About

Two years ago, I was teaching math in a public school in Florida. While I loved the work and the opportunity to be a positive influence on my students, I struggled to make ends meet. I did everything I could: subleasing my house, pet-sitting, driving for Uber, tutoring, camp counseling, summer school instruction, and course recovery. I remember waking up at 5 a.m. one Friday morning before work. I was staying at a client’s house while pet-sitting, had to rush the dogs to the bathroom, feed them, shower, and then beat the morning traffic to get to work. I realized I couldn’t do this forever, so I started researching careers I could pivot towards.

After weeks of searching, I kept seeing the same term: “software developer.” I had a few months of experience in AutoCAD from a college course I took, and I remembered enjoying it. I downloaded VS Code, made a basic “Hello World” page in HTML, and I was hooked. With the right combination of creative thinking and logical problem-solving, I realized there was no limit to what I could create if I studied and worked hard enough.

Realizing I wanted to pursue this path, I enrolled in a Software Engineering Bootcamp with the University of South Florida. The cohort started in June, and by August, I was teaching full time, spending a minimum of 30 hours a week coding outside of work hours. I would stay at my desk after work until 7 to 8 pm each weekday and start coding from the moment I woke up on weekends.

After a year of that process, I was done! I felt exhausted but accomplished. I started putting my name out there but struggled to get even a one percent return on my applications. I realized opportunities weren’t going to be handed to me, so I strove to do better. It was going to take resilience and discipline to seize whatever came my way.

My journey is not atypical; many of you reading probably share my experience. I hope that anything I share with you can aid you as you traverse this challenging path. We are all in this together.

-Patrick Gilhooley