I’ve always had a great appreciation with computers and technology at an early age. The first operating system I played around as a kids was MS-DOS, using cmd to play programs and games like ‘Tank Wars’. My Dad would take me to PC trade shows and I was always so amazed how many innovative things there were there. We built a couple of PC together with numerous parts. As computers evolved, I became very tech-saavy and was quick to adapt working on a computer/internet environment.
But as I grew up, my parents and eventually myself didn’t see me working in computuer/software development. For my parents, they didn’t see enough money or income compared to a doctor or nurse. For me, working in the industry seemed boring, monotonous and difficult. Any career path into computer/software development was out of the cards for me prior to college.
If you were to check my linkedin page (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjghhh/), you would see how many different positions and industries I worked in. Initially, I came into my first year of college with the intent of doing Pre-Med. By the end, I graduated with a degree in Health Science, intent to work in the fitness industry. After several internships, I saw my future in Sport Managment and got a Masters in it several years later. However, my experience in fitness and sports has seen opportunities limited. I ended up in several client services and sales positions, working in industries such as lawn care, forestry and telemedicine. Growing up a naturally shy person, these positions have challenged and changed me as a career professional and made me discover abilities I thought I didn’t possess. But the industries I was in were not ones that interest me.
My journey working in tech began once I discovered WeWork. A startup I was interviewing for brought me in for an interview at their WeWork location in Midtown NYC. From the moments I stepped into the doors, I knew I wanted to work in this environment. I thought workspaces like a WeWork were only exclusive to big companies such as Google or Apple. The startup lifestyle, which I thought was exclusive to Silicon Valley, seemed very obtainable if I wanted it. At the time, I was working a coordinator position in New Rochelle, NY that their technology was limited to Windows XP due to a legacy program. Once I got the job for the company I was interviewing for, I sent my 2-week notice and didn’t look back.
Fast-forward today, the world has changed with the COVID-19 crisis. I’m a business development professional that went through a recent lay-off due to the crisis. As I once took a break from Flatiron School, now is the best time to get back into software engineering and take advantage of the new opportunity in front of me.
-Rick