I have to get this off my chest somewhere anonymously, as I've not gone too much into detail over my journey and I feel like I'm going to explode unless I let it out. On to the story: I have always been someone who half assed everything I did and wanted to find the shortcut in everything. I dropped out of high school at 16 after flunking my sophomore year. Even still, people always referred to me as the guy with "so much potential". I started working in IT at 16, but had been stuck in tech support roles for many many years. I'm in my very early 20s.
I always made excuses for why I couldn't learn programming. "It's too hard.", "Maybe someday.", "I don't have enough time.", "Only geniuses know how to code.", "I didn't go to college... I can't even afford college.". I had become comfortable and complacent with a call center technical support job that paid me just enough to be okay, but where if I quit I would be fucked. In the back of my mind, I knew I didn't belong there. I was different, I didn't want to settle. I began to throw all of my checks that weren't for rent and bills at Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in a desperate attempt to escape my reality.
Very soon, I found my portfolio to be multiplying in value 5 times my monthly income every month. I naively thought I was set, got a girlfriend, and lived a lavish life for some time. Cutting to the chase, she cheated on me after I had spent the majority of the money on adventures and paying for her things. I was depressed and hated my life. I thought something was wrong with me, "Why can I never keep good things?"
I blamed my failures on ADHD, and got a prescription for ADHD meds from a psychiatrist. Tired of being tired and fed up with being fed up, I walked out of my dead end job and decided I would become a software engineer/trader even if it meant I lost everything. I had nothing left to lose. I was completely alone now and I only saw upside potential.
I coded at least 8 to 14 hours a day EVERY day on the ADHD medicine. I lost a lot of weight, and became very anti-social. Within 3 months, I had finished the front end course on teamtreehouse.com and freeCodeCamp.com. I also ran out of money. Instead of applying for jobs, I decided I wanted to be a full stack developer- I was not going to settle with being a front end developer and making less.
I began couch surfing at friends houses until I was kicked out of each house one by one, mainly because of their parents. My own family wouldn't take me back. They basically disowned me for not "just getting a job". I never listened, I knew the potential. I still coded every day again at least 8 to 14 hours a day.
I could no longer afford ADHD medicine and I went through incredibly terrible withdrawals. Panic attacks, mania, depression, insomnia, you name it, tremors all over my body. I probably didn't code for 2 or 3 weeks. When the withdrawals finally subsided, I began coding again now completely naturally. I could remember how focused I was on ADHD medicine and through pure will code.
I began attending developer meetups, socializing, and presenting my projects in my local community. I was very open about finding a mentor that could guide me, and I found an experienced self taught developer who gave me occasional hints on where to go. At 5 months in, I had finished both the backend courses for teamtreehouse.com and freeCodeCamp.com. It was then I began considering myself full stack.
I became homeless. Nobody wanted to take me in. I slept on rooftops, I would find staircases or ladders on sides of buildings to find rooftops to sleep in because it was safer than sleeping in public. I would continue coding at the library all day and figure out eating situations creatively throughout the day. I showered at friend's houses. It sucked, but I was still thankful I had a skillset that had the potential to get me out of this.
One day, I found it- a listing on a Facebook group for a remote software engineer. I immediately sent my resume, portfolio and they loved it. I began working as a contractor for $60 an hour for 10 hours a week. I would still get kicked out of coffee shops for not buying anything and just coding all day, so I just stuck to Starbucks. Within a couple of weeks, I was able to get off of the streets.
Fast forward to recently, at about 7 months. I've attended 4 developer conferences in the last month either paid for or gifted to me by mentors or the community. Nobody knew I was barely getting by. I always introduced myself as a self taught software engineer though. I began getting tons of interviews.
I accepted an offer for a little over $100k salary, with a massive amount of benefits. I have huge imposter syndrome as my peers are software engineers with 20+ years of experience, but at the same time I won't let anyone tell me I don't deserve this or that I'm not skilled enough. I passed every interview with flying colors and I know my worth. I sacrificed everything for this, absolutely everything and I finally did it. I program at work and I still come home to learn for another 4 hours or more.
I finally stuck to something in my life. I'm not a half-asser, I'm not a quitter, and my ADHD does not slow me down. I'm more disciplined than I've ever been in my life. For anyone out there who dreams of this, it's real. I'm crying now as I type this. It's fucking real and you can get it, but you just have to fucking do it. No matter what limiting beliefs you have or doubts, just do it, day and day out and you will have it.
TLDR: Got tired of mediocre life, quit with savings, coded every day 8-14 hrs a day for 7 months going homeless in between, got hired for 100k+ salary
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