I didn’t always dream of becoming a Software Engineer. In my high school years, I had entirely different aspirations. I wanted to become a surgeon. This dream, shared with my best friend, led us on an educational journey aimed at Medical School. However, my journey to the current career was paved with a few surprises, detours, and choices that would ultimately shape my destiny.
As high school progressed, I embraced the role of a “nerd,” not aligning with the popular crowd. My dressing style, featuring a dark suit and white socks, reflected my cluelessness about social norms. My introverted nature was booming! My studies and achieving good grades were my sole focus, considering this my job. For a while, it seemed like I was well on my way to realizing my dream of becoming a doctor. That was until one fateful day when I received my first disappointing grade. Physics “ruined” my track record. It was a stark wake-up call that pushed me to reevaluate my path.
Determined to tackle challenges, I made a decision: I would abandon my pursuit of Medical School and instead enroll in Engineering School. Despite being good at Maths, Physics, and even Pascal during Informatics class, I never considered pursuing any other career besides Medical School until then. My definition of an IT professional was someone installing operating systems and debugging printers — tasks I was doing almost monthly at home or helping friends out.
My best friend chose to stay on that path and has become highly regarded as an accomplished ophthalmologist. Looking back, I have high doubts I would have enjoyed medical school or the job itself at the end of the day.
University life opened up a world of possibilities for me. I found myself surrounded by technology. My curiosity for programming and coding began to grow. During my time in higher education, I delved into various programming languages — from Java to Matlab to Assembly. I even took a course where we had to create our very own programming language. Despite this newfound passion, I didn’t have a clear direction in mind. I simply knew I wanted to write code.
As graduation approached, the inevitable question arose: “What’s next?“. It was time to take the leap and step into the professional world. I found myself attending interviews with two companies on the same day. None of the two companies were famous corporations that Engineering students usually dream of working for. This didn’t matter to me. I just wanted a job. I wanted to put into practice what I’d learned through the uni years. I wanted to gain real professional experience.
These were my first interviews, and both lasted for around one hour. I was completely clueless about my performance. On my way back to the dorm, as I was exiting the metro station, I kept thinking: “Did I do well? Will anyone be open to hiring me?“.
Fast forward to the next day, I received a phone call from an unknown number. It was the first company I had the interview with a day ago. They offered me the opportunity to join them as a Junior PHP developer. I was thrilled that someone was keen to give me this chance. Just as I was absorbing this news, another call came through. To my surprise, it was the lady I had the interview with from the second company. They, too, were eager to hire me as a Support Engineer with Java. It’s hard to express the joy I felt that I passed two interviews, and now, as a fresh graduate with no experience, I had two options. “What choice should I make?” This was the big question I had to answer.
The choice I made was a defining moment that I can’t help but smile about today. I chose the Support Engineer position, not because I had a particular preference for the language, the technology, or the company, but because it paid 45 Euros more per month than the PHP job. At the time, 45 Euros covered my living expenses for two weeks. I didn’t care about the aesthetics of the office — whether it was in a large corporate building, an apartment, or a one-floor building behind a church close to a lake. I had no idea about the nature of their work, whether they were an outsourcing company or a product-based one. The concept of best practices and efficient ways of working was foreign to me. I only had some theoretical knowledge about Design Patterns I’d studied in university, which didn’t make much sense at that point. The only thing that mattered was the fact I had a job. My first IT job.
And so, my journey in the technology world began with a blend of serendipity and pragmatism. Unaware of it at the time, this seemingly arbitrary choice led me to a path where I would not only learn the art and science of coding but also discover a passion that would shape my career. The CTO Trek, my blog, is a testament to the lessons learned, the challenges faced, and the growth experienced throughout this incredible journey. Join me as I reflect on the twists and turns of my career, sharing the knowledge and experiences that have transformed me from a novice coder into a seasoned IT professional. As my career progressed, encounters with challenges and unexpected opportunities shaped my perspectives in ways I couldn’t have imagined.