aaron swartz

As Aaron Osteraas can tell you, the path between discovering what you want to do for a living and actually doing it is rarely linear.

正如亚伦·奥斯特拉亚斯(Aaron Osteraas)所言，发现自己想要谋生的东西与实际谋生之间的路径很少是线性的。

Now a Software Engineer at Tigerspike, a digital services company headquartered in Sydney, Aaron’s journey toward becoming a developer began when he was in high school, yet it wasn’t until his early 30s that he obtained his first full-time development job. The years in between were filled with starts and stops, challenges and successes, and a whole lot of tinkering.

现在，Aaron成为总部位于悉尼的数字服务公司Tigerspike的一名软件工程师，他成为一名开发人员的旅程始于他上高中时，但直到30年代初他才获得了他的第一份全职开发工作。 在这之间的岁月充满了开始和停止，挑战和成功，以及很多修补。

“I was always tinkering with the family computer, which was mostly, ‘oh god I’ve broken it how do I fix it before I get in trouble,’” Aaron said of his technical beginnings. He had an appetite for building and modifying hardware, which he attributes to the joy that comes from doing something with your hands. He’d collect spare hardware, buy and sell parts, and at times resort to scrounging and trading. “There were computer parts strewn everywhere,” he said.

“我一直都在修补家用计算机，主要是，'哦，天哪，我已经把它弄坏了，在遇到麻烦之前，我该如何修复它，'”亚伦在谈到他的技术开始时说道。 他对构建和修改硬件有浓厚的兴趣，他将其归因于用手完成操作带来的乐趣。 他收集了备用硬件，买卖零件，有时求助于交易和交易。 他说：“到处都是电脑零件。”

But by the time he graduated high school, Aaron had checked out academically. He wasn’t confident his grades were good enough for university, so he enrolled in TAFE, Australia’s largest vocational training provider, and spent six months learning XML before realizing that “making mobile websites for 2004’s best mobile phones in XML was pretty damn far from my idea of a good time.”

但是到他高中毕业时，亚伦已经在学业上退房了。 他不确定自己的成绩对大学是否足够好，因此他加入了澳大利亚最大的职业培训机构TAFE，花了六个月的时间学习XML，然后才意识到“用XML制作2004年最好的手机的移动网站远非该死。我的美好时光想法。”

So he dropped out of TAFE and eventually found himself working in the world of content, where he stayed for seven years. Though he worked his way up to a managerial and editorial role for a handful of companies within the technical realm, Aaron found himself consistently unsatisfied.

因此，他退出TAFE，最终发现自己在内容世界工作了7年。 尽管他在技术领域的少数公司中担任管理和编辑职务，但亚伦始终感到不满意。

I had this itch to solve technical problems, and working in content, I wasn’t able to scratch it. That’s what a lot of programming is, problem-solving. And it’s not that this is unique to programming, it’s just the type of problems – and solutions to them – are more enjoyable to me.

我渴望解决技术问题，并且在内容上工作时，我无法抓挠。 那就是解决问题的许多编程方法。 这并不是编程所独有的，这只是问题的类型以及对它们的解决方案，对我来说更有趣。

回到学校 (Back to School)

During his long stretch in content, Aaron maintained enough of an interest in tinkering and programming to eventually enroll in a Software Engineering degree program.

在漫长的内容学习过程中，Aaron对修补程序和编程保持了足够的兴趣，最终加入了软件工程学位课程。

I took one subject to start off, as I felt I needed to validate two things: one, that I could learn to study again, and two, that I would enjoy it.

我选了一个科目，因为我觉得我需要验证两件事：一是我可以学习再次学习，二是我喜欢它。

Aaron found the validation he was after, but it wasn’t until a few years later, when he learned his company had been acquired and his job was on the line, that he decided to leave content behind and commit fully to becoming a developer. Knowing he could be let go in as little as a week, Aaron enrolled at RMIT University full-time to pursue a degree in Software Engineering.

