When I first started my current job, the last thing I thought I would have ever done was code a web app. Fast forward nearly 7 years, and I have nearly a dozen web apps under my belt. Some are more robust than others, but all of them were hand-coded by me.
I’ve reached a point in my career where I need to make a choice – do I keep going the help desk route, or do I transition to a developer role? To be honest, I enjoy coding more than anything right now, mostly because it’s new, but also because it fills a gap in the company’s overall direction. Being able to make a positive impact can be rewarding. Still, the idea that I could potentially shift from hardware and OS-based software to an open-ended development career excites me, but it also scares the shit out of me. I try my best to play it safe, I don’t like taking risks, especially ones that could jeopardize my family’s well-being.
At this stage in my life, I should be focusing on a more managerial role and leave the new age tech stuff to the younger generation, but that’s just not me. I’ve never been one to follow the norms. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines and watch others do things, I want to be in the thick of it, hands dirty, eyes blurring, creating new and exciting things every day.
One avenue I thought about was working more towards being a full-stack web developer. This would give me the opportunity to use my skills to manage the servers and back-end code, but also give me a chance to be creative on the front end. My “right brain” has been out getting coffee for a few years now, while “left brain” is steering the ship by itself.
The desire to upgrade my professional stance is what’s pushing me to get more involved with this site, and with the social tech circles in general. My Instagram game has been climbing and I’m going to work on making it better. Right now my current job is limiting in the path I want to go down, but thankfully there are a lot of things I can do after hours to grow both my knowledge and my brand. Who knows, I may end up being pretty good at this whole “coding” thing, and that will lead me to bigger and brighter things.
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