[seankimdesign]

I love this story. I can intensely relate as I too have made the pivot from being a UX professional to software engineering a few years back. Sure I hadn't achieved anything close to being the director of design for a known tech firm; My design career was just starting to flourish when I'd made the move. But so much of the sentiment regarding confidence and self-doubt were the exact emotions that I had experienced . It felt as if there was this huge gap in knowledge that I'd never be able to fill. It took a lot of effort from me to overcome that fear of inadequacy and make the jump, so I know it must've not been easy for the author either. It's also funny how the activities she chose to express her desire to code - tinkering with Arduino, participating in Ludum Dare - were the exact stuff I was doing too!

Huge congrats to Kristina, and I hope her engineering career brings her as much joy and fulfillment as it has brought me.

[100011_100001]

I went from a Sr. Manager to Jr. Developer. The pay cut sucked. The first year working as a developer was rough. Everyone assumed that I knew a lot because of my age, but I was mostly a newbie.

Fast forward 8 years later, I am a Lead Developer and making double what I made as a Sr. Manager. I am still learning, I am still behind compared to my peers. Technology feels like it's moving too fast.

But in the end, the best part is to open my IDE and write code. It makes me the happiest.

[ketzo]

I think any developer who feels like they have a 100% handle on all the new tech in their field... isn't paying enough attention :D feeling like there's more to learn is a way of life!

Congrats on the successful career shift.