After the Bootcamp, Episode 5

I'm not dead, I've just been working. I'm trying to change that for all of us.

Time flies and I had no idea that my last post was three months ago and a lot has happened since my last post. I had to go back and read what I'd written to remind myself of exactly where I was three months ago. That was November, and that was also when things really started taking off for me.

I'd started studying RPA in November and in that post I extolled the virtues of automation. Robots, whether they be software based or hardware based, will be taking over our jobs and I am completely in favor of that. I figured out a few years ago that I hate work. I don't hate my job. I didn't really hate any of my previous jobs either. At least not with an unhealthy amount of hate. I hate the concept of work. I hate the concept of going to a place and having to do work. I understand the benefits of work and the discipline and skills one gains from going to work so please don't post and explain them to me. I've been a part of the work force for many years and I know how being a hard worker has shaped my life for the better. So why do I hate work?

Maybe I'm not using the correct phrasing. I like working for a purpose. I like feeling like my work is going towards something meaningful and that my efforts are not being wasted. I like the challenges of working towards these kinds of things too. Its a good feeling when you have one eye on the finish line and the other on the tasks at hand and both of those are aligned in a rewarding way.

So I guess I should say that I hate jobs. And most people hate them too. People don't like to do repetitive and mind-numbing tasks. If you could pay someone the same salary to NOT do a 9-hour shift at a data entry job most people would jump at the chance. But for creative jobs and positions where people are able to feel more accomplished and appreciated I'd bet the numbers are much lower. And yes I'm aware that there are lots of people who would leave any kind of job if a salary was guaranteed.

And this leads me to why I am in favor of 100% automation. I had a conversation with my colleague the other day. We both reflected on times in our lives where we had left the work force. In my case I quit my job in hospitality to try my hand at forex.

Spoiler alert: I lost most of my savings.

But during that same time I became an artist, I got involved in the community, I made new friends and I got to travel and expand my horizons. My colleague had a similar experience and I'd wager that most people who have voluntarily left the work force did too. The point being that I look back at that brief couple of years as one of the most exciting and most productive times of my life up to that point. I wasn't lazy and I grew as much or more than I did during my times as an hourly paycheck earning member of the work force.

Human beings are meant to be creative and be social. Working in a cubicle is the antithesis of our existence and no inspirational posters can change that. Conference calling via Skype is not a replacement for meeting people and having real conversations about the world and things that matter.

So yes, I want robots doing all the jobs. I want humans to be meeting other humans and doing creative things. If we have to show up to a 9-5 desk job I want it to be something where we can use our human brains and our human decision-making skills and our human-personalities to take us to the next level as a species.

Many of you are probably wondering when I'm going to answer the question, "So are you working now or what?"

The answer is YES! Shortly after my last post I was asked to interview for a company here in Las Vegas that handles RPA solutions for businesses looking to automate tasks in their organization. That interview included a few weeks of additional study and development and a month of being an "intern", during which time I needed to study for my certification to be a Blue Prism developer (Blue Prism is one of a handful of RPA software solutions that simplify the automation process). Since my employment basically hinged on getting that certification I spent every day of my December internship studying for the exam and was able to pass the developer exam with merit as a result (an accomplishment that I will hold over everyone's head while I gloat!).

The company I am with is a startup and working with a startup has some very unique challenges. When work needs to get done and someone has to do it, you are likely to be that someone. I got hired as a developer but have been given a lot of tasks that are outside of the developer job-title. And if there is no guidance in the employee handbook about something...congratulations, you are writing that too! Startups are built around passion and sweat. Truer words were never spoken.

Aside from this blog, my github pages and my portfolio page have been sitting dormant for the past 3 months too. What I do these days is very time consuming and its not traditional development in the sense of a front-end or back-end language. Developing with Blue Prism looks a lot like developing with Visio. And even though you can use .NET most solutions don't require it. So was my time at Punchcode a waste? Not even close.

Punchcode taught me to work in an agile environment. Punchcode taught me how to work with people remotely and get things done from a distance. My capstone project taught me project management skills that I've been using every day at my new job. Even though I don't actively program in JavaScript, learning JS taught me how to think logically and write how a computer would be able to understand. It taught me how to appreciate the difference between robots and humans. Robots are dumb, or at least they are only as smart as the person who built them. Websites and apps are the same way.

It was not an easy road for me. There was lots of uncertainty. I turned down a web-dev position and spent a few additional weeks of unemployment wondering if I'd made the right decision. Truth is, there isn't a right/wrong decision. There are only choices and how we deal with the consequences. I'm working almost 50% more hours than my previous job for almost 50% less pay. But what I do now aligns with the things I feel are important: I get to create things, I get to challenge myself and I get to have a say in our future (mine, and ours). Learning the skills of a developer opened those doors for me and they will for other people willing to take the chance.

I guess this is a good time to conclude this chapter in my blog. I left my world behind last year to take on a new career in an entirely different industry. I put my money up and challenged myself to be better and try harder than I really needed to. I spent hours and days focused on projects and homework assignments that wouldn't get me a big payday but would make me a little bit better than the day before. I counted my pennies and lived on the cheap until I could find a job. I wrote and re-wrote my resume countless times and networked every week. And when I did finally land an interview I put all the experience of the previous 6 months to use and did whatever I could do to show that I was the right candidate to hire. I thought that going to bootcamp and learning how to code was going to be the most important takeaway but it was all of the other experiences that came with it that really made the risk worth the reward.

Thank you for putting up with my daily blogs and my occasional updates after my graduation. Best of luck to anyone who decides to walk this path. And when you get to the end, look back and reflect on how far you've come. And thank yourself for taking a chance on you.