Technology

From medieval history to JavaScript: entering IT from a non-technical field

Javascript Ljubljana Meetup

08. 11. 2022Duration: 28.40

Three years ago I was a tour guide in a museum. Then I made a career switch to web development. Let’s see what history can teach us: what went right, what went wrong, and what I could’ve done better.

Talk recap

This talk was automagically recapped with help of Ljubljana.tech Wordsmith AI.
Subjected to paraphrasing and mirror errors.

My name is Anže and I’m a historian and a web developer at Infinum.
I will try to pinpoint those big difficulties that I encountered when starting as an engineer, and I will also talk about the steps I took to arrive to my career switch, and I will try to show that growing pains are everywhere, especially in a difficult field like ours.
I think that technical talks should start with the speaker's resume, which shows that they know what they're talking about. I'm a historian, and I chose mediaeval history for my talk because this is what I was writing my thesis on.
Okay, so I was writing about the myth of Venice, and I loved the research, I loved writing it, but dressing as a Roman didn't really come up yet in my three years as a web developer. I was a tour guide in several museums in Ljubljana and I enjoyed the challenges, but deeply inside, I knew that this is not really for me, so I switched my careers.
When I was a little boy, I remember seeing a simplified representation of feudal society and power structure in my older sisters workbook, and I knew this is what I want to do. But when I was 20, I thought it was too late to switch careers.
I tried several times to learn coding on my own, but I stopped because I felt I was too old, it was too late, and I didn't have a plan for the future. So I started to consciously work on my coding skills, and it was hard.
I enrolled in two year it school and wasn't too happy with that. I wanted to code, I wanted to learn some programming languages, I wanted to do stuff, so I started a journey with Infinum Academy and that's when I knew I wanted to do web development.
When I decided to enrol in the course, I had only two options, JavaScript or Android. I decided on JavaScript and went to the entrance exam, somehow passed it, and started with the lectures and straight off the bat, it was something completely different from what I was doing after that point.
I struggled with my homework in the academy, but I managed to get past all of the lectures and all of the homeworks, and at the end, I graduated, it was a very big victory for me.
In February 2020, I travelled to Zagreb for my onboarding. After a few weeks of onboarding, I was put on a project started writing code, start improving, reviewing prs, and it happens, I made the career switch.
From history, figuring out what I don't know was the biggest obstacle, and I'm still struggling with it. My idea of how to tackle this obstacle is to write down new things and look them up, then ask questions to myself and hopefully to others.
Writing things down, doing some research, familiarising yourself with the topics is very important, and setting boundaries is a very important thing. It's very easy to get lost in this job, so having a good balance is the best move.
I'm still here, just taking it day by day, hoping they won't fire me until the end of the day, the end of the week, and the end of the trial period. :)

Anže Pureber Infinum

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Audience questions for Anže

These questions were asked by the attending audience of about 120 participants on 08. 11. 2022 at Ljubljana.tech. Maximize your next knowledge experience by attending our event in-person.

