The commonalities of chemistry, coffee and coding
A bachelor’s degree in chemistry is not usually the first requirement for a barista at the local coffee shop. So when people find out I’ve accumulated about two years of training at boutique cafés all over the globe, they’re a little surprised. Although it’s not quite the same, my chemistry background helped when it came to the exact mechanics of coffee making and for the transition to a full-time software developer.
One winter break during university, a travel bug leapt from my roommate to bite me. The only natural cure was to put my nicely framed diploma in chemistry on the shelf and go teach English abroad for a year. A job, plus the chance to travel was exactly the combination I needed to soothe the itch. I taught in South Korea for a year before exploring other pockets of Asia. Throughout my travels, I met hundreds of people from all over the world, each with colorful stories and experiences to tell. Along the way, a recurring tale was that of the incredible, sunny pastures of Australia. The idea incepted my mind and took over my curiosity. Before I left Asia, I already decided I was going to pursue the Australian working holiday visa.
I fell into a barista role in Perth, learning how to make coffee with the addition of very precise latte art. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the industry, as it followed reasoning as with science. I viewed creating a cup of coffee as a series of steps to solving an equation, where variables with factors were on one side and a perfect cup of joe on the other. Take extracting espresso as an example. When it is extracting too quickly, it generally means the coffee grounds were too fine. Adjust and repeat the steps again, just like any good research project.
Eventually there came a time when my visa required me to change it up. I swapped the cups for vials, and the La Marzocco machine for larger instruments as I spent the last few months working in a geochemical lab in Western Australia, testing samples for the mining industry. Although it felt awesome to put my degree to use, I was itching to learn about the rest of Australia and its neighbors.
This time around, I had a travel partner. She was a college friend, who’d wanted to travel with me as she had not done much traveling of her own. So, you can imagine how alarmed she was when I mentioned my desire to use hitchhiking as my primary mode of transportation through New Zealand. I had heard of people riding with friendly natives through incredible landscapes and wanted to experience it first-hand. Soon enough, I managed to travel New Zealand exclusively in the cars of complete strangers (Sorry, Mum). I got a tiny taste of New Zealand, and even though I’d seen a lot of the country after 2 months, I still felt there was so much to explore.
Years later, I found myself in New York City, making 300 lattes a day thinking, where to now? I had run through enough combinations of the equation that I needed a new problem to solve. It was the first time I’d felt myself hit a wall in the coffee industry as I couldn’t see much space left to grow. I was yearning for another challenge.
It must have been obvious my enthusiasm was fading when a workmate suggested I enroll with her in the “Web Development Immersive” at General Assembly. I was convinced I wasn’t cut out for the world of coding. However, I reluctantly attended the open day, and lo and behold found myself in a 12 week intensive course. I was introduced to HTML/CSS, Node, Javascript, Backbone, and Ruby. Coding was an entirely new world to me, but I found my brain exercising those analytical skills from chemistry to tackle algorithms. As some may know, studying chemistry involves taking many mathematics, physics and other logic based courses. All those mental exercises from balancing stoichiometric equations, working out derivatives, understanding laws of physics, etc., prepared me to write programs with languages that spell out logic. I knew coding would enable the type of lifestyle I wanted and fund my next adventure. If I had an internet connection I could work from anywhere in the world, and that was appealing.
After completing the General Assembly course and working as an in-house developer for 2 years, my itch to live abroad returned. My partner is a sailor, so finding a place near the ocean was a must. We deliberated over a few different locations, from Denmark to Taiwan to Singapore to New Zealand. After much head scratching, and much to my delight, we settled on New Zealand.
I always knew I needed to work somewhere with an emphasis on professional growth and development. Surrounding yourself in a culture that promotes mentorship ensures the learning never stops, and there is minimal possibility of the ‘I’ve hit a wall’ feeling. That made Flux an obvious choice. Flux nurtures ideas by setting aside two designated hack days every month for employees to explore a topic individually or in groups. Projects include internal tools to improve the day to day, or simply reading up on new developments in Ruby or another coding language. We’re at the cutting edge of the industry in every sense, and it’s an awesome feeling to come into work and feel inspired by the people sitting next to you.
Flux also embraces differences by hiring people from all around the world and from different backgrounds like me. I will always be a barista, an Asian American, a chemistry graduate, an adventurer, and now a developer. I’ve learnt to bring these strengths together and recognise the unique combination of skills I bring to the table. No one is ever just one ‘thing’ — what a boring world that would be!