You are reading every article you can find on Computer Science. You are reading SubReddits to figure out what you need to do to get into Software Engineering. But there is one big problem? You aren’t a high school senior, you aren’t even in college. Better yet, you have already graduated college. One day you decided, do I have what it takes to get into a tech career at this point?
A brief overview of my journey is that I graduated from college with a Bachelor’s in Biology, looking to go to Physician Assistant school, only to get to the point where I realized that I didn’t want to work in the healthcare field after almost two years of working in one in preparation to that next step. As you can imagine, it looked bleak. The one thing I did have going for me at that time was a solid support system of friends and family. I have always had a background in technology, but never at the level of sitting down and building programs, websites, the like. Jobs in tech all had the same tag line: “Degree in Computer Science.” I could work to build my portfolio and skills on my own. I could even go through a bootcamp that still to my knowledge, can be effective, but can be a hit-or-miss. I needed the piece of paper and the knowledge to get me there. Like a lot of people, I typed in Google, “Computer Science degrees.” What came up was the usual local colleges and such. One though happened to be at the top of the search results. “Oregon State University Online – Postbacc degree.” I instantly wanted to know everything about it. I applied almost immediately. I knew I wanted a second chance, but before I could apply, I needed to prove something to myself. Is this something I could do? Could I build anything?
The first things you should ask yourself before going into anything highly committal is, “is this something I think I could do?” Luckily, computer science and development is a plethora of knowledge outside the bounds of traditional learning. I simply typed in Google, “how to become a developer,” and I was presented with many guides. I eventually found, Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes. I told myself that I could not go back to school until I completed this book. I know the Oregon State program started with Python. If I could learn the basics of Python, I knew I could be better positioned. After a lot of confusion, but a lot of hard work. (You know, typing every single thing out and not copy and pasting? Especially since this was a physical book.) I eventually was to the point where I could make simple programs with logic. I learned I was accepted shortly after completing it and knew exactly it was what I wanted to do.
Pivoting into tech after being established was a very interesting time. Not only did I go back to school, but also a pandemic started at the same time in March 2020. I also decided to switch jobs. I said goodbye to healthcare and said hello to finance. I became a service professional in investments for a large financial firm at the same time. It was a lot but I never faltered from my goal of changing my life into tech. I have been blessed that the Oregon State program has given me the availability to learn a degree at the same time as working full time. I never could have done it without them.
Since coming to the end of the program here at Oregon State, it definitely has not been the traditional Computer Science path of grinding Leetcode and such that was described to me, but it has been a lot of networking with individuals to build a portfolio. I have been making a lot of strides to pickup where I had failed before in my career with this new second chance. I am really excited for the next chapter in my life going forward.
