My path to learning software development hasn’t been traditional. When I begin college, I had little idea what I wanted to do after graduation, but I knew I loved math, science, and building things, so I decided to study mechanical engineering. I enjoyed the mechanical engineering curriculum and ended up landing a job with Shell after graduation, working on creating drilling programs for Shell’s acreage in the Vaca Muerta shale in Argentina.
Throughout my time in school I had always enjoyed the exposure I got to computer programming, mostly through Matlab, with a little bit of Java and C++ sprinkled in. However, I only skimmed the surface of software development until about 2 and a half years after graduation.
At that point I was still working for Shell, but had moved on to a role as a night supervisor for Shell’s drilling operations in West Texas. I would work a tough 4:30pm to 7:30am shift for 14 days, but would then have 14 days completely off. During this time off, I started to do some research into building iOS apps and began to work through some of Apple’s Swift tutorials.
The feeling of completing a module and having a working portion of an iOS app was addicting. I loved being able to write some code and get feedback right away. In the past, when I had designed a tool or product, the time from concept to having a working prototype would typically be measured in weeks, but with software it could be minutes or hours.
In February of 2017, I had the opportunity to found a startup with a friend of mine, building iOS applications to help students dealing with bullying and harassment at school connect with administrators, and I jumped at the chance to put my new-found skills to work. I thoroughly enjoyed the process, although it was certainly stressful at times. However, I realized quickly that there was a massive amount to learn about the world of software development, and that trying to keep a business running while learning a significant amount about this world would be impossible.
And that brings me to today, where I am working my way through the Flatiron School Full Stack Web Development program. Something that has always excited me about programming is the seemingly limitless possibilities as to what can be created with just a laptop. I can’t wait to continue learning so that I can discover new ideas and ways to build on and expand the universe of software development.