This one got me, so forgive a longer reply than usual.
I was fascinated by computers as a kid, and I’ve loved sci-fi and futuristic tech films my whole life. Still do. But where I’m from, the oil boom was the thing, so by the time I had to choose, I chose geology.
Then the path went sideways, in the best way. Degree in geology, and my first job was as a Linux administrator. I enjoyed it at first, and then it got boring. So I moved into business analysis. Then I worked on a genuinely exciting cloud project, and it left me wanting something more, some fusion of the geology and the thing I’d actually loved as a kid.
So I went and did a master’s, taught myself as much as I could alongside it, and came out the other side as a cloud engineer. I love it.
And I still want more. I’m back studying Python properly, throwing myself at every coding challenge I can find, and seriously thinking about going all in on AI, because that’s where my passion actually meets the current reality.
Which is why I really, really relate to your post. The one line I’d gently push back on is “those years weren’t wasted”. I think you’re underselling them. A groomer and a veterinary assistant spends every day reading something that can’t tell you what’s wrong, deciding what matters first, and getting it right without a second attempt. That’s debugging. It’s the part of this work that doesn’t come from documentation, and plenty of people who arrived through a computer science degree turn up without it.
The animals gave you the diagnostic instinct. Code is just where you’re applying it now.
And do tell your dad again. He may not quite believe it, but I suspect he likes hearing it.
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. I really enjoyed reading about your journey, too. It's funny how we can end up taking such different paths and somehow find our way back to things that interested us years ago. And I love that you're still learning and exploring new things even after everything you've already accomplished.
You actually made me think about my own experience a little differently. I knew there were skills from working with animals that carried over, but I never really thought about it quite the way you described. You're absolutely right, so much of that work was observing, figuring out what was wrong, and trying to solve problems without always having a clear answer. I guess I really was debugging long before I knew what debugging was.
And you're probably right about my dad, too. I really do need to sit down with him someday and show him what I've been working on. I think he'd be pretty amazed at how much things have changed.
Thank you again. I really appreciate it, and I wish you all the best.
What drew me in was the ability to get stuck on trying to fix something or figure something out, and the satisfaction that follows after it is working! I noticed that I do not think about all my earthly problems when I am three levels deep in a thought process. It is an escape from reality that makes the time disappear. My biggest issue has been that I stick my nose into everything. Jack of all trades, master of nothing! Everything is interesting. It is a real problem. XD
I come from an art and nutrition background. The art stayed, the nutrition did not. I don't like telling people what to eat or how they should live their life, and honestly, from what I've heard, the ones that need to listen tend to not. So I gave myself some resolve on closing that door for the most part. But art will always be a part of my life.
we put way too much pressure on people to figure out what they want to do with their lives when they're young.
I feel this on so many levels. When people asked me what I wanted to do when I got older, I never really had a great answer. I went to college and all that as it was "the path". I graduated, collected debt, and I've returned. 🤣 Some of us just have that "there has got to be more, what else is there?" attitude about life. The journey itself is likely the answer.
I once had someone tell me "why would anyone hire you? you don't even have a C.S. degree." That stuck with me, and I'm 75% done on my way to prove them wrong. Here's to degree number 2! XD A degree? so what, that's just a piece of documentation. No problem. XD
I am happy to see someone else on here from a non-traditional standpoint. P.S. my dad is smart too, he is retired, but was an engineer for decades. :)
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you so much for this comment. I relate to a lot of what you said, especially getting so deep into figuring something out that everything else disappears for a while. That feeling of finally getting something working really is hard to beat.
And about people expecting you to know exactly what you want to do when you’re young... I think a lot of us end up taking the long way around, and honestly that’s not a bad thing. It all becomes part of how we see the world and what we bring into the things we build. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to get where you're going, the point is you get there eventually.
