How I became a successful Web Developer – Part One

It was a dark winter morning when I found myself sitting in my headmaster’s office.

She was looking at me in disbelief, repeating the same question she already asked a moment ago:

“What are you going to do with your life?”

To my surprise, I didn’t have a clear answer to that question. I didn’t know what to do next. All I knew was that I didn’t want to go to school for another 5-6 years and nobody was going to convince me otherwise. I’ve already made up my mind.

But let me explain how I got here.

I always thought I was going to be a teacher.

I spent the past 2.5 years at school, preparing me for university. But after going through 11 years of compulsory schooling before that, I knew I had had enough.

I couldn’t sit here any longer and struggle through tedious lectures every day, knowing there’d be 5-6 more years of this ahead of me.

And so I decided to drop out of school, mid-term. I had no plan B nor did I know what to do next in my life.

I was worried I was never going to find the right career path for me.
I was worried that I was never going to be “someone”.

I encountered a lot of resistance. Not only from my headmaster but also from my close friends and family. Which made my decision even more difficult.

They all advised me to at least finish the semester. But what for?

I knew I wasn’t going to finish my education. And so this felt like a huge waste of time to me. After all, I’ve already wasted 2.5 years on this.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, to the disappointment of everyone I did indeed drop out of school. 17-year-old me felt pretty lost, to say the least. I spent the first couple of weeks binge watching series and playing video games all day long.

It wasn’t until I got a part-time job, with a little help from my mum, that I slowly started to pick myself up again.

Everything changed when I made my first real money, all on my own.

I earned 30 bucks per hour for helping out in the production line of a local pharmaceutical company. Not the most interesting way to earn money but not bad for a dropout. And it gave me a lot of time to think about my future.

I realized that I had to find a real job. A 3-4 year apprenticeship was the only logical option the Swiss education system had to offer.

After two weeks at the production line, I got the chance to help out at the IT department of the same company. It consisted of two very friendly, nerdy guys, with whom I immediately got along.

They gave me about 20 PCs to set up with a new operating system, which I’ve done several times in the past for my PC at home.

They noticed how good I was with PCs. And eventually, they encouraged me to start looking for a computer science apprenticeship.

And then one thing led to another.

I had a very close friend who was already in the 4th year of his computer science apprenticeship. I told him about my decision and he referred me to his mentor at the time that same day. They were looking for 4-5 new apprentices per year.

I sent out my application and CV that same week and was invited to an interview shortly after. I felt nervous but left a good impression, and I became an apprentice at the same company at age 18.

The normal age to start an apprenticeship in Switzerland is around 15-16 years and so I was the oldest of my group. But I didn’t care. I finally had an answer to what I was going to do with my life. I finally had a direction.

Looking back now, I can understand my headmaster’s reaction.

She was worried that I was going to throw my life away. And I can’t blame her. It isn’t every day that a 17-year-old decides to drop out of school, without a concrete plan to back up his decision.

I learned two very important lessons:

• Sometimes you have to follow your gut, despite what everybody else is saying. However, you have to own your decision, take full responsibility and act on it.
• Making my first income was also a valuable lesson about money. Even without a proper education I had some very basic skills (value) to offer and got paid for it.

A lot happened in the next 4 years: I found a mentor, made lots of new friends and I finally got into web development. But that’s a story for another time, which I’m covering in the next part of this series.