Making The Switch As A Software Developer

Growing into Someone Better

I'm always constantly striving to become a better person, both personally and professionally. As a developer, this generally requires you to break out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.

Some folks pick up a new unfamiliar programming language or write their own compiler - I decided that I needed to surround myself with an entirely new (and much larger) group of folks.

Many of these folks will have extremely different backgrounds, experiences, and personalities than my own, which is exactly what you want in a team. People that will challenge your preconceived notions of "the right way" and force you to become a better developer professionally while at the same time sharing experiences that can affect you personally.

Each of these forces, both personally and professionally, will help you grow not only as a developer but as a person.

A Change of Scenery

While the scenery itself won't change too significantly for me (as the new position is 100% remote), it will bring about a lot of changes that I haven't experienced before.

I've never worked 100% remote. I've never attended a SCRUM meeting. I've never worked on a large development team. These and countless others all culminated into a huge impostor syndrome bubble that made me feel like less of a developer (or that I was missing out on a huge part of the software development world).

While all of these changes were scary, they were exactly the reason I was doing this. I didn't want to have any regrets in my career of missing out or "playing it safe."

I internalized some of these shortcomings as weaknesses, and so I thought a change in scenery would be a good way to tackle these fears head on.

I knew that I couldn't possibly be worse off for not at least giving it a shot.

Taking a Leap

To be clear, I wasn't looking for a job when this opportunity presented itself. I had always been so happy where I was that I rarely even considered the idea always touting "it would really take something special" to get me to leave.

Well, this one was special. It was also very different from what I had been doing the last seven years, and it was the different part that made the wheels turn a bit more. There were so many differences that in-fact that's what started becoming one of the most appealing parts of the opportunity.

The change wasn't so much about the companies involved, but rather me making a leap of faith to try something completely different and new.

So, I closed my eyes and made the leap, half-scared and half-excited, to join a new team. I'd be joining a new team, working in a new environment with so many unknowns and differences from what I had grown accustomed to.

My only hope being that these differences would make the difference.

My Message to You

I'll wrap this up with a few bullet points for those of you that might be on the fence about making a change and to recap what helped me make mine,

• Find What's Important to You
  Prioritize what in your career or professional life is important to you. If it's unlimited vacation, a flexible schedule, remote work, a humongous salary, working with Perl, whatever.
  
  
• Now Find a Company That Those Things Are Important To
  It's crucial that you make it clear to any potential employers what is important to you. Remember, interviews are bi-directional and you need to think of them that way. It's fine to negotiate and make some concessions but make sure you keep your priorities in mind.
  
  
• Only You (Can Prevent Job Unhappiness)
  If you aren't happy with your current job, then do something about it. Determine what you like/dislike and see if you can find something new that will allow you to keep the good (and get rid of the bad). Only you can know what's best for you and your family.

So if you find yourself consistently unhappy, irritated, or burnt-out at your position, it may be time for a change. Likewise, if you are too comfortable, bored, or you simply just want to do something new, you might want to look around as well.

You are the only person that can decide if you are happy, and the only person that can do something about it.