[travisjungroth]

Very short version. I didn’t go to university. I worked a bunch of odd jobs, then went to flight school. Worked as a pilot, owned a small school myself. I took up coding for fun. I started with Head First PHP. I was always trying to make small apps to make money (never really worked). I made some Wordpress websites for gyms and restaurants. I’d highly recommend that as a way to pad a resume. Just don’t do the hosting yourself.

Decided to learn Python and just read a bunch of books. Got a job at a startup in SF. Did that, then another job, then tried sales, founded a startup (failed) and just got a job as a software engineer at Netflix.

I just like ideas. Software is great because it’s like math in that a lot of it is just pure idea stuff, and you also get to test if you’re right or wrong (say compared to writing prose). Some stuff isn’t proven and that’s cool too. If the job market for aerobatic instructor and software engineer were switched, I’d probably be flying for a living and coding for fun.

I wouldn’t exactly suggest following my path. I’ve been quite lucky. If I could go back in time and spend a week with my young self, I’d make a plan to get a math or CS degree, probably math. I like graphs a lot. I’d also learn how to code on my own.

But I can’t go back in time and that’s fine. Probably for the best.