I have four weeks left at my job, and seven weeks until I start Coding Dojo bootcamp. After working as a social worker for three years, it's hard for me to imagine a work environment where I do not talk to people all day. It has sounded like heaven many times in the past few years, but I also worry I will get bored and restless. Of course I have many questions about this decision. Will it make me happy? Will I miss social work? Will I find meaning in my work?
However, I am trying to remember what I have learned over the past few years: there is no shortcut to meaning and happiness. I am doing this because I want to find more balance in my life and because I enjoy coding. After years of pushing myself along in a career and trying to make it fit, this one feels like it will. That doesn't mean that any developer job will do. I will still have to look for the right work environment, preferably at a company that shares my values. This may also be a time for me to consider what my values are.
The more basic and practical questions, of course, come first. Will I learn what I need to learn in this program? Will I be good at this? Unfortunately those are hard to answer before starting out. I have done plenty of research on Coding Dojo, and everything I've read makes me feel like I will learn a lot. I want to learn how to take my very basic algorithms and turn them into real programs that can be run on the web or other devices. I already built a short and basic CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) program in Ruby, although I don't want to always be building counseling applications. I've been a social worker for so long it will take me some time to learn how to develop the rest of myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment