>Why did you get into the field? What did you focus on at first? It was an accident. I needed to accomplish an admin task which required modifying a SQL query

>Why did you get into the field? What did you focus on at first? It was an accident. I needed to accomplish an admin task which required modifying a SQL query someone else wrote. I just fully dove into SQL mainly for reporting purposes after that. >What are you doing at your job? Is it everything you dreamed of and more? I am a data engineer for a unicorn startup. It is really awesome! The pay is ridiculous, especially considering I live in a low cost of living area but have a standard tech SF salary. Also the talent is insane. I get to interact with some really smart folks. > How did you break that first-job barrier? I saw the opportunity to automate an admin problem with a SQL query. I asked a developer to pretty much be my senpai, and he gave me an SQL crash course. After that, I did SQL tutorial after SQL tutorial and eventually got promoted from call center agent to data analyst. >What were you doing before this? I was a call center agent and working at a car wash right before that. That was like 5 years ago :D >Any tips for the rest of us? Get in touch with your companies IT/engineering department if you can. Lots of software people love curiosity. Try to find someone like that where you currently work. Also, do a lot of projects and be prepared to feel really confused about how things work. I think I would not be where I am today if I didn't have some really good mentors. Secondly, programming tutorials will have you believe that the world is just a bunch of for loops and if statements. But then you look at a real life production system and it's wayyyyy more complicated than that. Just know that the minimum amount of knowledge you need to have a software job is probably a lot lower than it would seem. Don't be discouraged when you feel like you have no idea how something works because it will happen a lot.