How did YOU end up in technology?

I started a new thing at a family party last weekend. I asked all my family what they do for a living, why they do it and how they got there, or else what they used to do before retirement. Why? I like hearing about people’s decisions, and whilst that kind of thing didn’t bother me 5 or 6 years ago, I’m at that point in my life where it’s useful to know what pathways and decisions people have made. Having made the mistake at A level of not taking Maths when I was going to be a CompSci and finding out from my dad as I started sixth form that it was “impossible to do good CompSci without maths*” meant I realise now how important it is to get all the information you can about life, the universe and everything, and that’s something you can only really gain by asking people questions like this.

More recently I did it while networking, and I’ve noticed a lot more lately that looking at my own pathway and comparing it to other people’s is…interesting. No two ways into your job will ever be the same, and there’s so many decisions that have lead me personally down this track that it’s impossible to predict what’s next, but if I learn a bit more about what other people did, maybe when the next change comes I’ll be more informed of what direction to go in to get where I want to be. Which I still don’t know just yet.

My own pathway? wanted to be a music teacher, then a musician, was doing HTML in the background for kids games, got annoyed at music teacher, went with CompSci instead. I wouldn’t change any of it.

*This isn’t actually 100% true, but it will narrow your choices at University if you don’t take it.