This time last year, I was living in New York working as a nanny and barista. Though it was not a glamorous life, I had enjoyed it because it afforded me the free time needed to focus on different creative projects. However, like many people, the pandemic upended my normal way of life. Having lost both of my jobs, I was forced to move back home and re-evaluate how I was living my life.
My life prior to the pandemic was lacking in goals. The question “Where do you see yourself in five years?” sent me into a panic. Though being a nanny and a barista was easy, I felt that I was not using my mind to the capacity I knew it was capable of. As I got more involved in creative projects, I was learning that trying to make a career off of my art sacrificed the intentionality and joy of creation. I was burnt out working in customer service and hospitality, but my liberal arts degree made finding jobs outside of those two industries challenging. Each job posting I looked at reminded me that I didn’t have very many hard skills to offer.
After evaluating where I was, I decided to make a game plan for where I wanted to be and how I needed to get there. I knew that I needed to gain a hard skill if I ever wanted to branch out from hospitality and customer service. I knew that it was important for me to work in something that provided more job security than my previous positions. Knowing that I want to live abroad in the future, I knew that I had to pursue something that would open doors globally, or at minimum give me the opportunity to work remotely. I also knew that I wanted to do work that would provide me with a healthy challenge and was mentally stimulating. I am a naturally curious person and I wanted to pursue something that catered to my curiosity.
It was through these reflections that the path towards becoming a software engineer unearthed itself. Through my research, I found that software engineering was an in-demand career as the tech industry continues to grow exponentially. When completing the prep work for the Bootcamp I surprised myself when I realized I enjoyed the way coding challenges my way of thinking and forces me to look at problems from a different perspective. The skills I will learn and knowledge I will gain from this course can be used anywhere, opening doors for me to travel and work abroad.
Though there is a steep learning curve when it comes to learning the skills needed to be a software engineer, I am enjoying the process. I have a much clearer vision of the direction I am headed. The question “Where do you see yourself five years from now?” doesn’t freak me out as much. I am proud of myself for making the most out of a not-so-ideal situation and choosing to invest in myself and my future. I am eager to learn all that this program has to offer and excited to see where it takes me.