From Physio to Developer 👨⚕️➡️👨💻
It’s 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon. I am talking to a colleague about our codebase, coffee in hand, leaning over our MacBooks. This time, just a few months ago, I was talking to a patient about their back, massage oil in hand, leaning over a treatment table. How time’s changed…
Why? 🤔
I went to university in 2009 to study Physiotherapy and qualified in 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree. I spent the following years working as a Physiotherapist in a variety of different settings: for the NHS, for professional football clubs, and for a private Physiotherapy clinic.
As much as I felt satisfaction in helping people recover from injuries, I always knew it wasn’t something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It is difficult to describe, but I simply just didn’t get that ‘buzz’ and enjoyment from my work. I’m still only young, and I didn’t want to work the rest of my life doing something I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. So I began to consider what other career options would be possible. I knew if I didn’t make a change now, I may never.
But, why tech? 👨💻
I’ve always been fascinated in tech. During my lifetime it’s been amazing to see how things have evolved: from a Nokia 3310 and Playstation One to this present day where we have Augmented Realiy and folding phones. And I wanted to be a part of that, part of our tech future.
I’ve always wanted to help improve, hence why I became a Physiotherapist. And I can now be a part of the tech revolution, helping solving problems for people on a much larger scale than I ever could have in my previous career. However, I would have been lying, or come across as cliché, if I said that the only reason I want to move into tech would be to change the world!
Not only does a career in tech suit someone who is logically minded and ambitious, it also comes with many rewarding job perks like good salary, career progression, work-life balance, and ability to remote work. With me and my fiancée expecting our first child, these things became a much greater motivation to me than they would have done otherwise.
How? 🤓
There are three main paths one could take to learn how to code:
(1) Computer Science Degree
(2) Coding Bootcamp
(3) Self-taught
Due to my life circumstances, teaching myself was the only possible path I could take. It wasn’t possible for me to return to university for another 3 years or spend thousands of £‘s on a bootcamp. And in fact, some would argue that if one had to choose a path into Software Development, self-taught has many benefits. Therefore, by a process of elimination, I had only one path which I could proceed with, in order to teach myself the knowledge and skills to become a Software Developer. So, I started Googling…
There are hundreds of thousands of tutorials online purporting to ‘teach yourself how to code’. I plan to follow this post up with a detailed post on what resources I used in my learning. But to summarise:
- First month learning HTML and CSS
- Followed by 3 months learning the basics of JavaScript
- The next few months involved scratching the surface of jQuery, React and Node
- I practiced what I had learnt through creating side projects
- Oh, and I basically lived, slept and breathed code for the whole year - death by information overload ☠
Then? ➡️
By the end of the year, I felt like I was in a position where I could begin to apply for jobs. I don’t think you ever feel “ready”, but I could demonstrate the basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and I had a few side projects to demonstrate this. At the time, I worked in Nottingham, and lived locally, so I limited my search to that area. Making my search narrow really limited my potential options. However, there are several large companies in Nottingham alone, and I had heard great things about Capital One, both from word-of-mouth and online reviews.
I applied for the role of Software Development Engineer and was subsequently offered an interview. The interview process was tough - really tough. However, I was well prepared. I had researched about the coding interview process and completed several online mock interviews. These gave me great confidence. I also used HackerRank, which I knew that Capital One used as their initial screening tests for applicants. I was informed that I would receive a repsonse of if I was successful or not within a week. After 5 days of sleeping next to my phone, jumping on any notifications, I was called by my current manager and offered the job 🎉.
Now! 😁
So, here I am. My life heading in a completely different direction than I could have ever expected just over a year ago. So many more future doors have been opened, and it’s super exciting to imagine where I could be in tech in the future. It’s amazing to be part of a fantastic, forward-thinking company like Capital One. And personally to me, I hope that if you are in a similar position considering changing careers from non-tech to tech, that reading this can give you the inspirtation that it is possible regardless of your background.