How did I go from a Talent Assistant to a developer? In this post, I'll share my overnight success story – one year in the making. First, we have to go back to 2022.
Learning HR
I was learning HR in College. But turned out school wasn't for me, but I still completed it with an Honor and get a job even I haven't graduated yet.
But I have always been interesting in AI and technology. I even made a post on FB few years ago that I need to learn how to code because someday AI will take over most of the white collar job.
Takeaway: Follow your curiosity.
Working in Operational and HR-related Roles
I previously worked in the public sector for the Ontario government, where I rotated through various operational and HR-related roles. While this experience was valuable, I ultimately decided to transition my career to the tech industry in pursuit of new challenges and opportunities to solve complex problems.
So many skills & knowledge that I gained from working in the public sector
My career in labour relations, recruitment, policy & program, and human resources has strengthen my client service, teamwork, and communication skills
Reviewing documents and making decisions has played a key part in my current and previous roles. In my current role, I use organizational, time management skills and tools to manage high volume workloads, processing all hiring documents and eligibility check of competition files fall under Policy, Planning & Evaluation Office in a week to meet business needs. I also experience working with multiple managers to ensure clients’ needs are met while maintaining consistent client service.
Takeaway: Chase your passions. You might just learn some valuable skills along the way.
Becoming an Engineer
Alternatively, I decided it is time to move on. While the stability of the work in the Government was nice, I was too addicted to programming that I cannot stop for a day so I made a decision and determined to switch my career to Tech.
Many times, I wanted to quit. "I'm not smart enough to be a programmer", I thought. But I continued to push through all the problems and tried to dig deeper in CS concept
Humble Beginnings
I learned HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Tailwind, trying different frontend framework, library and technologies . Simple websites made sense, but then I was exposed to the world of back-end development... what in the world is a MERN stack!? Impostor syndrome reared its ugly head again.
Then I landed 2 offers in technical roles, one as Web Dev and one as a Customer Success Engineer, I took the CSE role because well, a blockchain company is definitely a place to learn all the newest technology.
Takeaway: You're not a failure if your first job isn't at a well-known company. Every company will teach you something new about how to build software.
Exponential Growth
Up until this point, most "modern web development" at the time seemed so complex. Learning React, and then starting to use Create React App, helped me finally break free from JavaScript build tool hell and focus on building great websites. This is when I started to grow exponentially as a developer.
Specializing on one specific thing (React) led to a snowball effect. Suddenly, I was becoming proficient in other related skills. Understanding the fundamentals led to faster adoption of the next layer of tools, and finally to understanding and creating my own backends and APIs.
Takeaway: Learning React is a safe bet. The principles of React have fundamentally changed how we build for the web.
The Present
I realized I wanted to make a shift in my career. I've now been working with React since 2022.
I wanted to create. I wanted to write, record, stream, post, tweet, and contribute to the open-source community. I wanted to help others learn and progress in their careers as developers.
Takeaway: It's never too late to change your trajectory. Your career is a marathon, not a sprint.
Takeaways & Advice
- Follow your curiosity.
- Chase your passions. You might just learn some valuable skills along the way.
- To learn what's right for you, cast a wide net. Try many things.
- You're not a failure if your first job isn't at a well-known company. Every company will teach you something new about how to build software. You'll probably only be working there for a few years anyway, on average at least.
- Learning React is a safe bet. The principles of React have fundamentally changed how we build for the web.
- It's never too late to change your trajectory. Your career is a marathon, not a sprint.
It's good practice to tell people what you're building or learning. It sounds obvious, but learning in public and sharing my findings motivated to continue my journey.
The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is today.