If you went back in time would you switch your career again? And what would you change?: Definitely. If I go back to that date, what I would change is probably that I didn't get stuck with the idea that it was too late. I told myself that at age 20, and then at 28, I only made a career switch. It's never too late. Maybe there's only one thing you take away from this talk: it's never too late to change anything in your life, either in your career or whatever else you're unhappy with. Just do it! It's hard, and it's scary, but it pays off.
So... do you know react?: I worked with React for about a year maybe, after I joined, joined the company. And then I switched to Angular, and I'm still working in Angular.
What strategy worked for you to learn REACT enough to be productive in it?: I feel that those one month periods of very intense, small homeworks, that added up to a small project that covered all the basic elements of React, and not only React, but web development in general, we were beginners there. They prepared me for that. But after that, I think the biggest step up was when I went through the documentation at the beginning, even now I'm still guilty of that sometimes. Sometimes I want to do things fast. I want to do them just let's do it. And I don't read the documentation as much as I should. And when it comes down to it, pause and take like an hour or two go through the documentation there will be answers there much quicker than if you go in by force.
Would it be easier or harder for someone to go through the same journey in 2022?: For me personally, it's getting easier. But that's because I'm gathering experience, and it's easier to pick up new topics. I think that if you're entering web development, it's getting easier, especially if you know what you want to do. Even back then, when I first started with even before I graduated, and stuff like this, I think that web development has the biggest present and lowest cost of entry. If you're a self-taught developer, there are a lot of very good resources out there that can help you figure out web development—it's maybe harder if you don't know what you want to do is like: Should I do Angular? Should react? And then do both halfway. That's maybe a big problem. And I think that's the field could be a bit saturated with especially the tutorial field is a bit saturated with that. So finding a good tutorial—I think the first step is knowing what you want to do, and then sticking to it.
Why did you transfer from REACT to Angular?: I know that a lot of people asked me about switching from React to Angular after only one year. Maybe somebody is also curious about that. I think I was a mediocre React developer, and then I switched to Angular. But I feel like I did it too soon. If I go back to React now, it will be easier for me to pick it up again. But I regret not sticking with it a bit longer just to get the foundation right. I think that jumping from one topic to another, especially the beginning, when you're struggling with it, is not ideal, especially if you're a person like me.
Do you feel you missed out by not having going the Computer Science University route?: I know that if I would go the traditional route by now, I would be a better developer, my co workers could rely on me better that into now I could, you know, I could be a mentor to other younger people now. But I'm happy with the way I took it. The way I took could be, you know, a scenic route to this point, but I'm still here. And along the way, studying history working in the in the museum. All of these are experiences and like lessons and ideas that I cherish. A lot of these are the core being of who I am as a person. And relationships I built in studying history or working in the museum are very important to me. So just because of that, I couldn't say that I regret or that I would change anything.
What are the skills that you obtained during your historian career that you use now in programming?: I've always had the idea of somehow combining history and development. Someday, maybe for a personal project at least, we'll see. But demos are going nicely. I remember when I first started, when I went on my first demo on my first project, it was like maybe fourth or fifth month, everybody was like, I'm going to take it easy. Don't worry if this goes badly. This is your first demo. And it was fine—I wasn't scared! I think that fear of public speaking after six years of being a tour guide, it's kind of get beaten out of you or become routine. Of course, you have the jitters and everything and the butterflies but once you start it's okay so I'm most grateful for that because before working in the museum, I was extremely shy and never made eye contact and mumbled in my beard so I think this is the biggest point that I took from my previous career.
What are the skills that you obtained during your historian career that you use now in programming?: I've always had the idea of somehow combining history and development. Someday, maybe for a personal project at least, we'll see. But demos are going nicely. I remember when I first started, when I went on my first demo on my first project, it was like maybe fourth or fifth month, everybody was like, I'm going to take it easy. Don't worry if this goes badly. This is your first demo. And it was fine—I wasn't scared! I think that fear of public speaking after six years of being a tour guide, it's kind of get beaten out of you or become routine. Of course, you have the jitters and everything and the butterflies but once you start it's okay so I'm most grateful for that because before working in the museum, I was extremely shy and never made eye contact and mumbled in my beard so I think this is the biggest point that I took from my previous career.
Were you drawn to technology or was there someone inspiring you?: I would love to say that I had like an aha moment, like I did with the feudal system pyramids that I wanted to do, you know, web development, or any development of at all. But yes, there was a person who was an inspiration to me. She's actually back there, there. Say hi. There is also made the transition to web development, about, let's say, two years before I started seriously thinking about it. And I remember, we met up for coffee, and I asked her, How did you do it? How can I do it? And she went through the with me through the steps she took, what were the problems shake out or so I could dissipate them? And she was like, a role model to me that, you know, it was a confirmation. Okay, this is doable. I can do this.
Have you faced the intruder syndrome? And how did you cope with it?: I will let you know, when I figure it out. It's obviously very hard, especially if you're a person who is predisposed to that kind of thinking, which I am. I don't know it never goes away. But to kind of get used to it. I am not happy with that answer. I don't want this to be true. But I think once you stop thinking about so much do I fit in? Do Can I do this, and then just realise, hey, I'm doing this I am here, there is nobody pulling me back or gatekeeping me from this, I am here and I'm a developer, I can do this. So saying this to yourself from time to time, it's very beneficial. And it's also great to you know, find the group of people that you're comfortable with, you know, your co workers to have a nice support system. And if their understanding can encouraging that.