a pragmatic guide to switching careers - or how I left a 4 year career in finance and became a software engineer in 5 months
(Disclaimer: I am not urging everyone to become a programmer; so, keep your pitchforks to yourself. I merely use my experience as an example of achieving a set goal)
step 1: figure out what you want by trying different things
Most of us are scared of drastic career changes. I didn’t let that fear stop me only because I was a miserable, self-loathing, unhappy human being. I knew I needed a way out but I didn’t know what is that I wanted to do. So, I started trying things. It went from feeble attempts in journalism where I interviewed startup founders, mentors and investors from Washington, DC area and posting those video interviews online to co-organizing co-working events around town with DC Nightowls. That’s when my sleeping hours declined to about 3-4 hours a day. Granted, it was not healthy but I was getting close to finding out what is that I like. By being in the heart of a startup ecosystem, I saw possibilities for myself. I learned more about new technologies, how businesses are run, and skills that are needed. I started taking programming classes online. I spent about 4 months coding after work and on weekends. Once I realized that I enjoy staring at hundreds lines of code trying to figure out where the bug is, I had to come up with a plan on how to leave finance behind and dive into software engineering.
step 2: come up with a plan
I believe that switching careers should be treated as a startup. You need some funding to stay afloat, you need milestones to measure your progress and most importantly you need a solution to a problem you are solving. For me solution was to attend Hackbright Academy in San Francisco for 10 weeks, where I would learn principles of CS and necessary programming skills. Now about funding. I was pretty sure that if I work my ass off I will get a job within 2-4 months; so, I needed money to survive for about 8 months. I also needed to cut all possible expenses and find where to live while in SF. The milestones were primarily related to the skills I was about to learn.
step 3: execute
I applied to Hackbright in the beginning of February, in two weeks I was accepted and then I had only two weeks to arrange everything and move to SF. This is when I submitted my letter of resignation (one of the happiest days of my life). But right before I quit I took out a loan; so, funding was secured along with extra motivation to make this career switch successful. As of cutting expenses, I terminated all unnecessary subscriptions, canceled my apt lease, sold my car and all the furniture. By pure miracle my sister found a friend of a friend who let me stay at his place with his daughter for as long as needed for free. It was still pretty far from where my school was, but I took it. I stayed there for a month. Then moved closer, by renting an apt in Nob Hill with a great guy who became a great friend of mine. The last few weeks I spent on a couch of one of my classmates.
At Hackbright I studied hard. I also pretty much lived there, since I slept only 4-5 hours a day. For my final project I wrote my own programing language, you can read about it here. After the career day I had more than 20 companies interested in me but I had to say no and come back to DC.
DC is not SF and honestly there is no other place like SF in a sense of a job market for developers. My classmates have starting salaries of about $90k and none of us have degrees in CS or prior experience. Yeah as I said, don’t try to compare it to the silicon valley, just don’t. The biggest problem I faced in DC was that I had to prove that I am worth hiring. Back in CA, Hackbright did that job for me. Doors were open and I just had to stay, but here I had to fight. I tried freelancing first, it was a bad idea. I will write a post on that later. Eventually, I got a part-time job with Jibe as a software engineer. It was great way for me to see what Jibe is about and for them to see what I am capable of. 5 weeks later and I am a full-time software engineer. My salary is still higher than the one I left in my previous career after working there for 4 years. I work with an amazing team of smart and bright people. I wear jeans and t-shirts, because I want to. I walk to work and it takes me only 10 minutes. I sleep about 9 hours a day. I learn tons and I contribute a lot. I am happier.
All in all, a 5 months turnaround for a career switch, not bad I think :)