The accidental start that changed my career

I fell into software engineering by accident. My first job, second job if you count the Summer I spent cleaning a car garage, was as a Verification Engineer—pressing buttons on a phone and clicking next.

I could never have imagined that almost 20 years later, I’d find myself 5 years into the role of Engineering Director leading an incredible team of leaders and software engineers.

Where it all started

Whilst working as a Verification Engineer, I was given the opportunity to work on a project that involved writing Batch files to automate a manual process. I hadn’t written code before so I spent my evenings learning everything I could about Windows Command Prompt scripts. Not out of necessity, but curiosity.

No one had ever told me that you could enjoy your job. And here I was in this strange new world where I couldn’t wait to get to work.

But no matter how much I loved what I was doing the voice in my head kept telling me that, any minute now, my boss was going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me to “get back to work”.

Two weeks passed. Still no tap.

I figured out how to write those Batch files. I removed manual steps from our process, with code. When I entered a meeting my boss would introduce me by saying “This is Dan. He’s the guy that wrote the scripts” and they would thank me. I realised that the people I was meeting were my customers. The idea that people could be delighted by a few lines of code that I had written was a revelation and only amplified my new found love for writing code.

This simple start had taught me two things:

1. It was possible to enjoy your job.
2. You can delight people with software. Something that, previously, I had only ever thought possible through the lens of video games.

Less than a year into my first role, I’d already learned two of the most important lessons of my career. I just didn’t know it yet.

Learning can be easy

The third thing I figured out was that learning can be easy. I realised that if I loved my job, I had a super power—the ability for learning to be part of the process rather than a mountain to climb before I could start.

This is why we’re told to do things that we love. It’s why teaching children to code through play just works.

Unlike the first two lessons, I realised how important this was immediately. I felt unstoppable.

I developed a strong sense of self-belief that wasn’t there before. As long as I loved whatever I was doing, I could learn anything. I could write code, I could be a software engineer, I could even lead teams of people.

There was a lesson in hiring here too, although I wouldn’t put it to use until later in my career. If you can detect passion and love for a job, previous experience, education, or hours spent in a programming language doesn’t matter. If the motivation is there, they can be unstoppable too.

Thank you, Mark

Mark, my first boss, will never know how much he changed my life by giving me the opportunity to write those Batch files. Not only did he give me the chance to write code, he supported me in moving on to pursue a career in software engineering.

The last thing I learned in that role, this time in leadership, was that you can change a whole career by giving someone a chance and supporting them through it.

Mark did that for me.

These early experiences shaped how I lead today: creating space for people to grow, spotting potential before pedigree, and believing that motivation and an ability to learn go hand in hand.