Wannabe Frontend Developer — as a lawyer
By: Funda Düven
Tags: Careers, Front End Development, Lawyers, Berlin, Career Change

I’m a lawyer who is now working as a frontend developer! Sounds irrelevant, right? In Turkey, I spent my years being an attorney at law. That means so many sleepless days, a lot of pages to read, so much stress! I remember I was just sleeping two hours some days and the rest of the day was all about studying.

After 4 years of hard work I graduated from the best law faculty in Turkey and started my one year internship. It was okay-ish. But I felt like it shouldn’t be like this. Working 2 years as a lawyer, was already enough to understand that it’s not for me. I should work somewhere more social, create something more fun, do what I feel more satisfied with.

I knew that my math skills are very good and I really like problem solving, which is the only thing I liked about being a lawyer, and I was always inclined to the IT sector. While I was holding scale of the justice, I started taking online courses to see if I’m going to like working as a coder. After a while I feel like I just want to do this thing. But it is not a common thing to quit your career in Turkey, especially if you graduated from an excellent university with a good degree. Most of the people in my life actually didn’t understand and didn’t believe me that I can be a developer without knowing anything. There were so many negative thoughts around me. Luckily I have some friends and family who always encourage me. So I took a big step for myself, quit my job and found an internship in an agency.

Hello to my new life!

5 months later, I moved to Berlin. Being unemployed and getting used to a new country, a new language, a new circle of friends sometimes made me feel overwhelmed. But I never quit working for my goal.

This time, I seriously started taking online courses about web development which really excited me. I focused on Frontend Development because I really like the idea of creating consumer-facing experience. I mean, we are all using websites but being a person who develops it, kinda thrilling!

Changing careers to a whole different sector is not always butterflies and rainbows. It sometimes means changing moods, feeling like that you can’t do it. But despite those mood swings, I tried to keep my eagerness to discover new things. Cause in the end I felt like I found my passion and never wanted to quit.

Time to go for a real experience!

After a while, I realised that learning just by yourself is not enough for me anymore. I should work with a team for real projects. With some encouragement, I began looking for an internship. When I started to apply to companies, actually I felt so insecure. Huge step. Finally, I was going to test my self-learnings. I really wanted to dive in real projects. To be honest, I was scared to get rejected.

Then, some study cases and interview mails started coming! OMG, I can’t describe how I felt. It was an incredible feeling to see the counterpart, in a field I have never known, learned only by working with my laptop, by researching, reading, implementing. And yes! It’s REAL!

After one year of hard work and some interviews, I took an offer! It was unbelievable. Just 1.5 years ago, as a lawyer, I had cases, was going to courts and now, I’m working as a frontend developer in Berlin! It is all about good feelings. Satisfied. Proud. Happy.

Now, it is a long way in front of me laying but I know that I will never give up. Like I never did since from the beginning. Right now, it’s much more fun. And more achievements are on the way! If someone out there feels the same way that I do, please don’t stop working for what you love. Don’t let yourself drown in people’s negative thoughts. I know you can do it. I know because I did it!