My early life was a bit of a whirlwind that led to a life of working to survive. I viewed every job as a stepping stone, "I will just do this to get financially stable, then move to a career I love." That turned into over a decade of being an automotive technician. Ten years later nothing was changing. Love was not anything I would use to describe my career path. The pandemic hit and I was determined to make the best of a bad situation. While under a car, I had my headphones in zoning off to an audio book. The author said to "Orientate yourself to something you are passionate about but be open to new things. If you don't, someone else will orientate you to something they are passionate about." It hit me like a ton of bricks as I looked at the passionate brothers who owned the repair shop. I was passionate about code and learning, not cars. I had a stack of Arduinos, Raspberry Pi's, and components all over the house. That is what I was really enjoyed.

I started looking at job postings. Wow, was that intimidating! Experience? Not sure telling them about setting cam timing on a Ford 5.4l engine is applicable. Fixing air conditioning always get you brownie points, but probably not job as a developer. My passion for Python and Arduino evolved towards IoT. I started to search for places to formally learn more. Maybe give me some confidence in what I already knew and show me what I needed to learn. I stumbled on an affordable boot camp that allowed me to code at night and do workshops during the weekends. It fit my busy schedule perfect. It was based on the M.E.R.N. stack with React Native thrown in. I didn't want to make websites. I wanted to code! With an open mind, I took some time and looked into React, React Native, Mongo, and Node. I argued with myself and said "You could use that to make user interfaces for tons of things." At last I justified why I was going to do it. Once again another stepping stone, this time with an open mind.

First was React. Sorry Python, I still love you, but React is a ton of fun. I'd say the first week had me hooked on web development. I originally had no idea what made up this area of development. I never bothered to research it. In my mind it was landing pages and simple websites. I was so wrong. Web applications are limitless. Truly a magical thing. Millions of ideas started running through my head of what you could do. Did I just find a career path I truly love? Yep, I sure did. React Native was complete amazing overload. It was like the curtain of mystery dropped around applications. Node and Mongo were the missing ingredients to make things come to life.

I owe much of my journey to my instructor. First class he told us how he was a welder before becoming a web developer. That meant a lot to a car mechanic to see I can actually do it. He took the time to answer all our questions. A genuine sense of really caring and honest positivity. Not something you find in a auto shop. He pointed me to some great YouTube resources. I'd never seen so many encouraging and kind people. I landed on tech Twitter where I have lurked for over a year. I started following some amazing people. I never knew positive people would have such a positive impact. I know it seems self evident but I spent most of my life completely unaware. It is easier than you think when you are stuck in a rut.

At this point I was determined. I wanted these types of people to be my coworkers and friends. I wanted to jump head first into being a web developer. I started working on portfolio projects. I shared the projects with my now former instructor. His insights where priceless. His feedback guided me on what I could improve. He went above and beyond, well past our boot camp, and helped me to where I am. Head down working on projects while still working full time he reached out to me. He asked if I would consider being an intern where he worked. Of course I would! They allowed me to work part time while I kept my other job. After a few months as an intern I went full time. My life has been forever changed. Everyday I look forward to learning more and growing as a developer.

If you are thinking of making the journey. I say do it! Follow your passions. Reach out to people for guidance and help. Reach out to me. The development community is an amazing and supportive group of people. It will be your best resource and inspiration. I want to finish this with a special thanks to the best programming instructor I ever had, T.J. Last but not least, NuCamp boot camp for an awesome platform, amazing community, and tons of knowledge that set this all in motion.