TeacherSoftware Engineer
Self-attested. The author confirmed their identity to us. The content itself is unchecked.Starting conditions
- Institution
- Large State School
- Major
- Education
- GPA band
- below-2.5
- Graduated
- 2016–2018
- Location
- New York, United States
- No relevant experience
- Financial need
The sequence6 steps
- Coursework1 yr 4 moPivotal
Studied programming during evenings and summers
Studied programming during evenings and summers. This took 16 months and was slower than expected.
Start this earlier than feels necessary.
Evidence for this step - Financial1 yr
Saved a nine-month runway before leaving teaching
- Setback5 moPivotal
Left teaching before securing a role; four months without income
Evidence for this stepObstacle
The plan stalled here, and it was not obvious it would recover.
How it was resolved
Asked the people who rejected me what the specific disqualifier was, then fixed exactly that instead of everything at once.
- Networking3 mo
Found an education technology community that led to referrals
Found an education technology community that led to referrals. This took 3 months and was harder than expected.
Evidence for this step - Application5 mo
Applied to education technology companies specifically
Obstacle
Applied broadly without understanding what the reviewers actually screened on.
How it was resolved
Narrowed the list and applied early in the cycle rather than late.
Start this earlier than feels necessary.
- Job3 mo
Started as a software engineer
Started as a software engineer. This took 3 months and was slower than expected.
Start this earlier than feels necessary.
Outcome
Junior developer offer
Reflection
Would repeat
- Starting the outreach earlier than felt comfortable.
Would skip
- The first application cycle, which I entered underprepared.
Biggest obstacle
Underestimating how long the prerequisite work would take alongside everything else.
What was luck
- One person answered a cold email who did not have to.
Estimated cost: Roughly $11,000 across the whole transition.