Why I started front-end development at the age of 30
From the time I was little, I loved riddles and puzzles, Always looking for the logical side of life and drawn to science and math. But my big dream was to be a musician.
In high school, I majored in Biotechnology and chemistry because my father worked in that profession. I didn’t even know what computer science is. Graduated successfully, like most of the people of Israel, I turned to the IDF. Serving in the armored corps and even becoming an officer and a platoon commander, where I developed my management and educational skills. After more than four years I got out of the army, my then girlfriend (now my wife) and I took a trip to New-Zealand and found our place in a very small apartment in Erchelia.
My mind was set on being a music composer so I entered ‘Rimon- school of modern music’ and studied movie and tv score composing for three years. Then 26 years old, I tried to find my place in the “not so big” music industry while working a temp job in retail. A year has passed and my music career is not turning enough revenue. In my temp job, on the other end, I got promoted to store manager. I credit that happening to my role in the army as an officer.
Another year and another job as a gas station manager. My wife and I decided that the music thing isn’t working and I need to consider a new profession.
After some consulting, I chose to study industrial engineering at ‘Ariel’ university to take advantage of my logical thinking and problems solving skills. Becoming a student at 28 is not that easy. I needed to juggle my classes with my almost full-time job while maintaining our apartment. The first semester, although tough, went great and for the first time in my life, I had to take a course in ‘Java’ programming.
It didn’t take long before I fell in love with code writing. The combination of logical thinking and creative process spoke to me and soon I found myself ahead of the class. Sharing with my wife my newfound love she told me I should have a talk with the “Create” CEO (where she works as a UI designer). After the big talk, I took the risky move and registered for a boot camp course in Front-end development.
Four months later here I am, almost at my 30, and looking for a junior job in FED. Maybe if I started programming in high school, I’ve been in a high-level job with high pay, but I don’t regret the way I did so far. I still write music, I practiced my people and management skills and I entering the FED industry with no doubt that this is what I’m good at, and this is what I want to do.
Update: now in my second job as a developer I can say it was definitely the right move to do 😉