And good for you for proving that person wrong. I love that. There’s something really satisfying about building your own path, especially when it doesn’t look traditional on paper. Also I had to smile at the dad part too. I guess we have that in common. Thank you again. 💜
One interesting thing about learning programming later in life is that you often bring a different kind of problem-solving experience with you. That becomes especially useful when debugging complex systems. For example, tracing a race condition across asynchronous API calls requires more than knowing syntax; it takes patience, observation, and the ability to connect seemingly unrelated events. Those skills can come from experiences far beyond coding. Great journey!
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you! I totally agree with that. We sometimes underestimate our experience in totally different areas of life, which we can apply in programming as well. Patience, ability to figure things out even if everything seems unclear at first, attention to detail – all this was gained from experience way before I even started coding. The technical knowledge is new, but a lot of the problem-solving mindset really isn't.
That's an interesting distinction, especially when you're dealing with problems where the available information doesn't immediately point to the root cause.
A good example is out-of-order event processing in distributed systems. AWS has documented scenarios where an older SQS message gets delayed by a retry, while a newer event is already processed by another Lambda invocation. When the older event eventually arrives, it can overwrite the newer database state.
The tricky part is that both operations can succeed individually, yet the overall system ends up with incorrect data. Solving this requires understanding event ordering, concurrency, and atomic conditional writes, not just knowing how to write the handler.
I think this is where experience outside programming becomes surprisingly valuable. Being comfortable investigating something without immediately having all the answers is a skill that translates incredibly well into software engineering.
I help Python and backend engineers move beyond writing working code to designing production-ready systems, making architecture decisions, and growing into senior engineering roles.
“Those years weren’t wasted. They were my life.” is such a beautiful line. Also love the full circle of your dad making little learning games for you as a kid, and now you’re the one building things. Going back to school and landing in the honor society after dropping out at 17 is a story a lot of people need to hear. I hope your dad reads this one!
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you so much! That line really means a lot to me, because I think sometimes we get so focused on where we're going that we forget to appreciate everything that came before it. I wouldn't trade those years for anything. And the whole thing with my dad really is funny when I look back on it now. I don't think he quite realizes how much I've gotten into programming these days. I really hope I get to sit down with him and show him some of the things I've built. Thank you for such a kind comment.
Fascinating! You have overcome challenges and landed on something you love! That’s my takeaway! I came from a different part of the world where I heard more of “No you cannot do it” and handful of “You can do this”, yet the stubborn me never gave up. I survived a complicated birth in a so called 3rd world and yet survived (that’s another story for a different day) and I have carried that spirit for nearly 5 decades now
You will inspire people and keep doing what you love and there is more ahead of you. That’s the beauty about computers, science, math and AI - they are helping equalize, they are enablers, if you just have the desire+passion and access, you can do this! You keep doing what you love, where you came from has started mattering less, and where you are going is what is mattering! Looking forward to more inspiring articles
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you so much for reading and the thoughtful comment. I really appreciate you sharing a little of your own story, too. It sounds like you've overcome quite a lot yourself, and I love that you've carried that determination with you all these years. I completely agree that technology can open doors for people who might never have imagined those opportunities were available to them. I certainly never expected to be doing what I'm doing now. Life really does have a funny way of surprising us. Thank you again for the encouragement. It means a lot!
This resonated, especially the part about there never being one big decision moment — just one small script turning into a project, then another. That gradual pull feels much closer to how real career changes happen than the overnight-pivot stories. And going back to school for IT after years away, and landing in the honor society, is a great detail. It shows the years working with animals and raising your kids were not a detour; they were part of how you got here. Thanks for writing this so plainly — it will land with someone who needs to hear that it is not too late.
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you so much! I think that's one of the biggest things I've learned through all of this. Life doesn't always follow some nice, straight path, and that's perfectly okay. I never would have imagined I'd end up where I am now, but I'm so glad I followed that curiosity when it showed up. And I wouldn't trade all those years doing other things either. They were just as important. I really hope this reaches someone who's thinking about starting something new but feels like they've missed their chance, because they absolutely haven't. I really appreciate your kind words!
You know what I think? I think your father's spark was in you this whole time. It was just waiting for you to find it out yourself and you did. I was genuinely happy reading your article. I, too, am getting into the tech industry in an unconventional way (career changer) and reading your experience made my jump a little bit more justified. Thank you for this. Pivot hard people! As long you live, defeat is just a rumor.
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you so much! I love the thought that maybe a little of my dad's passion was in there all along, just waiting to show itself. And it genuinely makes me happy to hear that my story gave you a little encouragement on your own journey. I think there are probably a lot more of us finding our way into tech through unconventional paths than we realize. I wish you all the best with your career change, and I hope you keep following whatever sparks your curiosity. You never know where it might take you.
I love this story, especially the reminder that discovering your passion doesn't have to happen on anyone else's schedule. What makes your journey so inspiring is that you didn't abandon your past; you built on it and allowed yourself to discover an entirely new side of who you are. I also appreciate your perspective on AI as a learning companion rather than a replacement for curiosity and effort. Sometimes the most rewarding career paths are the ones we never imagined taking. Your story is a wonderful reminder that it's never too late to surprise yourself!
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
I really love the way you put that, about discovering your passion on your own schedule. I think we sometimes forget that there’s no deadline for figuring out what we want to do with our lives, and that changing direction doesn’t mean everything that came before was somehow wasted. And I’m glad you mentioned the AI part, too. It’s been such an amazingly useful tool for helping me explore and learn, but it’s really the curiosity that keeps me going. Thank you again for the kind words!
Thank you for sharing this. One little script turning into a project, then a language, then a whole new direction sounds like how many of us fell in love with code: one curious question at a time. I came into programming later than many of my colleagues too, so I truly can relate. Which moment first felt like "I'm a programmer now"?
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Thank you! That's actually a really good question, and I'm not sure there was ever one specific moment. I think it was probably when I started researching problems, really looking into how things worked, and figuring out how to solve them myself. Somewhere along the way I went from just being excited that I could make something work to actually wanting to understand why it worked, or why it didn't. I still have a hard time thinking of myself as a programmer sometimes, but I guess that's probably when I started feeling like one.
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This one got me, so forgive a longer reply than usual.
I was fascinated by computers as a kid, and I’ve loved sci-fi and futuristic tech films my whole life. Still do. But where I’m from, the oil boom was the thing, so by the time I had to choose, I chose geology.
Then the path went sideways, in the best way. Degree in geology, and my first job was as a Linux administrator. I enjoyed it at first, and then it got boring. So I moved into business analysis. Then I worked on a genuinely exciting cloud project, and it left me wanting something more, some fusion of the geology and the thing I’d actually loved as a kid.
So I went and did a master’s, taught myself as much as I could alongside it, and came out the other side as a cloud engineer. I love it.
And I still want more. I’m back studying Python properly, throwing myself at every coding challenge I can find, and seriously thinking about going all in on AI, because that’s where my passion actually meets the current reality.
Which is why I really, really relate to your post. The one line I’d gently push back on is “those years weren’t wasted”. I think you’re underselling them. A groomer and a veterinary assistant spends every day reading something that can’t tell you what’s wrong, deciding what matters first, and getting it right without a second attempt. That’s debugging. It’s the part of this work that doesn’t come from documentation, and plenty of people who arrived through a computer science degree turn up without it.
The animals gave you the diagnostic instinct. Code is just where you’re applying it now.
And do tell your dad again. He may not quite believe it, but I suspect he likes hearing it.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. I really enjoyed reading about your journey, too. It's funny how we can end up taking such different paths and somehow find our way back to things that interested us years ago. And I love that you're still learning and exploring new things even after everything you've already accomplished.
You actually made me think about my own experience a little differently. I knew there were skills from working with animals that carried over, but I never really thought about it quite the way you described. You're absolutely right, so much of that work was observing, figuring out what was wrong, and trying to solve problems without always having a clear answer. I guess I really was debugging long before I knew what debugging was.
And you're probably right about my dad, too. I really do need to sit down with him someday and show him what I've been working on. I think he'd be pretty amazed at how much things have changed.
