Reflecting on 2020…

2020 was a year that most of us will remember very well.

For some, it was a year full of challenges. For others, it was a year full of opportunities. And I think, for most, it was a year full of both.

For me, 2020 started off as the best year of my life. I was in my 5th year working in sales at a small Denver based start up, and spent the month of January celebrating my 30th birthday with a solo snowboarding trip to Japan. I was eager and ready to continue my career trajectory by looking for new opportunities in sales upon my return. This changed quickly when I got back to the states. All of a sudden Covid-19 was all anyone could talk about. Sales were down, not only for the company but for the industry, and heck; the country.

A mere couple weeks after my return, our office was closed and we were told to work from home indefinitely. A couple weeks after that, half of the sales team was let go. A couple of weeks after that, more lay-offs in other departments, and any of the new job opportunities I had been applying to were now on hold.

Finally, mid summer (on my 6 year anniversary none the less), in yet another round of work-force reduction, I was let go from what had turned into an incredibly stressful, highly toxic, minimally rewarding, much dreaded work environment.

To me, this was the best opportunity I could have asked for, although I didn’t yet recognize it.

While I had spent 6 years building a skillset and growing my experience in sales, getting let go of gave me the opportunity to take a step back, look at my past, and think about my future.

Several of my closest friends had all been working as software engineers, and had been pushing me (for YEARS) to look into it as a possible career direction. They continually told me that I’d be less stressed than in sales, I could still make great money, work with great people, and as a musician and videographer, I might already have a mindset that matches the job.

And, well, FINALLY, I had the time AND reason to actually pay attention.

A few weeks and one free JavaScript course later, I found myself excited, passionate, and eager to learn. I knew there was a ton to learn, and a ton of places to learn from, so I continued taking free courses and began applying for “Coding Bootcamps” — all highly recommended by my friends who were now years deep in coding careers after completing bootcamps themselves.

After vetting several (actually over a dozen) different bootcamps, I decided on a few to continue the interview process with. With my (at that point minimal) experience with JS from the free course, it did seem fairly easy to get accepted to my top choices, and I ended up going with Flatiron Schools Software Engineering program, which I started at the end of October…

Which brings me back to the first paragraph of this post… For some, 2020 was full of challenges, for others it was opportunity, and for me, it was definitely both.

I will always remember 2020 as a year that changed my life. It brought me to incredible highs, deep lows, and pushed me to pursue a career change that I now think was long overdue.

I am now just over half-way done with the program at Flatiron School. I have already learned much more than I would have ever thought possible in just a few months. I have met a BUNCH of absolutely amazing, intelligent, and passionate people. Most importantly, I remain excited for the future, passionate about the direction, thrilled about the endless opportunities, eager to learn, even more eager to grow, and proud of my accomplishments thus far.

Thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to sharing more on what I have learned, what I continue to learn, and the projects I create.

Cheers!