Imagine you work for decades in the same industry, doing in general the same tasks. At what point would you start to get bored? When would you start to crave for a change? In my case, it took nearly 20 years.
I’m a translator. The translator’s work itself isn’t boring at all – the texts are varying, all the time you explore new areas of technology and science, the tools you work with are constantly changing. Additionally, I’ve worked in a marvellous team with my wife, which was the best part of this job.
Now, I’m approaching half of my biological life, if anyone can assume their own longevity, as well as of my professional career, having 20 years of work experience and being 20 years to retirement. A perfect age for a professional life makeover!
I’ve always been up to IT. Well, maybe not always – I spent my childhood without any advanced electronics – but for the recent 25 years I’ve been really keen on computers. It all started with a really modest budget, therefore my first experience was with super old machines like PC AT or even XT, and my first steps were full of experiments, mistakes and damages, sometimes painful for my wallet. But I’ve learned a lot. During my studies and my career, I used almost all Microsoft Windows versions and sometimes worked in Linux and even OS/2 Warp 3 systems. I created webpages for myself and for social projects I was engaged in, from simple HTML + CSS static pages through CMSs like Joomla and WordPress to PHP + MySQL combinations. Sometimes I had to write macros in VBA or repair computers for me and my friends.
This is why IT came to my mind quite naturally when I started to think about changing my profession. I imagined myself as a software tester, treating it as an excellent starting point.
And now I’m at the beginning of my journey to the IT world. This is the first day.