Thank you again. I really appreciate it, and I wish you all the best.
What drew me in was the ability to get stuck on trying to fix something or figure something out, and the satisfaction that follows after it is working! I noticed that I do not think about all my earthly problems when I am three levels deep in a thought process. It is an escape from reality that makes the time disappear. My biggest issue has been that I stick my nose into everything. Jack of all trades, master of nothing! Everything is interesting. It is a real problem. XD
I come from an art and nutrition background. The art stayed, the nutrition did not. I don't like telling people what to eat or how they should live their life, and honestly, from what I've heard, the ones that need to listen tend to not. So I gave myself some resolve on closing that door for the most part. But art will always be a part of my life.
I feel this on so many levels. When people asked me what I wanted to do when I got older, I never really had a great answer. I went to college and all that as it was "the path". I graduated, collected debt, and I've returned. 🤣 Some of us just have that "there has got to be more, what else is there?" attitude about life. The journey itself is likely the answer.
I once had someone tell me "why would anyone hire you? you don't even have a C.S. degree." That stuck with me, and I'm 75% done on my way to prove them wrong. Here's to degree number 2! XD A degree? so what, that's just a piece of documentation. No problem. XD
I am happy to see someone else on here from a non-traditional standpoint. P.S. my dad is smart too, he is retired, but was an engineer for decades. :)
Thank you so much for this comment. I relate to a lot of what you said, especially getting so deep into figuring something out that everything else disappears for a while. That feeling of finally getting something working really is hard to beat.
And about people expecting you to know exactly what you want to do when you’re young... I think a lot of us end up taking the long way around, and honestly that’s not a bad thing. It all becomes part of how we see the world and what we bring into the things we build. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to get where you're going, the point is you get there eventually.
And good for you for proving that person wrong. I love that. There’s something really satisfying about building your own path, especially when it doesn’t look traditional on paper. Also I had to smile at the dad part too. I guess we have that in common. Thank you again. 💜
One interesting thing about learning programming later in life is that you often bring a different kind of problem-solving experience with you. That becomes especially useful when debugging complex systems. For example, tracing a race condition across asynchronous API calls requires more than knowing syntax; it takes patience, observation, and the ability to connect seemingly unrelated events. Those skills can come from experiences far beyond coding. Great journey!
Thank you! I totally agree with that. We sometimes underestimate our experience in totally different areas of life, which we can apply in programming as well. Patience, ability to figure things out even if everything seems unclear at first, attention to detail – all this was gained from experience way before I even started coding. The technical knowledge is new, but a lot of the problem-solving mindset really isn't.
That's an interesting distinction, especially when you're dealing with problems where the available information doesn't immediately point to the root cause.
A good example is out-of-order event processing in distributed systems. AWS has documented scenarios where an older SQS message gets delayed by a retry, while a newer event is already processed by another Lambda invocation. When the older event eventually arrives, it can overwrite the newer database state.
The tricky part is that both operations can succeed individually, yet the overall system ends up with incorrect data. Solving this requires understanding event ordering, concurrency, and atomic conditional writes, not just knowing how to write the handler.
I think this is where experience outside programming becomes surprisingly valuable. Being comfortable investigating something without immediately having all the answers is a skill that translates incredibly well into software engineering.
“Those years weren’t wasted. They were my life.” is such a beautiful line. Also love the full circle of your dad making little learning games for you as a kid, and now you’re the one building things. Going back to school and landing in the honor society after dropping out at 17 is a story a lot of people need to hear. I hope your dad reads this one!
Thank you so much! That line really means a lot to me, because I think sometimes we get so focused on where we're going that we forget to appreciate everything that came before it. I wouldn't trade those years for anything. And the whole thing with my dad really is funny when I look back on it now. I don't think he quite realizes how much I've gotten into programming these days. I really hope I get to sit down with him and show him some of the things I've built. Thank you for such a kind comment.
