Quitting a Job That Isn’t Right for You
So, you decided to learn to code back in March when the pandemic started. After all, none of your previous work mattered anymore. Either the industry came to a screeching halt (hospitality, theater, dance, arts, music, I feel for you ), or you got laid off or fired, or maybe you just reevaluated your life and realized, you’ve been spending too much time doing shit you don’t want to do.
You were motivated and didn’t want to be run over by the impending doom and gloom of not only COVID-related stress, but election year drama. Instead of giving in to the negativity, you wanted to do something positive with this time.
Same.
I’d like to share some of my experience this past year in hopes that it may reach a couple people who could use some words of encouragement.
During the past 7–8 months I’ve gone from knowing virtually nothing about tech, to feeling at home building full websites. I got my certification with frontend web development and am slowly but surely expanding my knowledge of the back end. I have a hunch I’m not the only one who decided to pursue this in March.
I got a job in October teaching beginner coding workshops online and was ecstatic that I actually landed a job. I felt like I got my foot in the door and was past that dreaded first hurdle that everyone always talks about. Then I realized, I didn’t want to teach beginner coding workshops online. What I wanted, since the beginning, was to build websites and applications.
I lasted about three weeks, did a single workshop and zoomed a handful of meetings and realized, I’m going to quit the first “tech” job I ever had.
Honestly, I felt like a loser. I’m the entitled millennial that can’t hold a job. This is of course just the voice in my head which is objectively, false.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing a total 180 into a new career, getting your first job, and realizing it’s not for you. If this past year has taught us anything, it’s that you shouldn’t waste a single moment in your life on anything, unless it truly aligns with your goals that you set forth. Please, believe this.
I believe that the tech realm will experience a shift towards more accessible tools, and more inclusive thoughts and philosophies. It will become easier and easier to find people and missions that you connect with. Unless you can’t eat, don’t stay a job that doesn’t serve you. It might take a while to find something that suits you and that’s okay. You are unfathomably courageous for even being on this path, so just take in a couple breaths of courage and stay true to yourself. There’s enough room for all of us here.
/❤
