Phil Choi left ESL teaching at 29, spent nearly $10,000 on a coding bootcamp, and became a senior developer after 30. He argues that hating your current job is the real fuel for making a career switch stick.
Questions this video answers
Nearly $10,000 ("almost ten grand").
ESL teacher for children (age ~29 when he decided to change).
After the age of 30.
Chapters
The reason why I invested almost ten grand into a bootcamp, because I gave myself no other options. That is how much I hated my current situation at the time. If you don't know my story, at the age of 29, right before I turned 30, I was an ESL teacher for kids. And I hated it. I hated it so bad, I was desperate, searching for a career option with this goal in mind. The goal in mind, being financially free, being able to work from home, and being around my future kids. Looking back seven years later, I now am that senior developer that I aspired to be and gained the skills that allow me to be valuable anywhere in the world. You can drop me off anywhere in the world and I'll be able to build something just with the laptop. And the reason why I was able to succeed as a programmer and learn everything I know now, because I truly hated my current situation at the time. So if you hate your current situation so bad that you'll do anything and everything to scratch and claw yourself out of that hole, then programming is for you. My name is Phil. I became a senior developer after the age of 30. If this video becomes of use to you, please like and share and comment on the reason why you started programming. Or. Or maybe if you haven't, tell us about a time you got a fire lit under your ass to get you started. I read all of my comments, so let's inspire each other through our stories. You know what really clicked in my head? I think it was 2000, end of 2016 or beginning of 2017. I had this, like, mindset that I wanted to start programming. So, you know, I went to all the, like, free websites, like Codecademy or Free Code Camp and try to learn on my own. And I had some programmer friends, so I was asking for tips and stuff. I just felt like it wasn't enough, and I didn't feel enough motivation, so. So, you know, I really wanted to change my life at the time. So I found that Bootcamp brochure and I gave him a call and I said, hey, I want to start, like, learning how to program. When is your next batch available? And it actually didn't start for a while, but I just prepared and prepared and prepared, and I just remember every day I'd be on the train going to work, and I'd, you know, I'd want to get on the other train back and go back home. You know, it's just like, I was just miserable, and I wanted to kind of, you know, because there was no, like, ladder to climb up or anything like that. It's just I was teaching these kids English and teach them how to read and speak and all this kind of stuff. I just. Yeah, it was fulfilling, whatever, but it wasn't filling in, like, the correct way where I was, like, gaining any skills that I was really learning. And I honestly wanted to kind of just, like, change my life somehow. And, you know, at the time, like, I was just like, hey, I'm not old yet. You know, Even though, like, I was getting up there in age, it's getting long in the tooth, but I had to do something. And that was like, when I really decided, hey, I'm gonna just put all my eggs in it. You know, I'm gonna put all my money in. I'm just gonna go and put my. You know, put the pedal to the metal and just try it. Something that's totally new. I didn't even know how to, like, what programming was. I didn. I didn't even know you could use the laptop for anything other than, like, Facebook and chatting and stuff, you know? So that was kind of cool because I was ready to just, like. I think I was ready to just learn something new. And it was hard. It was stressful. I wasn't the smartest in my class or anything like that. I was probably the dumbest, actually. And I remember opening up code wars and I couldn't solve it. No, it made me want to. Like, you know, I broke my confidence, but I just kept on doing it and kept on doing it. I started figuring out. Something clicked in my head, and I kept going. It was good for me. After the bootcamp, after spending so much money on the boot camp and having to find my way, I did get accepted. And, you know, you're pro programming and you're trying to get things done, and you are hungry, you want to go out to eat. I remember a time when I was really watching, like, spending, like, maybe, like, two or three dollars on, like, a Snickers bar because my sugar was low or something. But thank God, like, at the startup, like, Incubator, we had, like, free coffee and stuff. We were able to kind of get all that kind of stuff done. Really watching, like, my spending and, like, not, like, trying to, like, overdo it and, you know, like, trying to have this goal in my head, like, hey, once I get this done, even if it's not a lot of money, I'm gaining a lot of experience. Like a video game almost, you know, I'm, like, gaining experience. I'm leveling up in my coding, and I definitely like, did that as hard as I could. You know, I did see the light at the end of the tunnel, right? Like, I was able to, you know, we were able to get invested and increase my salary and all this kind of stuff and feel like, very, like, on cloud nine and stuff like that. But there were times where I wanted to give up. I wanted to go back to teaching English. But then there's, like, an impulsive thought, and there's like, the thought thoughts you, like, train yourself for. And I think, like, my impulsive thoughts were like, hey, let's go back to, like, the, like, the comfort of what I already. But then, like, that's like, my impulsive thought, right? But then, like, my train thought was more like, dude, I hated that situation so much. This is why I chose this. Let's just keep going. You know what I mean? And that's kind of like the mindset that I want you to get into, right? Like, there are two voices in your head all the time, and it's like, you can. You can. You can go back to your old comforts and stuff, but if you want to really build for your newer life and, you know, get what you want in life, you have to kind of listen to your trained voice, which is kind of like the reason why you're going to a different way or whatever is because from comfort is to get more like, I guess, like, find purpose and find more comfort in life. And, you know, you could be. You've lived however many years, right? And you've lived, like, that comfort of life. And you're like, okay, maybe I can do that for the rest of my life, but, you know, you should always want something more. That's kind of like what drove me. Now I am feeling comfortable, but now I'm going through other challenges in my life as well. I just keep going. And I have to. You have to hate the current situation at that time to kind of change gears and go and, like, to another way. Because that is how life is. If you don't give up, you'll become a senior developer. But not to quit. You have to really want to change your life, meaning change your habits and remembering why you started this journey in the first place. Remember, if I can do it, you can do it too. Coding saves lives.
