How I started IT

I have been a developer for around three years. Before being an IT guy, I was a sales person selling products in Frankfurt and Moscow meeting customers in Europe, Russia and CIS countries in global companies that people will recognise once I say the name. Then I had a chance to change my career to IT back in Korea. I was eager to learn a practical engineering skill because I truly believed it would be a life changer, which will feed me in any circumstances and situation.

Learning IT was not easy. The network, security, algorithms and CS knowledge was something new that I had not even heard of or experienced, but was extremely fun to learn. Eventually after the IT security with AI course, I was offered a job in a adequate size company.

I was a COBOL engineer at first. Something extraordinary, right? Who would have thought of being a COBOL engineer in this era? But I was. Learning would never stop as this was entirely new to me, not only had I learned COBOL but also the solution the company had. Luckily I had caring colleagues and the company had a complete solution that could make money as a cash cow, so nothing was in a hurry, but at a gentle pace. I liked the way of working and enjoying my life during my career in this company.

Challenge

IT skills surely had my eyes open. I could create my own world inside the computer with codes just as I want it to be. Because of this excitement I was obsessed with making my own tools and services, running several toy projects everyday after work until probably 11-12pm. Then a sudden gust swirled in my mind, which was all about running my own business with the service that I code. I quit my job, then started my own business with the help of my university with free office and utility fees.

It was not easy. I was majoring in AI in master’s course and it was my final semester. The thesis writing was pressuring me while I was running my own business. I could not focus on two things and I had to choose thesis to be finished completely. I kind of put my business aside and began to write thesis and did a tone of research to acquire the result I wanted. As you could imagine, I could no longer maintain my business.

Suvival

I started to search jobs again as I could not run the business anymore. Needless to say, it seemed like in Korea no one wanted me to work with, as I was in the mid 30s, I was running a business and my IT career was not long enough. As I was almost in the state of being faint, a startup company reached me that they would like to work with me because of my wide range of experience.

Resuming career was awkward but everything seemed to flow like a clear stream, until the company revealed the actual face. I could not go home until 9-10pm, I had to work during weekends, I had to work during public holidays even! It lasted for months and I felt the burn-out already. Everyone in the company was complaining about how hard the work and long they had to work, but the complains were useless. It was nothing to the company but a mere moaning of a little chick.

Working at Startups

Not only bad things happened in the startup. As far as I experienced the startup, I could tell that the way startups work is swift and agile. My voice can reach to the C-levels. What about tools? We need to adapt every tool in the IT market not to be fallen behind from the trend, so we are using many tools and learn new skills. However, the pressure is extreme. Perhaps it is my company that works in this way, but slack messages flow to me even after work round 9pm or during weekends. People are always furious that colleagues do not talk to each other at all! Nobody wants to talk in the office but sigh.

If you are considering working at startups, I would recommend only if the company treats you like you are a colleague or an employee to work with for good, then you may be able to learn the IT world very fast as well as new trends. If they treat you like you are someone who could be substituted with anyone, I think you should consider getting another job.