I went to college for philosophy and then, briefly, to graduate school for creative writing. Now, I work as a data engineer. Naturally, people always ask: "How did you go from philosophy to data?"
There are many ways to answer that question – a short version, a long version, an embellished version, a boring version, and so on.
But the most essential version is that the Internet is a vast trove of information for those who want to learn to code. For about three years, I worked through various online courses and books on web development because I desperately wanted to ditch my job in the service industry for a position as a front-end developer.
Studying development sparked an app idea (haven't we all been there?). And I eventually partnered with a few people to make that idea a reality.
In 2017, I launched Mentrs, a marketplace for peer-to-peer teaching. Mentrs was ahead of its time; this was a few years before the explosion of online teaching platforms like Mighty Networks and Teachable. Alas, Mentrs flopped, and I learned my first lesson in entrepreneurship: the code is half the battle, and the marketing plan is the other half.
My experience helping build Mentrs gave me some resume fodder that caught the eye of a software company in Austin, Texas. Ironically, I was hired there as an Implementation Specialist, not a front-end developer. "If you can project manage developing an application, you can do this job," they said. After nearly a decade of working in restaurants, coffee shops, and hotels, being an implementation specialist didn't sound half bad – especially since the pay was double what I'd made waiting tables and pouring cups of coffee.
That was the first big break. The second involved a similar bait and switch. After a few years as an 'imp' (the team's internal term for implementation specialist), I decided it was time to pack up the suitcase and move to Fort Worth. This meant finding a new job, so I decided to roll up my sleeves and give being a front-end developer one more shot.
I broadcast my resume to my network – you know, cast a wide net, exhaust all connections, that kind of thing. In reality, I sent my resume to a good friend I had spent time with going to metal and hardcore shows in Amarillo, Texas, years before.
The company he worked at didn't develop web applications, but they needed a business intelligence analyst. He put in a good word for me, and I interviewed for the position. When asked what experience I had with data analytics, I said I knew how to sling a little PostgreSQL and MongoDB. I received a gentle rejection letter: "You're not the right fit for the role, but we will keep your resume on file for future positions."
Two weeks later, they called back and said another spot opened on the team. I accepted without hesitation. My time as an imp had come to an end, and my move from philosophy to creative writing to data was complete. It wasn't linear or planned, but it was all very much the outcome of being persistent and open to opportunity.
