I’m Rethinking A Career In Development As A Software Engineer

As some of you may know I’ve been studying a Masters Degree in Computer Science for the past 6 months.

I’m god-damn 30 now and I have no idea what I’m doing with my life. I don’t even know if my choices are the right choices anymore. I’ve botched my career as a Designer as the initial plan was to re-route my career path towards something more development/techy like Data Analytics/Science or Software Engineering but I wasn’t very sure what direction to go down. This is one of the reasons why I decided to do a Masters.

…now, I’m having second thoughts.

It’s so hard to know what you want in life, what you want to do, whether you’re doing the right thing. During COVID-19 I started to rethink the meaning of career, work and having a job and what do I really want in life? What is it that makes me happy or content? I felt like I was on a constant treadmill with no signs of stopping and no idea of the direction I was going. Therefore I decided to do a little “interview” for myself to sort of talk myself through what I really want in life.

Why did you want a career in development? Like why are you doing a masters?

I wanted to build on technical skills and understand the building blocks of how the internet and computers work. Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE my computer and how much I’m on the internet 😂 You could say it’s an addiction…and one that I’m proud of!

Furthermore, I’ve always been envious of those around me who had the technical skills to build products or tools that can be useful! I’ve worked in tech for most of my career and I have worked with many crazily awesome people doing really cool stuff and I just want to be one of those people xD

Despite *wanting* a lot of things during COVID-19 I realised I cared more about independence, creativity and life fulfilment than money and career progression and that I enjoyed doing things that helped others as it was so much more fulfilling than any of the jobs I’ve had.

Madhat Girls was a burst of something new in my life that my dear friend Anthea from Uni joined in on and it was one of the craziest and most adventurous 6 months of my “work-life”. I did things I never thought I would do like hold my own webinar in front of over 200 people and organise an art event in aid of Women’s Day to collaborate with other creatives… They weren’t amazing things but they were things that made me explore new horizons, and connect with others and all for a good cause. It’s made me realise I don’t care about the job itself or the career but more about the new experiences and things I learn and gain from it that matter more.

What would you do if you could do anything you wanted to?

I guess I want to help others using skills I am strong in. Whether to build a product or service to aid mental health or change careers. Definitely has something to do with helping others regarding mental health and careers because these are the areas I kind of struggle in.

I think it’s important we know how to soothe ourselves through life’s ups and downs and not everyone is as well equipped to do that depending on their life experiences and backgrounds so it would be something to do with providing tools to help with this area.

Some Ideas…

I want to do so many things but something that I feel is attainable is running WordPress Training Workshops.

I believe WordPress can build confidence or even help people start up businesses. With WordPress, you can become a digital entrepreneur. With WordPress, you can blog and set up your own little home in cyberspace. Blogging actually helped me through tough times as a teenager as it created a hobby to focus on which boosted my self-esteem and connect to people all over the world!

With blogging, you get to learn new things every day and talk about them! Even if no one else reads it writing and processing your thoughts you can learn more about yourself and it is very therapeutic – I should know.

It’s just incredible. I really want to share the benefits of blogging and WordPress with everyone!

Therefore, I was thinking of changing Madhat Girls to provide these workshops but the name doesn’t work for the place I’m in at the moment.

It is a luxury to find work which you love that is rewarding and in line with your life mission but it isn’t impossible. They say it’s a millennial mindset to want to “work a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. But I don’t believe you should put so much pressure on making your career your end all. I believe you can have a career you enjoy where it meets your needs then you can supplement that with hobbies that help you explore those untapped areas. For me that is learning every day, financing my life and building connections and friends at work and then using my free time to explore anything I want and for now that is this Masters degree.

Anyways my ultimate goal in life is to just explore all these things I want to try and see how it goes 🙂