Starting a Software Engineering Degree at 26

Starting a Software Engineering Degree at 26

So... This week I did something scary. I started a degree in Software Engineering at Cardiff Metropolitan University. During my induction I was walking around robotics labs and looking at scribbles of code on the walls and immediately felt like an imposter. Despite spending the last two years learning how to code, I've mostly felt like an outsider lurking on the fringes of the tech community.

Yet I knew this is what I want. Learning to code and doing a year-long development diploma were so tough, but I discovered fields of work that I know my career will be shaped by. When the opportunity came along to do a tech degree alongside keeping my full-time job, I jumped at the chance.

But I don't want to forget my previous education or experience. Starting this course has naturally made me feel nostalgic about my past academic life and where it's led me. I originally did my undergraduate degree in American Literature at UEA and Loyola New Orleans. I then went on to a master's degree in Environmental Literature at Bath Spa (bonkers, I know). Despite how my passions have changed, I don't regret my humanities training for one moment. I know some people might view this degree as me going backwards, but it's about adding to my knowledge, not replacing it.

Programming isn't all about technical skill. Sure that's important, essential even, but so is how you communicate your ideas, solve problems and get people on board. I once attended a service design masterclass with the talented Lou Downe, and they brought up a quote that has stuck in my mind ever since:

"The quality of my software was directly related to the quality of my conversations." - Melvin E. Conway.

Technology is as much about people and their needs as it is about motherboards and compilers. What use are ideas if you can't persuade anyone of them? What use is a product if no one will use it? Some of the best technologists I know have a strong humanities background and are all the better for it. I hope to be no different.

Over the next three years I'll be studying at Cardiff Met and producing software solutions for my place of work, Sport Wales, which has very generously freed up some of my time so I can attend class. I don't know what the future holds beyond that, but I know it'll be filled with quality conversations, and - I hope - quality software.