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Why I Switched to a Career in Software Engineering


In 2020, I made the decision to quit my mechanical engineering job and to start work as a software engineer. I entered Hack Reactor, a 3-month intensive coding bootcamp, which was an excellent way to quickly learn the necessary skills to become a professional software engineer.

Below are some of the reasons that I decided to switch into software. If you’re interested in switching into a career in software, you may find the below list valuable, as you ponder whether making the change is right for you.

## Interesting Problems

Software engineers consistently work on interesting problems. As a programmer, you’re essentially a well-paid puzzle solver. Mechanical engineering has its fair share of interesting problems too, but I found that too often, I would be sizing or locating a hole, selecting fastener sizes, or dotting my I’s and crossing my T’s.

## Building

As a mechanical engineer, if I wanted to create something, I needed to have an expensive project approved, and the project would likely take years. As a software engineer, you can build basically anything you want with a laptop and an internet connection. When I was getting started with programming, I built a simple Twitter clone in a weekend and I was hooked.

## Range of Opportunities

When I worked as a mechanical engineer in Portland, I would regularly look at the job opportunities in the area. There were a few exciting options, but not too many. Some cities are an aerospace hub or have a cool large company in the area, unfortunately Portland had a limited number of interesting opportunities. Software has tons of opportunities in basically every city. Also, every industry needs software! If you are interested in music, gaming, luxury brands, insurance, or literally anything – there’s a good chance that industry has a strong demand for software engineers.

## Working Remotely

At the time of writing this, it is July 2022. Many jobs are now fully remote, so this reasoning may be a bit dated. However, software engineering is possibly the most remote-ready job. Many current remote jobs may move back into the office in a post-Covid work (if that’s even a thing), but software engineering will always have a plethora of remote roles. The ability to work from anywhere is really appealing to me.


## Perks

It’s no secret that software engineering is an excellent field from a “perks” perspective (e.g. salary, vacation, work-life balance, remote opportunities, etc.). I believe that this trend is only going to continue. The field is growing substantially. If you would bet that the internet and computing is going to be a big part of the future (and in my opinion, you’d be silly not to) then it’s clear that software engineers will always be highly valued.

## Regret Minimization

When Jeff Bezos left an investing job to start Amazon, he used what he calls the Regret Minimization Framework. He wasn’t sure if starting Amazon would work out, but he knew that he’d always regret not trying. I had similar reasoning for making this switch. It seemed like a positive move and I’d always regret not giving it a shot. Plus, if I decided I didn’t like it, I was confident I’d be able to move back into mechanical engineering (and with a new set of valuable skills). This was a powerful mindset that gave me confidence in my decision.

## Building my “Skill Stack”

In Scott Adams’s “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big,” he argues that there are two pathways to great results in one’s career:
- Becoming the best at one specific thing (99th percentile or higher)
- Becoming good at two or more skills (75th percentile or higher)

I’m a believer in the second path. So, I want to develop multiple skills to a strong degree, but I’m less interested in becoming world-class in one particular category. Right now, the talent stack I’m aiming for is to become great in the following:

- Programming
- Soft Skills (e.g. public speaking, communication skills, leadership, etc.)
- Content Creation (e.g. video creation, writing, etc.)

If you’re personally interested in making the switch, ensure that programming is something that you would enjoy. The resources that I’d suggest to get started with programming would be the following:

- Codecademy
    - [Javascript](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/introduction-to-javascript)
    - [HTML & CSS](https://www.codecademy.com/catalog/language/html-css)
- [Hack Reactor’s Basic Prep Program](https://www.hackreactor.com/prep-programs)

All of those courses are free and excellent! If you enjoy the courses, keep going, and don’t be afraid to make the leap!

In 2020, I made the decision to quit my job as a mechanical engineer and start software engineering.  Why?


When I finished my coding bootcamp, Hack Reactor, I felt lost.

