized formatting and structure in the same way an API can be RESTful, for example. Every dot and line on a sheet of music is a symbol for an action to take, as any line of executable code is the same for an application. And with these realizations I knew that programming was to be my next endeavor and the future of my career. Ideally someday all of these interests will intersect, but I use my successful track record in these other areas as my reminder that I am capable of many things. I am capable of taking on new and challenging ideas and tasks in a variety of environments, whether independently or within a group. I am able to understand vast and complex languages and can retain the meaning of foreign words and symbols almost naturally. I am an engineer at heart and have always been an excellent organizer, time manager, and most importantly, a dedicated learner. These are the realizations that empower me to be the best I can while also understanding there is always room for growth and that I am capable of what I set my mind to.
While I am entering the tech space and on paper it may look like I am switching industries entirely, I would argue that I am returning to where I am meant to be, in a space where symbols and data structures and different languages are all implemented to create something bigger. I am excited for what my future as a developer holds and I plan to post more content here regarding my thoughts and reflections, but please also follow along on my technical posts here!
Remember Why You Started was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Catherine Hodgkinson
Catherine Hodgkinson | Sciencx (2022-03-19T21:14:34+00:00) Remember Why You Started. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/03/19/remember-why-you-started/
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