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From Green Mohawk and Punk Band to Lead SWE at a Major Financial Firm

A self-taught developer shares how a lifetime of dabbling in code, combined with a stint in the Army, a touring punk band, and a photojournalism career, eventually led to a junior SWE role landed through a friend's referral while couch-surfing. He worked his way up to lead engineer at an F500 energy company and later a major financial firm, without a CS degree until recently returning to school in his late career.

Key takeaways

  • →Leverage your network aggressively: both of the author's career-defining opportunities came through friends who referred him directly
  • →Say yes first, then learn: landing the first client website by confidently agreeing and then scrambling to learn PHP and WordPress is a repeatable pattern
  • →Self-taught engineers learn how to learn, which is a durable advantage over degree-holders who stop after graduation
  • →Recognize and resist burnout: imposter syndrome that bleeds into every waking hour is unsustainable, not a virtue
  • →Ignore career-trend pressure: deciding he had no interest in ML/AI and committing to what he actually enjoys brought real mental clarity

I had dabbled in programming my whole life, starting with C64 BASIC. In high school I learned some C and C++, but once the internet became more accessible I moved onto web-based languages. After graduating, with no guidance whatsoever and a 16-inch green mohawk, no one told me programming could be a career. I was labeled a lost cause.

I did a short stint in the Army, then spent my mid-20s in a minor touring punk band. When I realized that was a dead end, I pivoted to photojournalism. My timing was terrible. The great newspaper crash hit just as I was finishing up. I freelanced for a few years, then started a small photographic advertising firm.

Through all of this, I kept coding. During the early days of 'New Media,' I built websites for stories and created interactive Flash pieces while older journalists ignored the web entirely. When a client asked if I could build them a website, I said yes and then learned PHP and WordPress as fast as I could.

Around the same time I got married, and then quickly divorced. I gave up everything in the settlement and ended up on a friend's couch, trying to get a fresh start. That same friend told me about a company looking for a developer. With a referral and the pressure of being homeless and hungry, I landed a gig as a 'Web Master.'

The company was eventually sold and the new owners cut the local team. I went back to freelancing. Later, another friend pointed me toward a developer role at an F500 energy company. I worked my way from junior SWE to a lead position. I've since moved to a major financial firm and recently returned to school to finish a CS degree, not because I think I need it, but because I want to keep growing.

What I've learned: my enthusiasm and passion have taken me further than the 'coder bro' who studied CS just for the salary.

Adapted from a public post by cwdegidio on Hacker News. Read the original →

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