Consultant to Coder
A career-change interview with Escape’s competition winner Marcus Gardiner.
A lot of people want to do something different, but don’t want to have to ‘start again’. Waving goodbye to a valuable skill set in order to return to ground zero isn’t sexy, let alone smart. But Marcus Gardiner, Escape Community member and Makers Academy Competition Winner disagrees.
Like us, Marcus believes that starting anew is different to starting again and doesn’t involve binning your LinkedIn profile. When changing career (and your life) it is important to understand the difference.
Starting again implies that you’ve somehow failed. You’ve taken a ‘misstep’ and need to correct your course drastically. Forget about a gentle tweaking of the ship, you’re overboard and swimming for the horizon. Starting anew however means to try something in a new, different and typically more positive way. It means to continue on your path to fulfilling work but from a place of considered reflection rather than reckless abandon.
Marcus is changing his career drastically; from a consultant to a full-time coder, and below we discuss how he is approaching his starting anew.
Tell us a bit about you and your Escape story?
“I studied Economics at Exeter University, did internships in accounting, investment banking and consulting before taking up consulting; which I have been doing for 3 years. Through consulting I built and used a large variety of skills, but quickly pursued, and came to be known for, a more technical skill-set. It is important to me to always feel like I am learning and pursuing what I truly think is the right next step for me. That is why I chose consulting instead of banking and accountancy. I want to spend more of my time building and using a technical and team-orientated set of skills to solve difficult challenges and be a part of shaping and building on what is possible
What attracted you to enter the Makers Academy Coding Course Competition, knowing it would mean a 360 career change?
“In my opinion, you never truly have to start again. It’s very tempting and easy to see everything you have done as a ‘sunk cost’ when making an investment in a different set of skills. It is certainly the first thing I thought of and what my subconscious was telling me.
However, when I sat down and really thought it through, I came to the realisation that this was completely false. All of the skills and experiences I have had will stay with me. I won’t forget how I connected with someone at work for the first time by balancing professionalism and being authentic, or how being transparent about my first major blunder actually helped build the trust that allowed me to take on more challenging roles.
The variety of my experiences has taught me different lessons that mesh together into who I am today; both personally and professionally.
A lot of people want to do something different, but don’t want to have to ‘start again’, how do you combat the anxiety over starting anew?
“I remind myself to have a ‘beginners mindset’, or to pursue things with the ‘lightness of a beginner’ (which I believe is a Steve Jobs quote). When I begin to think ‘all these things I have done, all that hard work I did’, it can paralyse. I remember the questions I had when I first graduated from school or university, or when I chose my A-level subjects: ‘what do I want to do, where do I want to take my life?’ When I first made those choices, there was no heaviness; I was pursuing what I thought was best and it was a first run, so there wasn’t the same pressure. Nothing has really changed from here, only our mental perception has.
“With the lightness of a beginner, you make choices for the right reasons: both personally and professionally.”
Why do you value coding skills above the ones you already possess?
“Coding has always been a useful skill with a high barrier to entry. I think what is exciting and different now is what you can do with code. The skill at its fundamental level is the same: satisfying, logical problem solving. However, the applications are broader and more exciting than ever due to technological developments. Do I want to help a business digitally enhance what they offer or unlock the power of their data, teach a machine how to learn or help create a new world in virtual reality? Thankfully, the demand for coding has also never been higher and will only rise, but this, I think, you already know!
A side project is often a good way to test whether a new career is right before you jump in. Have you coded before and test driven your new career?
“In doing the competition with Escape the City at their Alternative Careers Festival, I completed the Makers Academy pre-course in my evenings and weekends alongside my job. This was a fantastic way to test drive coding and understand whether it was something I really wanted to pursue. If I wanted to wake up on Saturday and do it — that’s a pretty good sign. I am a massive believer that passion is cultivated and that it doesn’t just magically arise from nowhere — something that ETC teaches as well. If I think back 10 years my interests and passions were completely different to today and I think accepting this is really important.
Why choose the Makers Academy bootcamp rather than teach yourself, or travel abroad and become a digital nomad as many others do?
“To me the digital nomad is probably part-myth and rarer than people think. The stereotype is a guy or girl on a beach with a martini and a laptop. I think that people learn best when engaging with others. You learn more as other people can share their experiences. For example, I imagine for most people reading this, the majority of their friends were made during their education. At the same time Makers Academy has a proven method for challenging people to learn: it’s not spoon fed, but it is highly structured and based on the latest research. I don’t want to waste any time in pursuing coding and to me the cost of the extra time it would take to achieve the same level makes a bootcamp an obvious choice.
Do you have any further advice or thoughts to share with others contemplating a significant career change?
“You are a scientist experimenting with your life through your career choices. And, whether a particular experiment goes badly or not is less important than just knowing you failed in the pursuit something that mattered to you. You are hunting for what makes you come alive and whilst doing so you are changing as a person. No matter the outcome you owe it to yourself to get back into the lab and keep experimenting…
You can find Marcus Gardiner on Facebook and LinkedIn where he’ll be sharing updates on his journey.
If you are interested in learning to code just email us here and we’ll put you directly in touch with the team at Makers Academy.
Makers Academy is Europe’s leading coding bootcamp. MA help complete beginners to learn the basics of software development and find their first job as junior programmers in world-class companies in just 12 weeks.
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Not sure what your own ‘sexy leap’ could be? Apply for the Find your Mission competition with The Mission to understand more about your own personal life goals and how you can accelerate your life’s ambitions.
