How I transitioned from being a Mechanical Engineer to an Software Developer

Unarguably Mechanical Engineering is one of the best fields of engineering to pursue. But the taste and passion can be different for people. But every decision you take in your life may not be right. Sometimes you may end up taking courses that may not bring the best in you. So if you are like me who finished mechanical engineering or any other degree or a field unrelated to Computer Science then this blog is for you. So how did I make that shift? There is no magic pill, you need to be ready to commit at least 4hrs per day to learning and doing projects. So let’s see how this journey started.

To begin, let me explain why I chose to code over other industries such as sales and marketing.

These are my personal belief, and I acted on them.

• I want to be working in an industry where there is a high demand for the skill and many possibilities to be in important roles at the top of the food chain.

• I love being location independent., for that, I want a skill that allows me to go anywhere in the world and still be able to find a job easily. If I decide to move to Mountains tomorrow, I want to make sure that you won’t have issues finding a job.

• I want to be at the forefront of an industry that is impacting the world.

• The industries that have seen the largest growth in the last couple of years have been in the areas of artificial intelligence & machine learning, biotech, autonomous cars, blockchain/crypto/web3 (Bitcoin alone is worth $1 Trillion as I write this).

What is essential to all of these industries? Programming (aka coding or development). We interact with these technologies every day and you don't want to be left behind as these take over our future. So becoming a web developer is a great foot in the door to these industries.

So those are the few reasons that drive me to learn development and pursue a career in technology.

Here is how you can also begin…

The first course I took was Neogcamp by Tanay Pratap which is available on youtube and is completely free. It is very comprehensive and easy to understand. This course helped me a lot on taking that 20% to give you 80% of the results, including the latest framework used and best practices. This is very impressive, to begin with, you can show this in your portfolio and resume. After this, I mainly focused on applying what I learned. You should get your hands dirty by doing as many as projects you can think of. You learn more when you do projects because that’s where you apply your skills.

Master JavaScript

No matter what frameworks may come and go. This language is going to stay for long. It’s now the most popular language on the internet. Mastering this should be your priority, then any frameworks will be a cakewalk for you. Moreover, it’s an easy language to understand. No compiler is needed since JavaScript doesn’t require a compilation process. The browser interprets JavaScript as its HTML tags.

Tutorial Hell…

So let me tell you a catch here. If we want to learn something today, the best part is, we have access to so many resources online and the worst part is, we have access to so many resources online

Be aware of this, you could end up signing in plenty of courses and you end up not doing much and confused. In my honest opinion sign up for the courses that would make a difference that makes you learn a new skill well. The important thing is to practice more by solving problems, creating new projects. When you meet a problem by yourself and find the solution, then the idea is stamped on your brain. Because creating something from scratch requires you to know about the technology well and be able to place everything together. While sticking with tutorials will only give you comfort, once you know something start digging deep by applying it however you can.

Thanks for reading this blog and do remember that always strive for the progress instead of perfection