This is part of a series of interviews from everyday people like me and you. The goal of these interviews is to show you that life doesn’t take one form, that it’s different for everybody.

If you feel like you’re behind in life, this is for you. If you feel like you don’t know what you want to do in life, this is for you. If you want some directions or guidance, then this is for you.

The people in these interviews will share about their career trajectory and how they got to where they are today.

As someone in your early twenties, I am sure you’re still trying to figure out what you want to do in life. You will be reading about people who have taken a linear career trajectory, and others who took a totally different route. These are stories about people from different facets of life.

Let’s get to it!

Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

I am Gabriela, a software developer who has been working for the last 12+ years with startups, and mid-to-big companies on projects that vary from finance, procurement, and insurance to e-learning.

I currently run a small software company called SolidCoders with my partner where I serve as co-founder and technical consultant. We are always looking to work on sustainable and useful projects, from fintech projects that deal with payments and automation, to a wedding planner. Our clients are from around the world, 100% remote from the get-go. 

I love making software that is useful for many people and I am interested in how things are made and how they work. In my second year of high school, I had a computer at home that I would click around Windows 95 but didn’t make any breakthroughs. Not because it wasn’t interesting or exciting, but because creativity wasn’t directly linked to computers. 

This is what I do as a job, but I have a lot more passions and hobbies. I try to paint and sew to relax—and just because creating is fun. I usually love my job, but it’s a job at the end of the day. My diverse experiences and interests have allowed me to expand my knowledge and taught me that I know little compared to what exists in the world. Passion only takes you only so far; hard work, discipline, and openness are the key features of continuing the work when it’s difficult or boring.

What do you do for a living and how much do you make per year?

I work 8 hours a day either on a client’s project, an internal project, or both. Since I work on a project-based basis, income can differ depending on the projects and how many opportunities we find. We, as a company, are very interested in working intentionally, so we look for projects that we believe in or we know will be useful for people. 

What do you enjoy and find the most difficult about your job?

I enjoy working on challenging problems—those with a clear purpose and result and not just to complicate stuff for the sake of it. I also enjoy seeing people use a feature that I work on, especially when I know the feature is useful to them. Ideas tend to flow in my head outside of work hours, so I write them down to remember them. If I continue to revisit the idea a few days later, I will bring it up for discussions with my partner.

I don’t enjoy lack of vision and lack of communication (especially written—I have no reason to remember every detail and need to have them written down so we can iterate on the same version in any future discussion).

I’ve noticed that the lack of communication makes my job difficult. For example, when things are not written down and agreed upon, when people don’t want to share knowledge, or when people don’t accept that you’ve earned your place in the team. In my opinion, this makes any job difficult. It is not sustainable nor good for the business.

How did you end up where you are today?

I followed the expected trajectory for school. After high school, I went to a university in my hometown called the Faculty of Sciences at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania. I studied computers and programming languages and did my Master’s in Information Management. 

For a couple of summers during my time at university, I worked in a photo shop where I developed photos from film. I also worked in a factory where I helped with their registry software for trucks that came in with food. Besides meeting new people and working in totally different teams, there was nothing interesting about my jobs, but I was making some money for the summer. Only in the last year of university after emailing all the companies from my town TWICE did I get a response for a job offer. That’s how I got a part-time job as a junior developer at a small company where I worked there for three years. After that, I changed companies to pursue different projects, different domains, to learn more, and to earn more money. 

Eventually, I went to work as a native Android developer at a startup in a remote, small team, which turned out to be the greatest experience until that point in my career. Until then, I was working on the backend and from time to time on the frontend of apps. I first started learning Android (2.2 was my starting point, I think) at home alone using the internet where I tried and failed often. I didn’t have a phone at that point yet, but I was fascinated by creating an app on a mobile phone. I would buy beers for my friend who had one, to let me try my code. I regret nothing, it was awesome.

As a software engineer today, I am still doing what I studied and strived for, but I went above what I thought I should do. For every job, project, or change, I worked a lot—nights and weekends where I shed tears of frustration and felt disappointed—but I had great moments as well. 

