Life Like Lombard

public static void main(String[] args) {
CareerPath.init(args);
}

If only it were that simple!
For some, it can be. For the rest of us, it simply won’t be.

Although it zigzagged like Lombard, my career path actually began on 2nd Street. I didn’t know it at the time, but workers in that area were calling it “Cloud Corridor”. What I did know was that there were a bunch of new tech businesses (and supporting service industry businesses) popping up there. Having no professional experience and no compsci education to speak of (though I did hold a B.A. at the time), I figured I only had one way to break in to a career in software – schmoozing.

I found an open serving/bartending position at a small-ish restaurant smack dab in the middle of 2nd St. I went in for the initial interview. Looking around, I knew I had struck gold – the restaurant was packed for lunch, and the ratio of guests with the tell-tale Patagonia vest + collared shirt combo was nearly 80%. This is where the magic would happen.

A few months into that job, I had established a great rapport with most of the bar regulars. These were all software people – managers, devs, founders, just anyone living the SF startup life in its prime. One tiny startup in particular took a shine to me, and when all 3 founders showed up for lunch and drinks one afternoon, I was offered my first (unpaid) engineering internship in the business.

They were a Java shop. It took me more than 6 months of part-time interning (while still working at the restaurant) to get any sort of grasp on the language and workflow. I still remember the late nights of staring at that code and having absolutely no idea what I was looking at. Failed Maven builds, servers unable to connect, local database failures: every issue that arose was both mystifying and terrifying. I never, ever want to return to those before-times.

Since then, I’ve remained in that sector (AdTech) for the better part of a decade as a backend cloud dev. I didn’t realize it at first, but finding that niche would prove to be invaluable. It has granted me the immense luck to be able to avoid the nightmarish technical interviewing processes at large companies (though I have prepared for them). I’ve stuck to my guns and built up AdTech expertise with several companies, the most recent of which was acquired by a publicly-traded firm shortly after I joined. My shares were paid out (for the first time in my life!) upon the acquisition, and we were all kept onboard as a valuable subsidiary of the acquirer while retaining our autonomy. I finally got a small taste of the Cloud Corridor dream and I couldn’t be happier.