How I Became a Software Engineer
Tags: beginners, career, watercooler
Published: 2023-08-02 20:55:26

I was recently promoted to Lead Engineer at my company and it made me reflect on the early events in my life that set me on this career path. Most (actually all) of my professional background has been in software engineering and development. And the unique thing about software engineers is they are constantly being asked to do things that have never been done. Given the rate of technological advancements, we are constantly being asked to do things that we've never done before.  And as I reflect on how I was introduced to computer programming, I realize that's exactly how this journey started for me.

Summer of 1996, which was the summer before my junior year in H.S. and my guidance counselor  called me on the phone and told me that I still needed to take some additional elective classes in order to fill my schedule out.

Now, keep in mind at the time, I’m a teenager on summer break.  Even though I had a reputation for being serious about my academics, I still enjoyed not having to think about school during summer and my guidance counselor was discussing something to me over the phone which was the last thing on my mind at the time, that being classes or school.  

So she proceeded to suggest that I take a “Pastel” class as one of my additional electives.  I agreed.  When I was younger I had a bit of artistic talent and I already had a schedule full of honors and AP courses. So I thought it would be fun and frankly easier compared to the rest of my load, to take an art class during my Junior year of high school.

So, fast forward maybe a month later,  the school year starts and I walk into the art classroom and I’m looking around thinking, well this is strange because all the art classes are usually on the other side of the school. Our teacher's name was Ms Hoyte and she starts talking about computers and programming languages and I’m just looking so confused because I have no clue what she’s talking about and why she would be talking about computers in an art class.  

Then she writes on the board the word “Pascal”.  Pascal is a computer programming language named after a french mathematician Blaise Pascal….but when I was talking to my guidance counselor on the phone, I thought I heard her say “Pastel”.  Needless to say at the beginning of the class I was so confused but by the end of the class I was enthralled by the idea of being able to control a computer using a programming language.

The next year, which was my senior year in H.S, I was encouraged by Ms Hoyte to take an AP computer science class.  Later on when I got accepted to UNC I knew that I wanted to pursue a career related to technology and decided on computer science.  

So when I think about the fact that my father did not have a college degree and my mother has a background in education, and being the oldest of two boys, I had no role models within my immediate circle that had similar careers to the one I’ve been pursuing.

And, one of the things that has gotten me through many of the challenges was the ability to be  comfortable with being uncomfortable.  If I could give any advice to anybody currently or planning to purse a similar career path, I'd suggest they get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.  This is a trait that has served me well, and which I believe has contributed to my career’s trajectory thus far.