亚伦找到了他所需要的验证，但是直到几年后，当他得知自己的公司已被收购并且工作即将开始时，他决定留下内容并完全致力于成为一名开发人员。 Aaron知道他可以在短短的一周内被放任自流，因此全日入读RMIT大学，攻读软件工程学位。

Aaron was finally where he belonged, but it wasn’t easy.

亚伦终于是他的归宿，但这并不容易。

There was a lot of frustration. I found certain languages, concepts, and themes difficult to grasp, and others came with remarkable ease. So when you’re going from, ‘How easy and fun is this!’ to swearing at the computer asking why something isn’t working, it can be emotionally turbulent.

有很多挫败感。 我发现某些语言，概念和主题很难掌握，而其他语言则非常容易。 因此，当您出发时，“这有多么简单和有趣！” 在计算机上发誓问为什么某事不起作用时，它在情感上可能是动荡的。

In conjunction with the difficult subject matter was the overwhelming amount of career paths to choose from.

与困难的主题相关的是，大量可供选择的职业道路。

The world of programming is outrageously broad, there are innumerable paths you can take, and there’s temptation to try and take them all because everyone loves the new shiny thing.

编程世界极其广阔，您可以选择无数种方法，并且由于所有人都喜欢新事物，因此很容易尝试全部采用它们。

The more career paths he discovered, the less sure of himself he grew.

他发现的职业道路越多，他对自己的信心就越弱。

I’ve never experienced the adage ‘the more you know, the less you know’ in a greater way than in learning to code.

我从来没有经历过比学习编码更能体现“知道的越多，知道的越少”的格言。

Aaron found the motivation to press on by focusing on the reason he was doing it all in the first place — the same reason he had tinkered with his family’s computer all those years ago: “There was the sense of wonder that comes from just being able to build something.”

亚伦找到动力的原因是，首先关注自己做这件事的原因–就是这些年前他修补家庭计算机的原因：“只有能力能够使人感到惊奇建立东西。”

寻找导师 (Finding a Mentor)

Things started to get better for Aaron. He became more focused, and was fortunate enough to find a mentor in a self-taught, full-stack developer who helped him learn how to handle real-world tasks.

亚伦的情况开始好转。 他变得更加专注，并有幸在自学成才的全职开发人员中找到了一名导师，他帮助他学习了如何处理现实世界中的任务。

Having a mentor was a very valuable experience, formative in fact. I’d suggest that anyone taking the journey seriously should be keeping an eye out for one.

拥有导师是非常宝贵的经验，实际上是形成的。 我建议任何认真对待旅程的人都应该保持警惕。

Through his mentor, Aaron was able to land some freelance work, and spent the next few years working on developing projects on a contract basis. And then, over 15 years after leaving spare computer parts all over his childhood home, he landed his first full-time role as a developer.

通过他的导师，亚伦得以从事一些自由职业，并在接下来的几年中以合同为基础开发项目。 然后，在他整个童年时期的家中遗留了多余的计算机部件15年后，他担任了开发人员的第一个全职职位。

担任专职 (Landing a Full-time Role)

I had only worked freelance to this point, and I realized that not working in a team of smarter, more capable people was to my detriment. There were so many learning and coaching opportunities that I was missing out on, and I wanted that.

到目前为止，我只从事自由职业，但我意识到，没有一个更聪明，更能干的团队工作会对我不利。 有这么多的学习和指导机会，我错过了，所以我想要。

After browsing job boards for a well-suited role, he found an open software engineering position at Tigerspike. “I felt like the position description was written specifically for me,” he said. The folks at Tigerspike seemed to think so too, and invited him to interview. First up was an HR screening, then a technical phone interview (which he thought he failed miserably), a coding challenge (which he thought he did reasonably well on), and a final in-person technical interview, which he knew he aced.

在浏览完职位合适的职位后，他在Tigerspike担任了开放软件工程职位。 他说：“我觉得职位描述是专门为我写的。” Tigerspike的人们似乎也这么认为，并邀请他进行采访。 首先是人力资源筛查，然后是技术电话面试(他认为他惨遭失败)，编码挑战(他认为他做得还不错)，以及最后的亲自面试，他知道自己获得了认可。

When asked why he felt so confident about the technical interview, Aaron said that he chose to be candid about what he was experienced in, and what he was not.

