Final Push

September 12th, 2021

It has been 3 years (almost to the day, as I write this) since I’ve begun the transition from filmmaking to software engineering as a way to make a living. I left my last gig on a television show in Boston to drive across the country and learn how to program in Silicon Valley.

I learned so much at that school. I met wonderful people that I’ve kept in touch with to this day. I learned how to think critically as a programmer, how to break down large problems, how to be patient, how to use google effectively, and how to pace myself. The lab was the place to be- full of fellow cadets and developers who were all trying to do the same things. It was a wonderful mecca of different personalities. However different we all were, no matter where we came from, no matter how old we were- we all loved to code. Looking back on my time there now, it was awesome.

My goal was to stay at this school until I’d secured a position as an engineer in the bay area. There was one year from February 2019 to around March 2020 filled with tons of programming and exploration in that awesome environment. However, by the time coronavirus had entered the picture, my programming journey was siloed off. Everyone on campus was encouraged to leave if they could. I went to stay with family for 5 months until I returned to a shell of a former school in August 2020.

The school eventually closed in November 2020 and I moved to another state where it was cheaper to live and I could continue my job search. I continued to try and learn but I drifted with the pressures of bills and loan payments. I couldn’t seem to focus without a safety net and so I found a full-time job. Programming kind of fell on the backburner and it seemed like I was back to where I started.

I recently signed up for another programming school that is entirely remote. I resisted the idea initially because I didn’t want to pay for more schooling but it wasn’t until recently that I’d come around to accepting the fact that I needed structure. I wanted mentorship and access to other students working towards the same goals. I wanted career counseling- essentially, someone to guide me through the job search process. I needed a fire. Identifying and accepting that reality helped me break out of my programming rut.

This week was my first week within the curriculum. There wasn’t much coding involved but I did manage to quickly complete some introductory exercises. My time in Silicon Valley was definitely not wasted. I can’t imagine starting this curriculum with ZERO coding experience.

I had a call with my mentor this afternoon and he was really cool. He gave a lot of advice regarding how I should approach things and it left me excited for the next couple months. I’m excited to be consistent, to be coding again everyday and to create the things that I want to create.

I’m seeing this moment as the final push towards what I’d set out to do 3 years ago. So much has changed since then. I’ve literally become a different person, mentally, physically, professionally and spiritually. It’s been a journey and it feels amazing.

I’m writing this post in the hopes of chronicling this journey. I also plan on building out features to this personal site in an effort to add something to my portfolio outside of the bootcamp’s portfolio projects. I plan on having a blog and a podcast in the future. These posts are my attempts at exploring that practice that aligns with my studies as well as my interests. I’ll eventually start a mailing list with blog features.

I can’t wait to read this again next year!

- Mike