I started my tech journey 7 years ago in Kazakhstan, when I made a life-changing decision: to change my path and start building the future I truly deserved.
After finishing school, I chose to study International Relations. Let’s be honest — at 17, it’s hard to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. After university, I worked in various administrative roles, but none of them brought me real joy or fulfillment. I started thinking about changing careers, but the idea of diving into software development felt too big and scary. I had always believed I wasn’t good at math — that’s what I’d been told throughout school — so I doubted whether I could succeed in tech.
At that point, I was seriously considering getting a Master’s degree and continuing in International Relations or maybe moving into Logistics. But then, while reading a book about Steve Jobs (I’m not even a fan of his), I came across a line that stuck with me. It said that if you want to choose a career path wisely, you should consider either Biological Technologies or IT. Surprisingly, that sentence sparked something in me. I felt more inspired than afraid and decided to at least give software development a try.
I enrolled in an evening academy where I could pursue additional education alongside my day job. We started with the basics of programming and learned about computer hardware, IP addresses, the Internet, and more. I immediately loved it — even though C and C++ were extremely challenging for me at first. In fact, it took me two weeks just to grasp the foundational concepts.
But my tutor gave me valuable advice: keep training your brain until it breaks through, and eventually, it will start processing programming principles faster. So, I kept going. I didn’t give up. I studied hard, and little by little, I noticed that it was taking me less and less time to understand new material.
Later, I discovered a bootcamp in Israel focused on Frontend and Android development. It felt like the perfect opportunity to move abroad and seriously build my future in tech.
I enrolled, and the program was incredibly intense. I had to study and code for 12–16 hours a day to close my knowledge gaps. It was exhausting, but my future was more important to me than sleepless nights and fatigue. After completing the bootcamp, I landed my first job at a small startup — after three months of job hunting during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So, what skills helped me get here?
There are three that truly made the difference and kept me going, no matter what:
- A little bit of (positive) delusion.
When I chose to study programming, despite my fears about math, I made the decision to believe it could work out. Sometimes, we just need to act in spite of all the “what ifs” and have faith in the process. - Stubbornness.
No matter how tough it got, I kept going. I trusted that my hard work would eventually pay off — and it did. - Adaptability.
During my job search, I changed my strategy many times. Flexibility and learning from failures helped me adjust my approach and ultimately succeed.
That’s it. I’m not entirely sure if these are technically “skills,” but in my experience, they’re what helped me go from doubting myself to building a career in tech. And I believe anyone can do the same.
Tschüss, Katrin 🙂