Why? This was basically the only response I received when I started telling friends and family that I had quit my job. Why would you quit your job at Microsoft? Weren’t you making a pretty good living? Did you not like your boss or your team?
In reality, it wasn’t any of those things. And that’s what made the decision so scary. The conscious choice to leave all those things behind, a comfortable job on a great team at a respectable company, felt like I was diving off the deep end.
But I had made my mind up and had to leave. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my team and Microsoft was a great company. The real catalyst for my decision was the feeling of mental stagnation that had been nagging me for the past few years. My job itself, was challenging at times with regards to project management and communication, but I hadn’t found it very mentally stimulating. I was lacking the excitement of learning new things or tackling complex problems. When I did finally make up my mind to go, it felt like a long overdue weight had been lifted. It’s true what people say about ‘golden handcuff’ jobs that can snare you into complacency.
My golden handcuffs were broken by my first ‘hello world’ program. I’ve always been a tinkerer at heart. You know the kind. The kid who’s always asking why or how everything worked. Or the kid who would disassemble and repair his own bike, computer, cellphone, etc. When I finally got around to writing my first hello world program, it felt like a gate had opened and angels were singing chords straight to my little tinker tooling heart. I know, it sounds corny, but it just felt right.
After discovering my new passion, I started taking computer science courses at Oregon State University while still working my day job. I pulled this double agent act for over a year before it became readily apparent that I wanted to spend more time learning about how the internet worked and how engineers first started tracking electrical signals through gates as 0’s and 1’s vs. my actual job. I knew I had to make a choice as my second year of courses began. The classes were getting harder and I was burning out pulling double shifts for both work and studying.
And that’s when I took a leap of faith. I broke those golden handcuffs, turned in my letter of resignation, and dedicated myself fully to becoming a programmer. And for what it’s worth, I would make the same decision time and time again. I haven’t regretted a second of it.
Since leaving Microsoft, I’ve been constantly learning and building new things. I haven’t felt this mentally stimulated in years. Some of the personal projects that I’m proud of include:
- My first crude calculator using Assembly language and manipulating a CPU’s registries
- My first console based game in the form of an internet based tic-tac-toe chat bot
- My first fully functional CRUD website
And the list goes on! I haven’t been this excited for what I’m about to learn or build next in forever. And I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me.
For those of you who have stayed and read through this in its entirety, thank you! This is my first blog and I’m looking forward to sharing more of my journey with you. My next steps include completing my CS capstone class and jumping into the frying pan of recruiting! Good luck and stay frosty out there!
