Hi my name is Neil and I am very pleased to meet everyone in the cohort.
I have decided to pursue a software engineering couse at Academy Xi for the following reasons:
- Feeling bored at my current job: I’ve been working as a Chartered Accountant for the past 4 years, going into my 5th. My field of speciality is financial audits. 4 years is usually the tipping point for folks in my profession, especially for people who started as a graduate, like myself. 4 years into the profession, we could have all completed all requirements for our professional accreditation, and many people start to wonder where to take their career next. For most people, this would mean going into the commercial fields (i.e. get a job as a financial accountant in a company). This would usually mean it’s slightly better pay and better hours. However for me, I don’t want to pursue this ‘traditional’ path, I think it’s even worse than my current job, it’s like I can see where I will be when I am 60 years old. Sure enough, I might get to become a Finance Director or something, but I am thinking, there has to be a better way.
- There is no way to express my creativity skills. Financial auditing is not creative at all, it’s fundamentally driven by laws and regulations. Although my clients come from various industries, the fundamental nature of many transactions are bound by certain rules, and as such, how we examine compliance is rather similar. The job would slowly kill anyone’s creativity, because doing things in a tried and trusted way is how things get done in the industry, you don’t try to do any different. I am hoping there’s still a channel where I can develop my creavity skills. Learning the fundamentals in software engingeering seems to offer a pathway to achieve that. Once I learn the fundamentals, I am free to create wonderful things that could have a potential to make a difference.
- Flexibility of the course. I was on a lookout for a part time option. Given the current circumstance of a global pandemic, I didn’t think it’s wise to quit a stable job and launch straight into a foreign field. What if I really hate it, right? But that shouldn’t be an excuse for not trying, so the part time option works out to be perfect.
Now that one month has passed since I started the course, I have to say it’s been a bumpy ride! It certainly wasn’t easy diving into a completely new sphere and starting from scratch. I have often times found myself spending a lot of time trying to understand a certain concept, although it might seem quite straightforward. When I thought I was getting it, the labs twisted it slightly and I am back to the starting line… trying to connect the dots again. But I think I have been making progress.
In terms of the experience building my personal website, I thought it was ok so far. That’s because my knowledge at present is limited to what the modules have tought me in the html and css sections. My personal website is a copy of my resume online, which wasn’t very complicated by design. Although I am aware of the potential to do so much more when I learn how to do things with JavaScript. So far my understanding of JavaScript is foundational, but after watching some YouTube videos I am amazed at the possibility that so much more can happen, and I can’t wait to get to know them just a little bit better by the day.
I am still very much looking forward to pushing my comfort zone by placing myself in unfamiliar territory and learning about all the different languages, who knows what might await on the other side of this journey?
