Intro
About one month ago I finished my internship at Factry and started working full-time for this amazing company. With that step my long desired career switch from biology to IT has been finished. Perhaps a good moment to reflect on the why’s and how’s of the past years.
Background
In high-school I was equally good at biology and CS. Both fields were (and still are) fascinating to me and I decided to study one of them. After a long back and forth I went for it and graduated in marine biology.
Although, I never regretted that decision and I look back at many wonderful experiences during my studies, there was always something missing to me - a potential I knew I had that remained unused, catching dust in the corner.
I started taking online lessons in coding (mainly C, C++ and Python). There I realized that my coding skills, though they caught dust indeed, did not get rusty and I still had it in me to write good code.
Slowly, the idea of a career switch manifested itself in my head. I applied at BeCode for the training in web development and after being selected I realized that what I knew about programming was just a drop in the ocean. A humbling but not intimidating discovery.
At Factry
After the training I started my internship at Factry. That drop had grown but so did the ocean. Even more humbling. This time slightly intimidating. But I wanted to start working on something big and with their data driven software, this was just the right choice for the data enthusiast I had become.
Since then, every day has been equally challenging and rewarding. Frustrations turned into rejoicing when obstacles were finally overcome. I have wonderful colleagues whose passion for their work and compassion for the beginner I still am help me grow.
Working on the 4th Industrial Revolution feels (who would have thought?) revolutionary. :)
Algorithms, code and colleagues that laugh about the same jokes as I do have filled the gap that I was carrying for long inside my heart. When asked if I wanted to stay working for Factry after my internship, I didn’t have to think twice. My mind was made up already a while ago.
Into the Future
Since then I do my best to deliver good work as a software engineer. The learning curve is steep but I love climbing anyway ;) Now I want to grow together with Factry into something bigger and better.
As the Germans say: “Der Weg ist das Ziel!”
