Hello, there. I’m Chad. I’ve been a physical therapist for about the last nine or 10 years now. For a multitude of reasons, I’ve decided to make a career change to something that better-aligns with my personal and professional goals as well as provides a working environment better-suited to my personality.
I actually came to a point in my (first) undergraduate career where I had to chose between Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or Exercise Physiology. Exercise is something I’ve always enjoyed doing, so I bet you can guess which one I went with. However, I quickly learned just how little money one makes with an ex phys degree. And, realistically, of the options available to someone with an exercise physiology degree, physical therapy is the most ‘stable.’ So, that’s what I did.
The first hint I may have made a bit of a ‘mistake’ was I kept learning how to program, independently. Mostly by programming my way through books. I bought books about programming in C and Python. I bought books about web development with Django (although I tend to prefer Flask, nowadays). I bought books about data bases, SQL and data analysis. And I really enjoyed it!
I had the most fun with the data analysis. With the advent of activity trackers (Garmin, FitBit, Suunto, etc.) my exercise hobby generates TONS of data. So, I learned how to read, parse and analyze an activity file. I learned how to analyze a large CSV of weekly training data using Python and Pandas. I taught myself how to scrape websites for race results and look at trends in finishers.
As I became more and more disheartened with the healthcare industry, but had more and more fun with programming, my wife started nudging me to explore career change options. After a lot Googling, asking around and introspection I decided on the OSU post-bacc program.
The last two years of the program have been great! I’ve really enjoyed (most) of the classes I’ve taken and I’m looking forward to this one as well. Not only to work on a larger project with some of my peers, but to graduate and start applying!
Anyway, like the title says, this is probably a bit more than anyone would reasonably want to know about me. I appreciate your attention, if you’ve made it this far. Let me know if you have any questions or want to team up!
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