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Did embedded software for a couple decades at numerous companies. Was good at it, but saw the path was going to slowly drift into the weeds (company was aspiring to build products competing with what competitors had discarded as obsolete). Noticed one of those rare ground-floor technology shift opportunities was occurring in the industry... Told my students in my side/after-hours gig as professor "there's a rare ground-floor technology shift opportunity occurring in the industry, now's your chance..." A friend was co-founder of a startup. One day, while in his home for unrelated reasons, he was on the phone with CIO lamenting their [then] inability to find iOS developers. He saw me, pointed, shouted "don't leave!", hung up, and asked if I wanted to do iOS development. "Yes!" I replied with enthusiasm. He then asked if I actually knew iOS development. "No! but I'd jump at the chance & reason to learn!" We arranged a 6-month trial period, I worked long hard nights learning & implementing iOS code, and within 3 months was hired as the 2nd employee. A few years later, that business was sold, and moved on to doing apps for major corporations. Upshot: technology & business path was stalling out, used an opportune connection to take a risk in jumping to the near-start of a new yet equivalent technology path. Was able to leverage deep "magic" skills (intuition, arcane knowledge, refined techniques) to "do-over" my career, starting with decades of experience into a realm just years old. |