The Transition that Changed Everything:
Why I Left Finance to Break into Tech
May 15th, 2016 was the happiest day of my life. I married my best friend, and had a week-long Hawaiian vacation to look forward to. October 10th, 2016 was the second happiest day: it was when my wife told me I would be a father. Though completely unexpected, I was ecstatically looking forward to meeting my son in mid-June of the following year.
You can therefore imagine the shock my coworkers, friends, and family expressed when I put in my two-weeks notice at Wells Fargo on April 21st, 2017. Why would I leave my job as a financial analyst after only a couple of years? Would abandoning a steady paycheck, great benefits, and a wonderful team just two months prior to the expected due date of my son be worth the risk?
Leaving my job when I did didn’t seem to make much sense. What made it even more difficult is that I didn’t have a job lined up — and at the moment I still don’t. But I knew it was time.
Two years ago, I graduated from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University with a double major in finance and religion. Prior to planting my stake in the real world, my eyes were set on graduating, spending the summer with family, and starting my finance career in San Francisco. Then life happened: a week before clocking in on my first day at Wells, my father passed away. It was one of the hardest seasons in my life.
I found myself considering the impact I wanted to have in the world — the legacy I wanted to leave behind.
Three things came to mind: I want to empower people economically, I want to create a social impact, and I want to prioritize family.
As the days on the job turned to weeks, then to a year, I discovered both how I wanted to achieve my goal, and the depth of the canyon between where I was and where I desired to be.
That’s when I started thinking about technology. Rather than Windex-ing the glass ceiling of other people’s agendas, I took a mallet to it. Why get stuck in a world others created, when I could create something brand new on my own? Technology would be tool to break out on my own.
I started teaching myself to code online through Codecademy. Ravenous, I dove deeper and deeper, spending my evenings and weekends learning new concepts (much to my wife’s chagrin). I spent hours watching documentaries about Silicon Valley tech giants. I learned something curious: none of the famous entrepreneurs started their companies knowing where they would end up — they simply pursued what they loved and worked harder than anyone else.
I knew if I wanted to pursue my dream, I needed to push myself harder. I enrolled in an online bootcamp, the Firehose Project, spending nearly every second outside of work completing coding projects. My average day lasted from 4am to 11pm.
Then came October 10th.
Operating at max capacity, I did my best to assume the additional responsibilities of preparing to become a dad. However it was clear that I was spreading myself far too thin between my 40–50 hour/week job, 10–20 hour/week coding bootcamp, and devoting time to my wife and community. Something had to give.
Comfort, stability, and familiarity was all that tied me to Wells Fargo. But life is more than making a steady paycheck from graduation to retirement. My passion for the tech industry wouldn’t be quenched, and as a firm believer in an intelligent, loving, and present God, I didn’t believe in coincidences.
I thought back to my legacy, and the three goals I knew I wanted to accomplish. I’m not guaranteed a long life — the prime time to make my impact is now.
I left my steady job to become a freelance software engineer, secure a full-time position in the tech industry, and gain the experience I need to create a company that will leverage technology to empower people. Now several weeks in, I’ve been able to take on multiple clients, continuing to provide for my family while searching for a full-time position with an established organization. My nine-to-five is filled with work that I love and my personal time is spent with my wife, enjoying these last precious moments as a family of two.
With the freedom that I have, I’m choosing the footsteps I’ll leave behind. There’s no telling what the road ahead will look like, but therein lies the beauty: I get to figure it out. I have the loving support of my wife, family, and friends. I’m not alone and that’s all I need to make it through each day.
