How I lost 40lb, got a developer job, and how I plan on changing the unhealthy stereotype in tech!
Tags: fitness, health, codenewbie, java
Published: 2019-03-28 02:01:27

---
title: How I lost 40lb, got a developer job, and how I plan on changing the unhealthy stereotype in tech!
published: true
description: 
tags: fitness, health, codenewbie, java
---

Hello Dev community! First of all I’d like to introduce myself and tell you all a bit about my journey!

My name is Trevor Montgomery, I’m 25, and I currently live in Indianapolis, Indiana with my amazing wife and 2 dogs. Here’s my story of how I lost 40 pounds and kept it off, and oh yeah I became a developer too!

I went to college not really knowing what I wanted out of life, and I went mainly to play baseball. School was sort of an after thought. I had always dreamt of becoming a professional baseball player, but my dream didn’t come true. Shortly after starting my first semester of school, I became very lazy. I wasn’t used to all of the space and free time that I didn’t have before while living at home with my parents. I played video games late into the night, I skipped classes, and I began to put on weight! After my first semester, I had put on 30 pounds, and my weight was 230 pounds. I normally would sit around 200 pounds, and I never had to worry about my weight before due to always having a sport in season. I was focused solely on baseball at this point, so I had a lot of downtime.

I started my weight loss journey shortly after an eye opening meeting with my baseball coach. He called me in and told me the reason I wasn’t getting time on the field was because I was overweight, and he didn’t think he could trust me out on the field. I was bummed at first, but shortly after I got motivated by his words and took action! I lost 40 pounds, and got into the best shape of my life! I didn’t do anything crazy, I stuck to clean eating, and I exercised 3-5 times a week. I didn’t do hours of cardio or go on some fad diet, I worked my tail off and stuck to a game plan. I plan on releasing shorter posts on some of the steps I took and still follow to this day.

#**Okay cool, now you know my weight loss story. Let’s move on to becoming a dev.**#

I did happen to graduate college with a computer information systems degree. I studied a wide range of things from computer science, programming, design, and also even business management. The problem was, it wasn’t focused; it was bits and pieces of each thing, so I felt lost after I graduated. I honestly gave up afterwards when trying to get a job, and I decided to work as an electrician for a few years with my brother. I started to get very bored and upset about this career. I felt like I was letting my family and myself down. I really enjoyed programming while in school with the little I did get taught and I thought, “I want to give this another shot”.

I had been listening to the learntocodewith.me podcast, and it inspired me to start my coding journey. I had no real structure which slowed my progress, but I still stuck with it. One day I was browsing the internet and I came across Launch School, which is an online programming school if you will. While I was doing their curriculum, I started applying to places in Indianapolis.

I then got a call asking me to come in for an interview. The company is a sub-contractor who looks for new and aspiring developers who have recently graduated from school or a boot camp. I ended up getting the job, and the past 9 months have flown by.

#**So you’ve made it this far! Thanks so much seriously!**#

One thing I’ve noticed at my workplace is that there are a ton of unhealthy people! I don’t mean this in a mean way at all, I seriously want to help everyone! That’s part of the reason for this long post. I want to help people who may not have the knowledge to or understanding of how to become healthy. I want to inspire people to start their weight loss journeys. I want to share tips and tricks on how you can become more productive in the workplace with the help of health and fitness, and I want to show you how to live your best life!

So, my idea is to create a community where people can come and share their struggles in tech or with their health. Not only can you ask for help/ share struggles, you can also share your victories! The name I’m choosing to go with is:

##*The Fit Dev Project*##

There are a few stereotypes around tech that we drink soda all day, eat chips/pizza/(insert unhealthy food), and sit all day long. This is very true at my workplace! The access to unhealthy food is insane, and we have not implemented standing desks, so we indeed sit all day. I’ve noticed myself gaining a bit of weight recently due to the lack of movement and due to being sedentary all day long. I also have started feeling back pain from my poor posture, like this post if you experience this as well!

My goal is to change this stereotype, and to create a healthy and fit developer community! With technology advancing so rapidly, I think it is important to regain our health back due to our time being occupied more and more by tech! I will share my methods of how you can stay fit and healthy all while being a badass developer! It isn’t going to be easy, but it’s 100% going to be worth it. I hope you’ll be a part of this movement with me!