Into the Thick of It
There’s a popular reel out there in the ether of the internet with a jingle that repeats, “Into the thick of it, into the thick of it…” and that’s a bit how I felt about learning how to code. I’ve learned languages before—I’m bilingual in Spanish and English and know enough French and sign language to get by—but for whatever reason computer languages have always seemed daunting.
That said, I have known for a while that I was ready to move out of education and put my skills to use in another field. I just wasn’t sure what field, or what skills I wanted to develop. Having been in education for such a long time, I realized I didn’t even know what jobs were out there that a person could do! For that matter, I definitely didn’t see how any of the skills I had as a teacher could help me in another field. (I will say, that if you are struggling with similar conundrums there is a significant community on LinkedIn of people who help teachers transition. I may write a comment below with their information if you’re looking to connect.)
What I did know is that having served in positions at the district level of 3 of the 5 biggest school districts in Texas that I had a lot to offer. I just wasn’t sure how to communicate that. I also didn’t know what additional skills I needed to develop or how to approach that development without going back to school.
And that’s an important distinction because with 3 Master’s degrees and finishing a PhD, I don’t necessarily want to go back to school to change careers. My comprehensive time in the classroom as a student spans decades. I am super competent at learning how to learn.
At first, I frantically applied to as many positions as I could. I knew that I was fully capable of doing the job, but my resume, skills and certifications didn’t necessarily reflect that. I did get feedback and interviews from a few companies, but in those cases, both I and the company determined together that, for various reasons, it wasn’t the best time to make the leap. I was excited, though, to get positive feedback and to be considered for those positions and to have opportunities to keep the lines of communication open if something came along at a better time.
In the meantime, I decided to take a breather. I went and looked at positions that I thought I would actually enjoy and saw what skills a person might need if they were interested in that job. Then, I determined which skills I could already quantify with my current resume, and which I needed to work on further. Because I am most interested in positions with a data analysis focus, I realized that learning Python would be a great way to be able to manage and collect data (among its many other uses!). So there I went: Into the Thick of It.
I’m working my way through a fantastic book/resource and I’m about a third of the way through. In the upcoming blog posts, I will discuss what skills I learned and how I can use those skills in my current context and how they might be useful in future endeavors!
Excited to share this journey with you!
