My Journey From Social Work to Tech

 


- “The realization that what feels like a hobby could be my job”

In a parking lot at Ullared on the 19th of May, I screamed ‘I GOT IN!!’. My friends looked strange at me for a couple of seconds before they realized what I was screaming about — I had been offered a place on Technigo’s Boot Camp course. With no previous experience with coding, I had been very nervous about not getting accepted, thus I had no idea how high the admission requirements were.

The journey to that parking lot and getting to scream ‘I got in’ started in the summer of 2019. Until that summer I thought I had my whole life and future all figured out with a husband, career, home, and talking about having children. That same year I turned 30 years old, graduated from university with a philosophy bachelor in social work, worked in social services, and realized that I didn’t live the life that I wanted. On my initiative, the path I was on drastically changed, and led to some very challenging and hard years. But one thing I never thought would change, was the notion that I’ve always been meant to work with people in one way or another.

Picture of a computer screen with code on it
Photo by Luis Gomes on Pexels

Work in Social Services was fulfilling but very tough. You meet people at their lowest points in life and do everything in your power to help them with limited resources and time. And I got to a point where I didn’t enjoy the work anymore. My dream had always been to work with people, what else could I do? I didn’t know anything else and I was left feeling defeated.

Life has a funny way of pointing you in the right direction, I knew I needed a change, I just didn’t know how or what. At a pub in Gothenburg, at an away game, some friends talked about how they needed more programmers, and that there was a high demand. That conversation sparked a curious thought about a career in programming, but it felt so overwhelming to start over, and some parts of me didn’t believe I could do it. Some months passed, but the curiosity was still there, and I started to research schools and education within tech. Three more years at university felt like an eternity, but then I remembered a previous colleague who had changed careers, and as luck has it, she studied at Technigo and recommended it. I looked in to it, gave it some thought, and decided to apply.

About three months after that day in the parking lot I got then the realization that what felt like a hobby could be my job. It was meant to be, I got stuck for hours in a flow state and couldn’t be happier.

Life changed and here I am, halfway through the course and closer to what I think will be my dream job, where or at what company that job will be is yet to come. But I know it’s there.

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