At one point, this question was difficult to answer. I mean there are a ton of reasons to be a software engineer, like career opportunities, creating new apps for cool companies, solving the world’s problems, or who knows, maybe I’ll create the next Facebook.
Well, we’ll see, but first let me tell you how this all started.
My Origin Story
I was sitting in my 1-bedroom on a hot summer day, bored and feeling the ache in my thumb from all the down-scrolling on YouTube. I thought, “I should go out and get some sun,” but then, I saw something in my feed that really got my attention. It was a live recording of someone coding the game Pong in Python.
Instantly, I tapped that video and watched it from start to finish.
Let me clarify, I’m not some Pong enthusiast — not that there’s anything wrong with that - but, I had wanted to learn coding since I was 13 years old. I just never did. It’s a long story, just know it involved an old Angelia Jolie movie.
Back to the story…
I intently watched the developer code and in a few lines the game was off and running.
He created the board and the rules. Then, he talked about how he had to make each of the paddles, assign movement to them, and link the keys. I was blown away with this process and loved the logical nature of it, and within a few minutes, the paddle on the left was working, then the other, and then finally the ball.
Fifteen minutes later, the game was being played and there was even a scoreboard.
Jump in the Fire
I’m not kidding, when I saw this video my blood was pumping like crazy.
After watching it, I had to try. So, I sat at my computer, pulled up that video and realized that I know nothing about Python and how to do this. In the video, the developer had some kind of interface that he was using to code it, so I had to figure that out.
I pulled up video after video and finally installed python, and after about an hour was ready to start typing code. With the video on one screen and my code on the other, I went line-by-line and made sure everything was correct. I tried running the code and nothing happened except a bunch of errors.
Without any debugging skills and after trying to figure out what I did wrong, I deleted it all and started over. Again, line-by-line checking everything even more carefully than before, I copied that code.
OMG! It Worked!
Finally, my first project. Pong in Python and it worked!
If you think watching the video got my blood pumping, playing my own version (clarification: the developer’s version) was like a religious experience.
After I was done showing my wife, I realized that I hadn’t been this excited about something in a while. It’s amazing how something so trivial could be this uplifting considering everything that was going on in the world at this time.
The Aftermath
After this, every video I watched on YouTube was about coding. I learned HTML, CSS, JavaScript. I bought books, read blogs, and started getting tutored. I knew instantly that I enjoyed this, but I didn’t think that I would be able to do this as a career. I didn’t have a degree in computer science, and I just thought it would be cool to learn to code what was in my head.
Shortly after my entire YouTube feed changed, I started to see evidence that becoming a programmer could be a reality without a college degree. I must have researched this for months after I saw this and finally found my answer.
Bootcamps.
I researched as many as I could find, read tons of reviews and finally selected the best one.
My Plan
The question is “Why did I decide to learn software engineering?”
How about this?
I love doing it. I love the challenge, and most of all I love being able to make nothing into something that people can enjoy.
I’m currently enrolled as a software engineering student at Flatiron School, and after I’m done, I’ll be looking to find a company that would like to hire someone like me.
Thanks. More to come.