Undoubtedly, I have contemplated time & time again my decision to switch gears from chemicals into software. I think back to that first blog i wrote and how difficult it was for me to put down on ‘paper’. I recall re-writing that blog a number of times. I told myself to write down the positives about why I was going to software as opposed to writing why i loved my job & industry, why I was important to the world because of my job, why i was an idiot to be leaving secure and ‘essential’ work during a pandemic, and why I felt like I’d failed at, literally, life–like i was giving up. I remember writing about how i felt like i’d let future female engineers down. I’d let them down because I was throwing in the towel on my career for the reason that, simply put, I became a mother! My goal as a freshly graduated engineer in my twenties was to do it all: have a high-power, high-paying job, have a family, a marriage, and make “doing it all” look easy. Kids were not going to stop my drive for success. And, so when i ‘threw in the towel’, I felt like a failure.
As I wrote, I told myself that if i focused on and just wrote down the positives that were driving me toward software that I could come back later and write about what was driving me from an industry and job that I did honestly love and explain myself to those I felt like I’d failed. But that’s not what this post is. No. This post is about my plan.
I recall when I first told my husband about my plan to switch gears, that he asked me what I wanted to do with it? Am I going to get a job? What job? Where? What’s your goal with this? I believe my response to him was similar to that of a deer realizing that a car is headed straight for him. I hadn’t thought about the end game. I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do with this new skill; I just knew that it was a skill that I wanted and needed.
I’m happy to say that my husband is 100% on board with what I’m doing and he’s thinking big and long term with it. In fact, since that day when he asked me my goals, he has been a big part in their evolution. He & I have had numerous discussions about the future and the doors that these skills will open for us both, and I’ve had a lot of time to work out my thoughts both on my own and with his help to define my goals.
A few nights ago, while we were brainstorming about the future, the picture got too big–broader might be a better word–it got broader than what I had in mind, and I got a little overwhelmed. When I reeled it back in, I essentially declared my goals to him, which surprisingly, were exactly what I’d said on almost day one: First and foremost, I don’t want to build a new type of wheel; meaning that I don’t want to build something that has already been built. No. “I want to bridge the gaps that exist” in chemical manufacturing or manufacturing as a whole; I want to fix what’s broken and inefficient; and I want to leave the industry a little bit better than how I found it. While I’ve done this little by little in my career, I’m now learning the skills to do it bigger & better.
Back to the first point about how I felt like a failure for throwing in the towel and leaving my industry, this blog is to state my goals and declare that I’ve done nothing of the sort! I’m just learning a new way to make it better. I’m not throwing in the towel on my career; i’m just taking a non-routine path to advance my career. And i’m not leaving my industry–not forever anyway. I fully intend to go back one day and use the skills i’m learning now to fix it!
And so, I wanted to get my mission down in writing. Of course i reserve the right to modify it, but I believe that any modifications will neither impact the purpose nor intent. So here it is.
My mission:
My mission is to build bridges over the rivers & canyons that inhibit daily task efficiency within my former industry, chemical manufacturing, by implementing my freshly learned and refactored skill-sets that will forge as I work to become the best developer that I can be within my future industry, software.
With the understanding that perfecting my craft will take no less than a lifetime, I estimate the portion of the second half of my mission that includes qualifying as a software developer, to be worth: Optimistically: 130 points Realistically: 390 points Pessimistically: 520 points
I estimate the first half of my mission to be worth: Optimistically: 2600 points Realistically: 5200 points Pessimistically: 7800 points