[tmjdev]

This resonated with me. I actually took that road construction job as a flagger. I stood there turning that stop sign back and forth, directing traffic, for a whole summer. I felt, and still feel it was the lowest point of my career. My brain was starved in the truest sense of the word and it gave me new fire to complete my college degree.

Which was Electrical Engineering. I didn't learn that I really should have gone for computer science, computer engineering, or something along those lines until after 5 years of work in the industry. I was just carrying the family flag of engineering.

I contracted with a friend's company after telling them that I needed a change of work and was interested in software. After telling them I had zero professional experience writing code (two CS classes in college), they assured me they would get me up and running.

Now here I am as a full stack engineer just over a year later. I really don't know how I got here. But I do know that this type of work is incredibly gratifying and I should have pursued it early on.

Somehow as I grew up I got the idea in my head that work should be your personal crucible and that loving work was really a sign of workaholism. So I always took those jobs that were miserable just to get a paycheck. I hope I can help my kids find work best suited for them.

[tmjdev]

I should mention that coding had been an early interest of mine. In middle school I put custom firmware on my PSP so that I could use a homebrewed version of YouTube to watch a series of "Learning C++ From Scratch" videos at night. Had somebody noticed that interest I could have been encouraged early on that that interest could actually be a profitable job and not just a hobby.

[anonomousename]

Given you were so interested in programming as a kid, how did you rationalize a career in engineering? I'm only asking because I'm doing something similar - I was mostly interested in computers/programming growing up, and am now in my second year of Mechanical Engineering (w/ CS Minor, which doesn't mean much) and wondering if I should just bite the bullet and switch over to CS all the way.

[tmjdev]

It was that 'carrying the family flag of engineering' thing. This notion that engineering was a safe bet and I should do it if I could. Very little to do with my actual interests. Not to say I don't enjoy electrical engineering. I just don't enjoy the work.

After creating many tools for the companies I worked for it became clear to myself that I should have done that in first place. My advice to you would be to take more CS classes to see if that's really what you want to do. A small price to pay now and will give you a better idea of what you want to do.

That being said, my experience (electric utility manufacturing, military truck electrical systems) was very valuable to my broader understanding of how software is consumed.