Work It Podcast: Making the career pivot from flying to coding

Five years into being a flight attendant, Jane Tan switched career tracks to become a software engineer. She found herself struggling in the beginning but failure was not an option. Jane shares how she leverages transferable skills, deals with imposter syndrome and thrives in the tech sector. 

Tiffany Ang, host:
How realistic do you think it will be for people who aspire to be in your situation? Because the last thing we want is to make people think that it's so easy to get it right - anybody can do this hard pivot. What would you say are some tips you would give to somebody who's thinking of being in your position? 

Jane Tan, software engineer:
I am an average person, I'm not someone special. I do not have prior knowledge, and even when in primary, secondary school, I didn't like science, I didn't like math, I preferred writing essays over solving for x.

One of the biggest things to consider would be to sort out your financials first, because a career transition is already very stressful, you don't need financial pressure on top of that ... Another important factor is being honest with yourself about your career goals.

Money is undoubtedly a strong motivator for why people want to transit. But beyond financial gain, it's not very sustainable if money is the sole factor.

For me, I prioritise more time with my loved ones and enjoy the process of continuous learning. It is also crucial to research the industry before you look into the career path that you want to go into. So look at their job postings. Look at what kind of skills they are looking for in those job postings, and see if there's a viable path towards attaining these skills, rather than chasing those "hype" skills. They might fit for a year or two, but just focus on long term stability.

I did take a look at government reports on jobs in demand and made sure that this career is one of those that are going to be in demand until you retire. 

Tiffany:
So now that you have gotten the job, are there days where you have struggled? 

Jane:
Some days, I ask myself: "Am I really a software engineer?" In my team, I'm still considered a very junior software engineer. I have my seniors ahead of me. I have my tech lead ahead of me.

Tiffany:
And also not many women (in tech), right? 

Jane:
Not many. When I look at the code that they are writing, sometimes I really don't understand. It makes me feel like: "Oh, we're all software engineers, how come I don't understand what you're writing? Am I really a software engineer?" 

Tiffany: 
So how do you overcome that? When these thoughts come.

Jane:

Eventually you'll be able to get to the point where you will still have imposter syndrome, but it will slowly get better.