当被问及为什么对技术面试如此自信时，Aaron说他选择坦率地了解自己的经验和不经验。

I thought it showed a capacity and extreme drive to learn. Being dishonest is questionable, and to think you can fake it to people who are decades more experienced than you is naïve.

我认为它显示出了学习的能力和极端的动力。 不诚实是值得怀疑的，并且认为您可以将其伪装给比您幼稚几十年的人。

After only being on the job for about six months, Aaron has already learned so much from being a part of a team, and has even gotten the opportunity to teach others.

在仅仅工作了六个月之后，亚伦已经从成为团队的一员中学到了很多东西，甚至有机会教别人。

The way I think about it is that I’ll probably never be close to the best at any one thing – a feeling that I’m constantly struggling to come to terms with – but there are areas and technologies where I do know more than my peers (which is hard to admit), and I feel a sense of obligation to spread the knowledge.

我的思考方式是，在任何事情上我永远都不可能接近最好的状态–我一直在努力地接受这种感觉–但是在某些领域和技术上，我比我更了解同行(这是很难承认的)，我感到有义务传播知识。

Now at a point in his career where he can look back with perspective, Aaron understands that finding a way to stay focused was key to his success.

现在，在他的职业生涯中，他可以用观点回顾过去，亚伦明白，找到一种保持专注的方式是他成功的关键。

If you can find a way to guide your learning and have discipline to stay focused, you’ll probably do just fine. It’s not easy to learn programming, but it does get easier over time as your baseline knowledge increases … I remember how soul crushing it can be. Just trust in the process and keep on keeping on. The only way to get better at anything is time and repetition.

如果您可以找到一种方法来指导您的学习并使学科保持专注，那么您可能会做的很好。 学习编程并不容易，但是随着您的基础知识的增加，它的确会随着时间的流逝而变得越来越容易……我记得自己的灵魂是多么的残酷。 只要相信这个过程就可以继续前进。 在任何事情上变得更好的唯一方法是时间和重复。

设计职业过渡 (Designing Your Career Transition)

There’s never been an easier time to learn to code — there are more resources than ever available to you, and the online development community is one of the most helpful and enthusiastic around. Here are some great starting points at SitePoint:

从来没有比现在更容易学习编码的时间了–比您拥有的资源更多，在线开发社区是最有用和最热衷的领域之一。 这是SitePoint的一些很好的起点：

• Tackle 10 projects that will build the fundamental skills new web developers need.

  解决10个项目，这些项目将建立新的Web开发人员所需的基本技能 。

• Talk with other developers, and get help when you’re stuck, on the SitePoint forums.

  在SitePoint论坛上与其他开发人员联系，并在遇到困难时获得帮助。

• Learn to code with our 400+ development books and courses for $3/month for 3 months ($9 thereafter, cancel anytime).

  学习编码与我们的400多个开发书籍和课程 ，三个月每月3美元(之后为9美元，可随时取消)。

When you’re ready to hunt for your first junior role, move on to these resources — especially if you’re looking for remote work.

当您准备寻找第一个初级职位时，请继续使用这些资源-特别是在寻找远程工作时。

• Learn how to prepare for your first remote job search and show hiring managers why you’re right for the role.

  了解如何为首次远程求职做准备，并向招聘经理展示您为什么适合该职位。

• Search hundreds of remote jobs on SitePoint Remote, with over 20 new jobs posted each day.

  在SitePoint Remote上搜索数百个远程作业 ，每天发布20多个新作业。

And if you’ve got a development career story of your own that could encourage others who are interested in making the leap, be sure to get in touch with us.

并且，如果您有自己的发展职业故事，可以鼓励其他有兴趣实现这一跨越的人，请务必与我们联系 。

翻译自: https://www.sitepoint.com/content-code-career-transition/

aaron swartz