Why I decided to keep my dayjob and study coding.

As a Theater Director living in New York City for the last 12 years, I’ve followed the well-worn path of the #StarvingArtist by throwing all of my energy into my art and doing my best to hold down survival jobs to make ends meet.

Yet none of these survival jobs lent themselves to my strengths. That’s fine for a while but over time, it became wearying. Then it became exhausting. I was less motivated to create art and fell into a slow and tragic spiral of daily punishment for all the skills my dayjob reminded me I do not naturally possess.

In my directing practice, I specialize in the development of new plays. I collaborate with playwrights to strengthen their burgeoning scripts such that the logic of their stories holds up to their liking and hopefully that of their eventual audience.

In other words, I enjoy practicing logic-based problem solving and creating alternate environments.

“If only I could find a dayjob that would draw on my strengths, perhaps I’d have more bandwidth to pursue my passions.”

Enter: Software Engineering.

What is a website but an alternate reality in which an audience can exist? Someone built this website. Someone had an idea for a blogging platform, sat down in front of their computer, and figured out how to build this digital space for you and I to share in this moment. Who’s to say that is any less magical than the worlds I create on stage?

I don’t know where I fit in the field of software engineering yet. It is in many ways another country to me. But I’ve met people from there and they approach their work as I approach mine. I look forward to learning their language and customs so I might walk among them and be free.