Don’t get me wrong, Hack Reactor was an excellent learning experience. One aspect I appreciated is that they set up a specific curriculum that allowed me to fully trust the system. I fully trusted that Hack Reactor had generated a learning plan that was optimized to most efficiently teach students to become software engineers. They specified WHAT to learn, I just had to put in the time and effort to learn it.

However, there is no guide for what to do after graduating.

I spent a good chunk of time learning the knowledge and skills needed to do well at my job. I learned Angular, Azure DevOps, and Java, among many other things.

I still felt I was missing something.

I found that I was learning bits of information, but not the principles and theory. Elon Musk says that “it is important to view knowledge as a sort of semantic tree. Make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e., the trunk and big branches before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.” I was picking up twigs and leaves, but didn’t have the trunk and big branches.

I hope to develop a deep and useful knowledge base that lasts. Javascript frameworks are useful, but they can go out of style. Plus, if you just know React, that knowledge isn’t very transferrable to other technologies, whereas having a strong understanding of algorithm design certainly is. In the interest of developing a strong trunk, I went searching.

After tons of research, I found my answer. I decided to learn the underlying principles of computer science. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been highly rewarding.

Initially attempting to learn computer science felt overwhelming. People spend 4 years studying full-time to get a CS degree.

Luckily, after tons of experimentation, I’ve found an excellent set of resources. There is a limitless amount that one could learn about computer science, so I’ve attempted to create a curriculum that is targeted toward learning only the most useful knowledge, over a manageable timeframe.

I have now spent 300+ hours over about a year working to learn the fundamentals of computer science. Here are some of the resources I’ve found most useful:

## CS Curriculum Guides:

### [teachyourselfcs.com](teachyourselfcs.com)

A great guide filtered down to the most essential CS resources. This is where I found many of the below sources.

### [Open Source CS Degree](https://github.com/ossu/computer-science)

An open source github repo full of CS materials. I prefer teachyourselfcs for its more concentrated list.

## Overall Course:

### [Harvard CS50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LPJfIKxwWc&list=PLhQjrBD2T381WAHyx1pq-sBfykqMBI7V4)

Harvard’s CS intro class. It is phenomenally well-produced and a great starting point. The below resources cover many of CS50’s topics in greater depth.

## Computer Architecture:

### [Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective](https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Systems-Programmers-Perspective-3rd/dp/013409266X)

Covers what’s under the hood of a computer. Goes in depth into how information is represented digitally (e.g. how different formats are represented in bits and bytes). Plus, it covers how code gets compiled down from a high-level language, into a low-level language, into assembly code, and finally into machine code.

### [Code by Charles Petzold](https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319)

A more entertaining and palatable book covering computer systems. Less in-depth, but very well written.

## Algorithms and Data Structures:

### [NeetCode](https://neetcode.io/)
This is a paid course targeted toward LeetCode style job interviews. I’ve found it quite helpful.

## Networking:

### [High Performance Browser Networking](https://hpbn.co/)
Guide to networking, specifically browser networking.

### [Julia Evan’s zine](https://jvns.ca/networking-zine.pdf)
Entertaining, cartoon-style overview of networking fundamentals.
### [Ben Eater Networking Youtube Series](https://eater.net/inet)
Youtube series covering how networking works.

## Distributed Systems:

### [Designing Data Intensive Applications](https://smile.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable-ebook/dp/B06XPJML5D/)

Phenomenal book. Highly recommend it. I’ve found that this curriculum overlaps well with the topics that one is expected to know in a Systems Design interview.

The following are topics that I intend to dive into soon and the resources that I’m planning to explore. However, I can’t vouch for them fully, as I haven’t started them yet.

## Databases:

### [CS186 from UC Berkeley](https://m.youtube.com/@CS186Berkeley/playlists)

## Operating Systems:

### [OSTEP: Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces](https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/)

I hope this guide proves helpful. I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to reach out – visit my [contact page](/contact) for details on where you can reach me.



After finishing my coding bootcamp, I had no idea what to do next.  Luckily, I recently found the answer.

Reflections. Thoughts. Guides.

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