Embracing Change: My Path from Heavy Diesel Mechanic to Full-Stack Developer

2019, The world was blissfully unaware of the storm that was ahead of all of us and I, being a Heavy Diesel Mechanic at the time, was lining up jobs in the mines of Australia in search of a new adventure.

Then, around 2 months before I was due to fly across the ditch from New Zealand It was evident that COVID-19 was going to be a bit bigger of an issue than first anticipated. I decided that going to the mines was not the best idea after all. My partner who is a UI/UX Design Manager suggested looking into the tech industry so we could both work remotely.

We flew to Melbourne and set up shop. My first course I did was actually a UI/UX Specialisation course on Coursera, then a 3 month bootcamp in UX design and a 6 month Full Stack Development course which I did simultaneously. Fair to say, I felt like I was well on my way to becoming a tech savvy user of my generation.

Full Disclosure: I was not very familiar with computers. Although I fixed electrical automotive issues using a diagnostic computer from time to time, the steps were very basic and intuitive.

I was fortunate enough that I was able to sell all my stuff in New Zealand and do this full time while I learned this new skill. Now I know we all like to think that if we had time we would do this and that, but the reality is our brains need time to process new information. I am and was not exempt from this and it took more time then I'd like to admit to grasp some pretty basic concepts.

Although I was able to get help from my partner with the UX work, all the googling in the world could not substitute the learning benefits of trial and error, and there were and still are on a daily basis a lot of trials and errors.

One thing I pride myself on is being able to make a plan. This was vital to being able to keep on track for me. If this is how you stay motivated, then make sure you update the plan when you learn new information. When you start growing, you have limited information, you don't necessarily know exactly what you want until you do it, evident by changing careers in the first place. I initially thought I wanted to do UI/UX, then front end development and now I find myself in a full stack role fascinated with the complexity of back end services and their integration to wider services such as AWS.

I was in the same job for 7 years, it was pretty much all I knew, and trying to figure out how to fit into an office setting and manage my time effectively while working from home was pretty nerve wracking for me. I have now been in multiple roles as a software engineer and like everyone else who isn't an essential worker, I have been working from home almost entirely, which has certainly presented it's own challenges, but also a lot of benefits like being able to spend so much time with my lovely partner Allison, which I know wouldn't have been possible in my old role as a mechanic.

The last point I want to touch on in this post and what I believe is the most important is the soft skills. Most job adverts say they want you to have all these technical skills and then maybe they have a line at the end of it that says 'If this sounds like you and you think you would fit into our culture, then send through an application." or something along the lines of. But the reality is, while having the basic technical skills necessary to do the role is important, that last line that usually is glossed over as we tick off the hard skills boxes above, is what will get you the job.

Hiring managers aren't robots, scanning over you to see if you meet the minimal requirements, they're people. People assessing people to see if you will fit in the team and make their lives easier. Communication, a key skill we can learn as humans, we think it comes as a result of us learning how to talk, along with listening. However, they are both skills that require attention and practice. If you spend 70% of your free time mashing those buttons with the hopes of producing legible code that works, then the rest should be working on your soft skills. Can you work well in a team, are you able to write clean legible code with good documentation so that the next developer can come in and not only understand what you wrote, but why? These things are what make people stand out as a good culture fit.

To wrap this all up, changing careers is hard. I am also aware that most people wouldn't be willing or able to sell all their possessions to bet on themselves in a new career and living life in a time of uncertainty such as during a pandemic is also very hard. Combining the two creates a whole mess of complications, that without some degree of planning can create a very stressful time. I was afraid, I had doubts, I wasn't sure that after countless job applications I was ever going to get a job. I was really lucky to have a partner that supported me, and with persistence I was able to get an interview and then my first job as a software engineer. Learn the hard skills you need for the role you want, don't neglect the soft skills and this will reflect in your interviews that you have with future employers.