Most of the devs that I know came into the industry by accident - they just kinda fell into it - myself included.
Did you plan to be a web developer or did you get here by a round about route? If so, what was it?
I studied architecture (the building kind, not the data kind), worked part time at Xerox so that I could use their reprographic gear, and then learned to code on the job, ending up as a dev for them.
Given that the web industry is as young as it is, most of us who are thirty-something got into it by chance, I’d think.
I started out in a completely different field. Actually, it’s fields. I began as a professional athlete (Tennis). It was a very short career, not really what I wanted. Then I trained to become a pharmaceutical assistant. After graduation, I worked in that field for a couple years. After that period, I decided I was ready to go to Uni. I studied Philology (Ancient Greek + Latin), Philosophy, and English Literature. During that time, I started to develop a deep interest in Alternative Rock music and thought, heck, there’s no proper international forum for people who like that genre as much as I do, so I created one. Knowing nothing about coding, I came to SitePoint, got help from Paul O’Brien and others, and was able to launch a vBulletin powered international forum that, at its peak, had some 50k active users. The success of that forum and the fact that I had always loved design and art, prompted me to roll up my sleeves and learn the craft of coding and designing for the web.
Interesting stuff Maleika!
I never finished my university studies (who knows, maybe one day) but the truth is that I have always been, one way or another, involved with computers and I like them.
I always learnt what I needed to survive and whatever I was told and done tons of jobs in the middle. I don’t remember well how everything started. But I liked it and wanted to learn more.
I wouldn’t say that I’m in web development. Only that I can put a website together although I still have a long way to go.