Fascinating! You have overcome challenges and landed on something you love! That’s my takeaway! I came from a different part of the world where I heard more of “No you cannot do it” and handful of “You can do this”, yet the stubborn me never gave up. I survived a complicated birth in a so called 3rd world and yet survived (that’s another story for a different day) and I have carried that spirit for nearly 5 decades now
You will inspire people and keep doing what you love and there is more ahead of you. That’s the beauty about computers, science, math and AI - they are helping equalize, they are enablers, if you just have the desire+passion and access, you can do this! You keep doing what you love, where you came from has started mattering less, and where you are going is what is mattering! Looking forward to more inspiring articles
Thank you so much for reading and the thoughtful comment. I really appreciate you sharing a little of your own story, too. It sounds like you've overcome quite a lot yourself, and I love that you've carried that determination with you all these years. I completely agree that technology can open doors for people who might never have imagined those opportunities were available to them. I certainly never expected to be doing what I'm doing now. Life really does have a funny way of surprising us. Thank you again for the encouragement. It means a lot!
You keep going and doing your thing! There are lots of us, who continue to see you as inspiration. God bless and Godspeed!
This resonated, especially the part about there never being one big decision moment — just one small script turning into a project, then another. That gradual pull feels much closer to how real career changes happen than the overnight-pivot stories. And going back to school for IT after years away, and landing in the honor society, is a great detail. It shows the years working with animals and raising your kids were not a detour; they were part of how you got here. Thanks for writing this so plainly — it will land with someone who needs to hear that it is not too late.
Thank you so much! I think that's one of the biggest things I've learned through all of this. Life doesn't always follow some nice, straight path, and that's perfectly okay. I never would have imagined I'd end up where I am now, but I'm so glad I followed that curiosity when it showed up. And I wouldn't trade all those years doing other things either. They were just as important. I really hope this reaches someone who's thinking about starting something new but feels like they've missed their chance, because they absolutely haven't. I really appreciate your kind words!
You know what I think? I think your father's spark was in you this whole time. It was just waiting for you to find it out yourself and you did. I was genuinely happy reading your article. I, too, am getting into the tech industry in an unconventional way (career changer) and reading your experience made my jump a little bit more justified. Thank you for this. Pivot hard people! As long you live, defeat is just a rumor.
Thank you so much! I love the thought that maybe a little of my dad's passion was in there all along, just waiting to show itself. And it genuinely makes me happy to hear that my story gave you a little encouragement on your own journey. I think there are probably a lot more of us finding our way into tech through unconventional paths than we realize. I wish you all the best with your career change, and I hope you keep following whatever sparks your curiosity. You never know where it might take you.
I love this story, especially the reminder that discovering your passion doesn't have to happen on anyone else's schedule. What makes your journey so inspiring is that you didn't abandon your past; you built on it and allowed yourself to discover an entirely new side of who you are. I also appreciate your perspective on AI as a learning companion rather than a replacement for curiosity and effort. Sometimes the most rewarding career paths are the ones we never imagined taking. Your story is a wonderful reminder that it's never too late to surprise yourself!
I really love the way you put that, about discovering your passion on your own schedule. I think we sometimes forget that there’s no deadline for figuring out what we want to do with our lives, and that changing direction doesn’t mean everything that came before was somehow wasted. And I’m glad you mentioned the AI part, too. It’s been such an amazingly useful tool for helping me explore and learn, but it’s really the curiosity that keeps me going. Thank you again for the kind words!
Thank you for sharing this. One little script turning into a project, then a language, then a whole new direction sounds like how many of us fell in love with code: one curious question at a time. I came into programming later than many of my colleagues too, so I truly can relate. Which moment first felt like "I'm a programmer now"?
Thank you! That's actually a really good question, and I'm not sure there was ever one specific moment. I think it was probably when I started researching problems, really looking into how things worked, and figuring out how to solve them myself. Somewhere along the way I went from just being excited that I could make something work to actually wanting to understand why it worked, or why it didn't. I still have a hard time thinking of myself as a programmer sometimes, but I guess that's probably when I started feeling like one.