A thread for college grads questioning a career in software/hardware. /1
In college, I studied Electrical and Computer Engineering. To be honest, I thought many courses were interesting, but didn’t see myself doing it for a long time due to the somewhat capped earnings potential and a potential lack of face-to-face interactions. /2
In any case, I got lucky with an internship at NASA doing PCB design, then a couple startup internships barely doing more than coffee runs for other people /3
Towards graduation, I was watching my friends in Finance land dream jobs in banking and consulting and watching my comp sci friends land great jobs in Silicon Valley. /4
I however, was completely unsure of what I really wanted to do, so I did what I do best - keep my options open. Instead of preparing for algorithm interviews, I did case studies for consulting and a few other things. /5
The result of that was getting a shallow understanding of many things in preparation for interviews, rather than being truly prepared for one thing. /6
I knew I liked math and software enough to keep that option open, but I really knew I loved finance, trading, and investing. /7
I interviewed with tech companies, consulting companies, and any type of financial company that would take me, but I really didn’t perform well due to lack of focus and preparation. /8
I did get a couple of offers doing things I wasn’t super excited about, and I didn’t feel good about the pay, knowing many of my peers were going off to SV or NYC to make 2x as much as me, however I took a job at PwC as a Software Engineer. /9
My naive logic was that I could use stuff I knew on paper (Software), to get my foot in the door with what I loved (Finance). /10
But, it’s never that simple. My job turned out to be extremely siloed in one of the most regulated industries (accounting) in the world, so it didn’t seem like I was going to get that foot in the door after all. /11
In an unexpected turn of events, I ended up learning web programming, and finding the startup/VC world through hacker news and really grew to change my perspective on what my career could look like - the problem was that I was obviously in the wrong place. /12
I needed a fast paced, dynamic work environment with high earnings potential, which wasn’t going to ever be the case with my job at PwC, so...I decided to quit at the 1 year mark. /13
It’s tough to go through recruiting with the people that became my coworkers and then hit the eject button after only a year, but you only get 1 life, 1 career, etc. so I jumped out onto my own to start building a product, and try to be self-employed. /14
It was totally worth it! Yes, you might feel bad about leaving your coworkers and not putting in some arbitrary amount of time at your first job, but the good news is, you can pursue something else if it doesn’t work out! /15
I ended up selling my car and living off of that money while I started networking, blogging, and tweeting, with no job lined up. /16
Eventually I convinced someone on the internet to pay me $40/hr for something I wasn’t an expert at, and I was officially on my first contract. Self employment was exciting! /17
A little after a month doing that project, I threw my name into a thread on hacker news for freelancers and had my current boss reach out, which ended in me accepting a new job. /18
Incredibly, the job was working with cutting edge stuff, for higher pay, fully remotely, with people I really liked. /19
I didn’t intend to take a full time job so soon, but the offer was too good to pass up on, so I snapped it up and it’s worked out great! /20
All of that being said, if you are in an unhappy enterprise development role, or are an unsure college kid, feel free to reach out, or read the full journey at my blog, towardssoftware.com/blog
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It will work out. I experienced a lot of uncertainty doing this, so hopefully I can help out! /done
Bonus:
Ultimately, I made these decisions because it’s not worth slowing down your career because of an arbitrary social pressure to stay somewhere for too long.
Ultimately, I made these decisions because it’s not worth slowing down your career because of an arbitrary social pressure to stay somewhere for too long.
We all know that we have 1 life and career, so your decisions should really reflect that. Unhappy at work, it’s on you to make the move.
I found a better life, and maybe there is something better waiting down the road, but I’m certain it was the right decision and it’s super important to force yourself to be uncomfortable.
