When I was a high-school student, I was in love with art. However, my parents did not believe that I could make a career out of art, so in order to please them I also studied engineering. This is my story of transforming from artist to software engineer at Tesla.
After graduating from college, I began my career ensuring cruise ships stayed stable and would not list too much, which, while interesting, was definitely not where my heart was at. In the end, I left my career to recommit myself to art.
One day as I was wandering in Paris, I stumbled upon a gorgeous wrought iron door. Behind it was a gallery holding a Persian illumination exhibition. I fell in love. I found the Iranian calligraphy/illumination master behind it and became his student. As I refined my skills, I was able to get commissions and tried to make a living. But then, life became a bit of a maelstrom. After three years, I realized commissions were getting repetitive, and I was becoming disillusioned.
At this point I had 2 children, and I found myself unable to sell art pieces on my own because I could not put a number on my heart and soul. I needed to reinvent myself. I took a Myers-Briggs test that suggested that I should become a Software Developer. At first I found it completely ridiculous, but the more I thought about it the more it began to make sense and eventually I decided to give it a shot. So, I enrolled in the first evening CS class I found.
I was hooked. I took more classes, there, online and thought of how I could make it work. At this point I heard about Holberton School. The first thing that caught my attention was the 2-year format. After “wasting” 5 years for an engineering degree I found I was too disconnected from the job market. The lack of formal lectures was very appealing and everything is hands-on. And, very importantly, it is built around a community of mentors who are professionals working in the tech industry. I applied, got accepted, started in October 2016. With the support of Holberton, my fellow students and my partner, I was able to work through the program while raising my children. And not only did I succeed, but after only 9 months in the program, I got hired by Tesla, contributing to the future of self driving cars.
I still paint in my spare time. But during the day, I am practicing my love for an art I recently discovered: coding. For me, writing code let me continue to be creative around a lot of constraints, and that was what I loved with illuminations. And now, I get to do it for a living, at Tesla, without putting putting a number on my heart and soul.
