Debugging My Career: How I Survived the Career Change Marathon

A career change isn't something you do every day. It’s a process that requires a total mindset shift.

Today I want to share my journey – the road from banking to Frontend Developer, and finally to Fullstack.

While I feel confident in the industry today, my beginnings were far from perfect. It wasn't a sprint from A to B, but a demanding long-distance run.

This time, I won't talk about successes, but about the challenges that almost made me quit. Because those are what build us as engineers.

My vision of a career change is based on consistency, not a short-term burst of energy.

IT is not just about code; it's the ability to solve problems under pressure and with limited knowledge.

My experience in banking taught me process accountability and high operational standards, but IT taught me how to create value out of chaos.

The biggest challenges I faced:

My path to IT was full of 'bugs' I had to debug on my own to move forward:

• Paralyzing doubts: Constant questions about whether this decision made sense and if I'd ever be good enough for someone to trust me.
• Lack of a clear roadmap: Getting lost in the sea of technologies and rapidly changing market demands, not knowing where to focus.
• Extreme fatigue: Balancing a full-time banking job with after-hours learning, often at the expense of sleep and private life.
• Loneliness and lack of feedback: The absence of a mentor meant I was wandering in the dark, not knowing if my code had any value.
• Mental shift: Moving from repetitive banking tasks to creative problem-solving and building systems from scratch.
• Theoretical overload: The sheer amount of knowledge required to understand Web Development without a CS degree was overwhelming.
• Hundreds of 'wasted' hours: Thousands of lines of code and apps written just to grasp the basics before sending my first CV.
• The recruitment wall: Hundreds of applications, zero responses, and failed technical tasks in the face of rising demands and the AI era.

Every single difficulty was necessary. They taught me consistency and resilience that no course can provide.

Today, as a mentor, I support others because I’ve been in their shoes and I know that with the right support, this marathon is winnable.