For a long time, I thought you had to choose a programming language and only work with that until your pension. That sounds ridiculous to me now. From my experience, as a programmer you need to learn to use the language that is suited best for the problem—you need to adapt.

It’s important to know how you learn as well. I love learning (maybe trying to keep Alzheimer away), but I feel alive when I know I can learn something new and I feel good after the struggle of learning it. I don’t read something and understand it the next second, I need time and practice. That’s just how my mind works.

What skills would someone need to thrive in your position? Are there any degree requirements for your job?

There is no general rule, and I try to stay away from generalizations but it depends on what options and opportunities you have access to. 

If you have access to a huge hub of startups and only went to a bootcamp, you have a lot of chances to find a job as fast as one person who doesn’t have a lot of choices but finished university. 

What’s important is learning and practicing often and trying to be useful. Create your own projects, open-source the code, write about your learnings, read what others do, how they work, and if you’re lucky to find mentors (I wasn’t) listen to them, ask them to look at your work, ask for advice, and do the work that is needed. There are loads of articles about this topic online.

No matter where you are in life, it’s crucial from my point of view to be open to learning and listening. I don’t care how much experience you have. 

You can’t be rigid and think “This is only how things are done,” without listening to alternatives. Also, you have to be a kind and decent team player no matter how smart you think you are. It’s basic knowledge, no school can teach you that. 

Do you have any tips or advice to help someone break into your industry?

The interview process is different from country to country, but I’ve personally stayed away from interviews that make you go through at least five stages. 

I have been in interviews where there is a technical aspect, maybe a short (no BS) test to complete in your own time, and then if all is well, you get accepted into the team. 

Most of the time, this has worked perfectly. You create and implement what is needed and the client is happy, so the company that hired you will be happy. 

I’ve also seen other companies overcomplicate this process, maybe even copy what huge corporations are doing, which never made sense. 

I think the interview should be focused on what the job requirements are, not what you read or what others do; you don’t know their projects. An interview should also have a lot of communications there so you know when someone is passionate about what they do and how open they are to learning. Skills can be taught, attitude..not so much.

What piece of advice would you give to someone who doesn’t really know what they want to do?

If you don’t know what you want, there is really no advice. You have a lot of experimenting to do on your own to find what is interesting to you. I don’t know of a ‘recipe’ that can give you a result that suits you if you yourself are not sure. I think naturally you will be drawn to some paths just because of what you like and are not necessarily aware of.

At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I find it silly to be 18, to decide on something, and expect that to be permanent. I loved to read literature, write bad poetry, and meet up with school friends to listen to Edith Piaf, and talk about literature and philosophy in an anteroom of our high school. 

I wanted to understand how my mind worked, why I am how I am, why others are the way they are, so I thought about studying psychology. I didn’t because I couldn’t afford to go to a different city to study. 

Then I thought about my computer and how I wanted to continue working with it. I just wanted to be able to create something, like software, for myself. I loved math—and logic, so that didn’t make me afraid. That’s how it started.

My first year of university was brutal. I understood nothing and didn’t think I could finish it, but I persevered. Any progress, even a little, is a step forward. Some people will not support you and that is ok. What matters is how determined you are.

Thinking back, I wish I didn’t go work in corporations so soon. I wish I blogged more and I experimented (failed) more. There are resources online for many things, you just need to read, try them out, and put them into practice.

If you don’t know what you want, there is really no advice. You have a lot of experimenting to do on your own to find what is interesting to you.

Gabriela

What goal or projects are you working on next?

My goal is to try out a few ideas that we have in the company internally and run with them. If they fail, we will learn a lot and if they succeed, we will learn a lot, so to me, it sounds great!

I also want to be able to hire more people into our team, to work on bigger projects, and to work on projects that are good for the environment, climate, education, and finance. 

Share your project or website you are working on!

Check out my company SolidCoders. Fun fact: I created it with Ember.js because I wanted to play with it. It was cool and easy to understand since I previously worked with React.js. I am less scared of working with new technology than I was a few years back.

In my book, I am doing something good. 

So, what do you think? Comment down your thoughts and reactions. I personally think it’s very interesting to hear about what other people are doing and how they got to where they are today. Next up is an interview with Camille!

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