One of the main things I enjoy about being a developer is the Twitter community. Mostly the conversations which can come out of it. For example, last weekend, I decided to tweet about what hurdles people might have faced and why they chose to not pursue a coding career straight out of school.

It has made:
2,692 impressions
140 total engagements
But the main thing was the replies that I got from it.

There seemed to be three main themes which came out of the conversations I had.

All three of those themes branched from decisions made at school. 

1. Some people did not see themselves as smart enough to become a developer, whether that was in general or their lack of maths skills, which even I thought to be essential. Others fell in with the wrong crowd.
2. Another that intrigued me was those on the other side of the scale, those who pursued subjects which could have led to software development. One woman responded that while her degree had an element of computers in, she had decided against it as it was too much of a “boy’s club”. In comparison, someone else chose to pursue the medical field due to the opportunities where they lived.
3. Finally, there were those individuals who did not know coding was a career choice. This one got me thinking. When I was in school, I remember we had to take career quizzes. Those were tests which took your answers and decided what career was most suitable for you. We also had to sit down with a “career’s counsellor” who would suggest career options. I doubt anyone got told they were suitable for a career in development when I was in school. Despite the fact, some people have a couple of decades of coding under their belt.

It fascinates me that every day more adults are attempting to change their careers to go into software development, but I imagine now it’ll be more common for people to come straight out of school with a passion for coding. Part of me suspects that coding will become what Microsoft Office was for me coming out of school – the idea that it is an essential skill for your CV when it turns out that it is expected.

So what about you: what caused your deep dive into the world of developer careers?