I recently left a restaurant management job after climbing the ranks for over a decade. I ascended from the dish pit to the general manager. As the demands of the job increased with each promotion, I somehow ignored the warning signs along the way. I worked every weekend for years. I don’t regret the impact on my social life, but personally, I’ve missed too much time with my family. Committing 50 hours a week towards passionless employment left me bitter and wanting more time with my wife and kids.
Before assuming the GM position, I started to research alternate career paths. I was dead set working remotely and not paying back a ridiculous amount of student loans. Lucky for me, I had a friend who worked as a recruiter for a tech company. At her request, I started dabbling with Python courses on Udemy and I thoroughly enjoyed working through the code a longs. As I was deciding what other programs to introduce myself to, my wife also decided to learn to code. She stumbled upon Flatiron and we both swiftly enrolled.
By some coincidence, after a few months, both of our job’s demands dramatically increased. We simply could not continue to tag team parenting, upkeep the house, work overtime, and be efficient in our work. Something had to give so we decided to take a break from Flatiron School.
I still had an itch for developing, so I spent time learning HTML and CSS through Udemy. Working overtime and being unable to disconnect from work reached a snap point where I needed to make a change. After 6 months of hell, we decided to take the hit financially and I asked for a demotion to chase my remote coder dreams.
I have been part time for a few weeks now, and I will be the first to admit that I have wasted time basking in my new freedom. Self guilt has caught up with me once or twice, as I catch myself doing anything other that learning to code. I need to remind myself that I am in a unique position where I can gain an education without burning the candle at both ends; without having to work overtime to provide for my family; without any distractions during school hours. Of course, time is of the essence as Flatiron is not free. Unless I find that coding is not the answer for me, I will never forgive myself for squandering this opportunity. Full speed ahead!
As I develop a routine of dealing with the house and raising the children, I am steadily increasing the velocity of lessons. Having not touched Ruby in about half a year, I still catch myself reviewing fundamentals as I get back into the swing of OO. I am currently at 44% (32/72.) Wish me luck.