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I majored in journalism and worked in tech support for a while, but I got into engineering by seeing manual procedures that I could write software to speed up,

I majored in journalism and worked in tech support for a while, but I got into engineering by seeing manual procedures that I could write software to speed up, so I did that. Management saw the value in it (I helped by pitching this as a force multiplier) and gave me an ever-increasing allotment of my schedule to work on that instead of customer support until it became 100%. They did try to route me into QA first, but I ignored that and none of them were technical enough to know the difference.

codingdave 4y ago
I did the same - admittedly, this was decades ago, but when I had no coding experience, I took a tech support job and learned. As I learned, I started doing small projects for my department, and as those succeeded, it took up more and more of my job until I got promoted to be a coder. I've had people on HN tell me that this path is the most horrible path to recommend to people, yet at the same time -- it works. And you make a living while getting your skills up.
neontomo 4y ago
Oh, I've done that too! I did some work for a hotel and sped up their marketing and IT stuff quite a bit with automation. I didn't end up being paid extra for that, but I enjoyed it. Would you put it on your CV?
- aardvark179 4y ago
  Yes, putting relevant experience on your CV would be a good thing. I’d also suggest changing the tone of the website a little. You say, “Take a moment to browse through my innovative ideas,” and then link to mine sweeper that uses sums instead of numbers? I kind of expected more from the description, and if I were looking as part of a job application I might start to doubt other things you claim. If you’d just said Minesweeper with sums I’d have come away with a much more positive impression.
  - neontomo 4y ago
    I've changed the tone, thank you. I don't think simple ideas are any less innovative though, for what it's worth!
- indigochill 4y ago
  I didn't put it on my CV since by the time I was updating my CV I'd already done much more interesting stuff than what I did at that time so it didn't add anything, but if that had been the extent of my experience then I'd 100% put it on my CV. Anything that's relevant to the job the CV is for.

codingdave 4y ago

I did the same - admittedly, this was decades ago, but when I had no coding experience, I took a tech support job and learned. As I learned, I started doing small projects for my department, and as those succeeded, it took up more and more of my job until I got promoted to be a coder. I've had people on HN tell me that this path is the most horrible path to recommend to people, yet at the same time -- it works. And you make a living while getting your skills up.

neontomo 4y ago

Oh, I've done that too! I did some work for a hotel and sped up their marketing and IT stuff quite a bit with automation. I didn't end up being paid extra for that, but I enjoyed it. Would you put it on your CV?

aardvark179 4y ago
Yes, putting relevant experience on your CV would be a good thing. I’d also suggest changing the tone of the website a little. You say, “Take a moment to browse through my innovative ideas,” and then link to mine sweeper that uses sums instead of numbers? I kind of expected more from the description, and if I were looking as part of a job application I might start to doubt other things you claim. If you’d just said Minesweeper with sums I’d have come away with a much more positive impression.
- neontomo 4y ago
  I've changed the tone, thank you. I don't think simple ideas are any less innovative though, for what it's worth!
indigochill 4y ago
I didn't put it on my CV since by the time I was updating my CV I'd already done much more interesting stuff than what I did at that time so it didn't add anything, but if that had been the extent of my experience then I'd 100% put it on my CV. Anything that's relevant to the job the CV is for.