Switching Careers and Confronting Self Doubt
By: Sandra Illi Villarreal
Tags: Tech, Slack, Career Paths, Bootcamp, Career Change

Starting Over

There’s nothing easy about changing career paths. For me, it happened in my late twenties. Until that point, I had accomplished relatively little in my career and was nowhere near where I thought I’d be at 28. And I was terrified. At times, the thought of “sticking it out” in a job I hated to avoid failure seemed like the better option. However, the decision to switch careers was made for me when I was let go from said job (I know, the irony). I decided to take it as a sign from the universe. It was now or never.

A bit about me

Throughout University and most of my twenties, my career goals were very hazy. I didn’t have a Computer Science or Business degree at University (shout out sociology majors), and my accomplishments after graduation were quite dull. I didn’t land fancy internships or cultivate a professional network. I was massively underprepared and lacking in any real skill. You could say I didn’t fit the bill of someone destined for a thriving tech career. If any of this resonates, good, keep reading.

In a way, this was all a self-fulfilling prophecy. From a young age, I convinced myself that I had no aptitude for and therefore could never have a future in STEM. This self-limiting belief was the driver of so many future decisions and self-imposed roadblocks. Ever since my first gig out of University (an unpaid internship), I was fascinated by the tech world. Regardless, I sought out unstimulating and mediocre roles because I genuinely thought that’s all that I was good enough to do.

The Decision

After I was let go from my job in 2017, my self-confidence had hit rock bottom, but I was determined to see this setback as an opportunity. A move to tech seemed like a no-brainer. The industry was thriving. New tech companies were popping up weekly. And oh boy, did I crave that lifestyle. The over-the-top offices with ping-pong tables and an endless supply of avocados; the lavish perks, the cult-like work culture, it was calling to me. I started manifesting working for a trending tech company before I even knew what my next moves would be. I had the ambition. Now I just needed the skill.

The Plunge

If you ever need to be humbled, enroll in a full-time programming Bootcamp. After some research and talking to friends in the industry, I decided that programming was the skill I needed to learn. I was scared. Learning to code meant looking at all my insecurities straight in the eye. Would I be able to tackle a skill that was the antithesis of everything I believed I was capable of? Despite all these fears, I took the plunge and enrolled in coding Bootcamp. My desire for success was more significant than my fear of failure, but man was that notion challenged on the regular. During the ten weeks of Bootcamp, there wasn’t a day where I didn’t question myself and my abilities. All those self-limiting beliefs I was working so hard to dismantle were constantly mocking me. My brain didn’t feel wired for coding and every day was a struggle. There were lots of tears, frustration, and, of course, good-old imposter syndrome.

I stand before you today, a Bootcamp survivor. By no means was I the class coding prodigy, but I was dedicated and resilient. And it paid off.

The Search

Companies aren’t necessarily lining up to hire Bootcamp grads. For the first month, I networked and applied to any junior developer roles I could find. The intermittent results were a mixed bag of rejections, phone screenings, and intimidating technical interviews. The process was discouraging. Every rejection fed into my lingering beliefs that I was in over my head. Regardless of what I had accomplished so far, was it all for nothing if I couldn’t get hired? Was completing the Bootcamp course just a fluke, and was I not meant to work in tech at all?

It’s hard to overcome self-doubt when life seems to provide evidence that what you hold to be true about yourself is, in fact, true. As my confidence wavered, I decided to shift my mindset. Maybe I had been approaching things from the wrong angle. It wasn’t just about finding a company that’d take me. It was about finding the company where I wanted to work. It was about getting my foot in the door. I started to branch out and cast a wider net.

The Job Offer

Until that point, I had resisted promoting any skills I’d gained from past jobs as strengths. I was worried I’d be pigeonholed into roles I didn’t want and end up in a similar situation to the one I’d just left. I also viewed my experience as being tied to a person I no longer wanted to be. But I was wrong. Ultimately, it was my combined skills and diverse background that made me a more attractive candidate. A few weeks later, I had my first interview at Slack. A few weeks after that, I accepted my offer as a Developer Support Specialist.

Learnings

I am now in my second role at Slack and can honestly say that working here has changed my life. But my success story isn’t unique. I firmly believe anyone willing to put in the work can accomplish their big tech dreams too.

If you are looking to switch careers into tech or are about to start the job hunt, here are some things I wished someone would’ve told me:

You don’t have to be technical to be in tech, but it helps. There are many career opportunities in the tech industry, and only some of them require coding knowledge. In my opinion, any person who grew up using a computer has the technical understanding necessary to succeed in tech. Trust your previous experiences, and don’t neglect your soft skills. You’re a complete package and can offer a fresh perspective. Don’t discard the experiences that have gotten you this far. If you don’t know where to start, be open-minded and flexible. Landing your dream job right out of University or Bootcamp is a fate reserved for magical unicorns and the elite. Things tend to be slightly more complicated for some of us, so don’t discard opportunities just because they aren’t “the perfect” opportunity. Most importantly, don’t stand in your own way. Whenever I felt like my self-limiting beliefs were getting the best of me, I tried to approach the situation differently. I don’t think the solution is to ignore those feelings. Acknowledge them, reassess the situation rationally and show resilience.

Conclusion

In retrospect, the biggest blocker between me and my tech dreams was me. I confused my self-limiting beliefs and self-doubt with self-awareness. I thought that by staying in a place of complacency, I was avoiding my inevitable demise. But I learned to identify the source of my self-doubt and decided to carve out a new truth for myself. In this new truth, I learned new skills no matter how intimidating and approached opportunities with confidence instead of fear.

Sharing my experience is meant to normalize some of the feelings that surround significant career changes. I am not an outlier, in fact, I hope it makes people realize that a future in tech is within reach for anyone. Most importantly, I hope this helps you acknowledge and confront self-doubt when it’s standing in the way of your ambitions.