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In hindsight, what do you think lead you astray? Curious if you took an academic route, associating more education with greater skill or just focused on the "w

by d33lio 6y ago

In hindsight, what do you think lead you astray? Curious if you took an academic route, associating more education with greater skill or just focused on the "wrong" thing?

sethammons 6y ago
I had to get the first job I could, had no time for internships nor networking, and had no role models or guidance on how to succeed financially. Lack of a support system made any kind of time investment very hard financially as bills and hungry mouths don’t like to wait. Had I less financial responsibilities, I could have taken a lower paying but higher potential job. The longer version: had a kid at 15. Lived in the middle of nowhere (which I love[d]) and finding ways to earn money was hard. Grew up poor. I graduated high school towards the top academically and got a full tuition scholarship to a university. My girlfriend and shortly thereafter wife (we got married shortly after high school and moved into our own place in town) had to graduate high school a year late. She did most of the supporting of our young family waitressing while I did some student work at the university. One gig was working PHP with a buddy making about minimum wage at night. Eventually got a BS in business admin with a minor in CS. Worked in insurance first because it hired immediately. I had looked into tech, but at the time, pay was not very good and required moving to a population center. Turned out with insurance, I could not earn enough fast enough (it takes time to build a book of business) so I started at a potentially higher paying role in financial services and washed out. Did odd construction work as I got a teaching credential. The pay still sucked. We were not even scraping by: every month we even further negative in our bank account. The only things that helped were the occasional website or utility I built for someone and the hope that after several years of teaching that our base salary would finally exceed our meager living. Got cut from my district during the layoffs. Toss in a couple more kids along the way. I put out two resumes: one for teaching and one for programming based on the work I did as a student and the few websites and utilities I made. A recruiter reached out and I got some tech interviews. Landed a sweet start up gig at nearly 2x what I was making as a teacher. This was the first time ever that we could start really saving, but the majority was going to paying off debts. The commute was about 40 minutes, the same as when I taught. Then the office moved further. Then again. Then again. The commute was 2.5 hours one way at that point. Then I went fully remote. Nearly a decade later and Im still with that same company. I out-earn what I ever could have as a teacher, principal, or super intendant. I’ve grown with the company from a couple dozen folks through hundreds of hires, an eventual IPO, through acquisition of a couple smaller companies and through being acquired. I am now a principal engineer and team lead for our part of a multi-thousand person, global company. I’ve enjoyed nearly everyday of work since being hired and wouldn’t have it any other way. A rough start. But opportunity met preparation and we were lucky.

by d33lio 6y ago

In hindsight, what do you think lead you astray? Curious if you took an academic route, associating more education with greater skill or just focused on the "wrong" thing?

sethammons 6y ago

I had to get the first job I could, had no time for internships nor networking, and had no role models or guidance on how to succeed financially. Lack of a support system made any kind of time investment very hard financially as bills and hungry mouths don’t like to wait. Had I less financial responsibilities, I could have taken a lower paying but higher potential job. The longer version: had a kid at 15. Lived in the middle of nowhere (which I love[d]) and finding ways to earn money was hard. Grew up poor. I graduated high school towards the top academically and got a full tuition scholarship to a university. My girlfriend and shortly thereafter wife (we got married shortly after high school and moved into our own place in town) had to graduate high school a year late. She did most of the supporting of our young family waitressing while I did some student work at the university. One gig was working PHP with a buddy making about minimum wage at night. Eventually got a BS in business admin with a minor in CS. Worked in insurance first because it hired immediately. I had looked into tech, but at the time, pay was not very good and required moving to a population center. Turned out with insurance, I could not earn enough fast enough (it takes time to build a book of business) so I started at a potentially higher paying role in financial services and washed out. Did odd construction work as I got a teaching credential. The pay still sucked. We were not even scraping by: every month we even further negative in our bank account. The only things that helped were the occasional website or utility I built for someone and the hope that after several years of teaching that our base salary would finally exceed our meager living. Got cut from my district during the layoffs. Toss in a couple more kids along the way. I put out two resumes: one for teaching and one for programming based on the work I did as a student and the few websites and utilities I made. A recruiter reached out and I got some tech interviews. Landed a sweet start up gig at nearly 2x what I was making as a teacher. This was the first time ever that we could start really saving, but the majority was going to paying off debts. The commute was about 40 minutes, the same as when I taught. Then the office moved further. Then again. Then again. The commute was 2.5 hours one way at that point. Then I went fully remote. Nearly a decade later and Im still with that same company. I out-earn what I ever could have as a teacher, principal, or super intendant. I’ve grown with the company from a couple dozen folks through hundreds of hires, an eventual IPO, through acquisition of a couple smaller companies and through being acquired. I am now a principal engineer and team lead for our part of a multi-thousand person, global company. I’ve enjoyed nearly everyday of work since being hired and wouldn’t have it any other way. A rough start. But opportunity met preparation and we were lucky.