Letters from a Self-Taught Coder: Do I Have Any Regrets Transitioning Into Tech?
Changing careers is a big leap with new huge commitments. Do I regret taking the road less traveled? Here’s what I learned…
In my early 20s, I was carrying out a Masters degree in Research in human skin conditions. Aimlessly following the most logical path after studying for a Science degree at University, I pursued one avenue in skin care.
I was knee-deep in investigating the genetic pathways that lead to chronic inflammation in the human skin, associated with skin disease, atopic dermatitis (AD) or eczema. These pathways are used as drug targets for copper peptide compounds. Such peptides hold anti-microbial and healing properties to prevent inflammation in AD.
While I deeply appreciated the essence of chemistry and all its wonders to add meaning and logical understanding of the things that make up the world, in my downtime, my creative outlet involved creating websites from concept to production, sparked from a simple idea and taking inspiration from the world around me.
I found myself deeply immersed in this world of technology that I couldn’t bear to resist!
Upon extensive research, evaluating life decisions, and staring at the Excel spreadsheet where I laid out all the pros and cons of pivoting my career path, I acted on the decision that would henceforth change the trajectory of my career and life.
Making this decision altered the trajectory of my future more than I could ever imagine. I learned a multitude of career, productivity, life hacks and life lessons that I find will most likely transcend time.
A decision that I valued so deeply, has led me to advocate for career pivoters, trailblazers, passion creators, and the like.
Here are some of the reasons why pivoting careers was a golden moment in my life, with no signs of regret.
1. Becoming A Self-starter
Sailing uncharted waters alone meant I had to change my lifestyle to echo the following:
Self-starter
Self-sufficiency
Self-reliant
And the more I began to learn, the more I found myself adapted to this mindset and way of life. Eventually, it became an innate lifestyle.
Becoming a self-starter instilled continued confidence and fostered the drive for me to take things by two hands, control my ship and aim for my Northern star.
2. We Create Our Futures
The future is uncertain, but we play a significant role in directing where our ships will sail.
A career change journey comes with it’s own challenges, just like many other challenges in our individual lives.
There will always be moments of doubts before we make a decision that can ultimately affect the trajectory of our futures.
I had my own unique doubts. I had particular uncertainties about many, many things. However, what I began to understand through all this doubt is that whether or not one sits on a particular decision, a decision is made regardless.
Whether or not one chooses path A or path B (however you define those paths), it will take you a step closer to your destination than you think.
It became more clearer that whatever decision that was made, nothing was lost and there is only more to gain.
Each decision leads to a new set of possibilities that positively added to my journey.
Ultimately, it was never about an end game for me either. It was a continuous, graceful, messy and precious process of painting the masterpiece I call my life and the world I wanted to live in. Likewise for you, it will be the life you want to life and the world you live in, which can look different for all.
While we continue to reach out goals for X, I believe we will always continue to refine our choices and continue to build our futures daily.
So, while we may often feel undecided about certain things, think of it this way:
There is no right or wrong decision, there is simply a decision that can open a new set of possibilities, to help you create your future of tomorrow.
3. Uncomfortability Became MY Friend
In order to change our lives, we must be willing to be uncomfortable.
Often, I found myself in intense uncomfortable terrains. Equipped with no prior knowledge on how to navigate the foreign environments. But if there’s anything we learned in Finding Nemo, it’s to ‘just keep swimming’, even when we cannot see what is ahead, or are afraid of the end result.
Welcome the ever shining golden nugget of all time during hard times:
Keep going and never give up.
Overtime, I found myself sailing with improved degrees of resilience, perserverance and determination in my work and lifestyle.
All this was a by product was being uncomfortable along the unknown path.
Day by day, it became clearer across the horizon that anything is achievable and our efforts will flourish.
These days, while changing careers appears more common than years ago, it can feel highly uncomfortable and disorienting.
To lesson the intensity of the discomfort, I normalised uncomfortability and saw it from an alternate lens. I began to see uncomfortability as a friend that needed a bit of familiarity and nurture. There is no point on working against uncomfortability because it would stop me in my tracks.
I believed it was best to work with it and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. That all this was part of the journey that I chose to sail towards. I often like to tell my mentees and peers,
‘I don’t believe in straight-forward, simple, easy paths. I believe in the path that we choose to go down and pursue. Because it is the journey we write for ourselves.’
A Final Note
At the end of the day, I believe that only you will have a good idea of what is best for yourself.
Henceforth, I strongly believe that before we go out into unchartered waters, it is best to build that confidence in ourselves first. Internally prep the Captain for what is ahead. The Captain, being you.
And even if you don’t know yet, that is okay too. Allow yourself that space to explore, give yourself permission and time to test the waters. But most importantly, remember that THIS is all part of the experience and the journey.
Direct your energy onto one thing at a time and work on things day by day.
You’re the captain of your own ship, you can’t cover all uncharted waters all in one day. It’s literally impossible. You must be realistic with it.
Analogous to all athletic performers and highly skilled pilots, they too had to undergo copious hours of training to get to where they are today. And counting.
At the same time, I believe every decision we make is our responsibility. I believe we should try to live our lives as best we can and try to minimise regret as much as possible. Even if things don’t turn out the way we hoped it to be, we can always work towards a better solution for it.
I hope this article provides a glimpse into my experience. If you have any questions, feel free to find me over at my Instagram or shoot me an email over at: hellokatiekodes@gmail.com. I’m more than happy to answer any questions you may have, or to simply have a chat! :)
You know where to find me.
Thank you for reading.
Sail with confidence.
© 2021 Hello Katie Kodes. All rights reserved.”
