…this blog

My original intention for this blog was simply to catalog everything I learned as I grow my “baby” tech skills into “grown-up” tech skills. While I was setting up the blog, I realized I kind of have a crazy breadth to my tech knowledge. Maybe it’s my ADHD, or maybe it’s my enthusiasm for tech, but I know “just enough” about a lot of different areas of tech.

Throughout my career I’ve always compared myself to whomever was the most skilled and most knowledgeable person on my team. Most of these people had a masters degree in computer science, or something like twenty-five years of experience in the industry. This habit of mine caused me to feel like I was less than my teammates, but also pushed me to work harder to learn as much as I could.

As I was trying to grow my skills I noticed something: it’s hard to find good resources for those of us who have taken all the “Intro to…” courses but now want to advance to that next level. That’s where I am and I know I’m not alone.

While I can’t verify how reliable the numbers are, this post from 2022 states that 59% of developers do not have a comp sci degree. Many of us are DIY-ing our education and given how rapidly tech changes, this is a great skill to have!

…me

Now for the uncomfortable question, why me? Why listen to anything I have to say? It’s a good question and here’s my answer in point form:

  • I spent the last six years working at a large SaaS company. I started in technical support and by the time I was affected by a massive round of layoffs, I was working on a team that maintained the SOX & PCI compliant cloud infrastructure.
  • Between my time in tech support and my last role, I was a non-technical engineering manager. I did not enjoy being a manager in the traditional sense (which is what led me to change roles), but I loved the “coaching” parts of the job. I’ll be applying this “coaching” mindset to my own continued development, which I’ll include in my posts. Hopefully by coaching myself, I will be indirectly coaching others.
  • Before that I freelanced in a few tech + creative domains while working part-time: digital illustration, image editing, and Wordpress site development.
  • I have ADHD which makes learning a bit more challenging. But this also means I’ve developed some decent learning strategies, which I will pass on in my posts.
  • I am fortunate enough to have the support of many talented individuals in tech, who I reach out to for advice when I’m stuck. Any time I reach out for advice from them, I’ll pass it along in my posts.

But finally and most importantly, why not me? Or for that matter, why not you? None of us are born with these skills. Anyone who has the passion for tech (or any topic) is capable of learning this stuff. If you still aren’t convinced, read “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.

I promise you are more capable than you think.

—

If you want to read about my career journey so far (or you’re having trouble sleeping) you can read the full story here.