Hello, I am Gennaro and today in this article I will tell you about my career change from bartender to software developer

The Pandemic

It was 2020 when the Covid pandemic broke out, and almost all work sectors were affected (especially catering, but generally those services that were centered around physical interaction with the customer).

As a consequence, I found myself out of work and with a lot of free time that I didn't know how to use. No, spending the whole day glued to League of Legends🕹️👾 didn't seem right, and no, I didn't want to learn how to make pizza or focaccias at home (in my working career I also worked as a pizza maker🍕).

So, considering my 5 years of honored service as a bartender, and having established that the work environment had become rather toxic, I told myself: I need to develop marketable skills on the web, this way I can work from home in the event of another pandemic. Spoiler: I have always been fascinated by the digital nomad lifestyle and finding a digital job would have brought me a little closer to this experience I have always wanted to try.

Ending a no longer fulfilling job (to put it mildly) and finding a remote job: two birds with one stone🐦

The Fateful Decision

The premises were good, but I had no idea how to move forward. I literally didn't know where to start. I told myself:
"First of all, let's find out about jobs that can be done remotely."
I stumbled upon a Lonely Planet guide about digital nomads. This guide had a whole section on the main jobs done by those who embrace this lifestyle: Copywriter, Social Media Manager, Marketer, SEO, Developer...
I literally opened the book at random and pointed: Developer
Of all the jobs listed, it seemed the most complicated to learn, but also the one capable of providing the greatest satisfaction. Anyway, the die was cast, I made a contract with myself and remained faithful to my choice, and I will not try to convince anyone about how passionate I was about the web and programming already before and blah blah, rather how I am becoming passionate every day!

The Process

It took me about 2 years. I studied everything on my own. I neither had the economic possibility nor the time to invest in a full-time bootcamp. My job as a bartender slowly resumed until it was fully restored, and it became difficult to reconcile study, work, and private commitments.

However, I remained faithful to my choice and continued to study the main web development technologies while also building some small personal projects. Then the job search began.

An Opportunity

My first working experience as a developer came shortly after. A 9-month internship at 500 euros a month. At 29 years old, with rent to pay and expenses that anyone living alone knows well, I was overjoyed! All I needed was an opportunity, and it had arrived. I spent my savings to support myself during those months but I do not regret my choice. Those savings were used to make me a much more experienced developer than I would have been coming out of a bootcamp.

Reflections

Now, some years after the day I chose to become a developer, I am truly grateful for not having given up on this path and for being consistent in my studies and job search.

If you're reading this and you're a developer who started from scratch like me and sometimes feels demoralized and thinks they will never make it, remember: it's all in your head, you just have to keep practicing and never give up. Really, that's the only ingredient.

Thank you for reading this article, I hope my story can motivate those who feel overwhelmed in their programming learning journey.