Final question: was it all worth it for you, David?
Yes, I’m very happy! I oved from developer to DevOps, which I love, to project management, which I love even more! So yes, yes – it was worth it, absolutely! 100%. I’d recommend it to anybody – pick something and just go for it!
What makes it worth while, firstly and foremostly? A profound sense of self worth that seeps into all other areas of your life.
When you feel valued and you get into a company that wants to mind you, and wants you to progress, I think your self worth goes up and I think that seeps into the rest of your life, you know? Being a good dad, a good husband becomes easier, you see… you’re not so worried all the time, you know? There’s a lot of comfort in it.
The good, the bad and… the positive 😉
What’s David’s favourite thing about working in tech?
What was my favorite thing working in tech? It’s gotta be the team and the celebration when we get a full release!
What’s the hardest thing working in tech?
Naming variables, and documentation – those are the two hardest things you gotta do in programming… Because you’ll never find an appropriate name for a variable, and… the things is, when you write a program, when you write this code, because you’re so intimate with it – you’ve tested it, you’ve made it work, you’ve put in print statements, you’ve taken things back out – you know how everything works. So now how do you describe it, because in your head you already know? It’s super clear for you, because… But trying to write this for someone else to be able to pick it up and go ‘Ah, yeah!, I know’, it’s really tough, so that, that’s hard…
Would David change anything, if he could have a do-over?
Eh, like we said earlier- if I changed anything I wouldn’t be where I am now…
A short personal note
I cannot wrap this article up without a short mention of David as a husband and father, since this theme came up time and again in our interview. As I mentioned briefly in my intro, his story is one of love, heartache and hope. While his transition to tech was ignited by his son, Ethan’s very rare and life-limiting genetic condition and his desire to be there for all his children, it was definitely powered by the steadfast support of his wife, Geraldine, whose name popped up heartwarmingly often in our conversation. If you love David’s story as much as I do and would like to go beyond this article, be sure to take a few steps alongside their family by reading Geraldine’s book, Ethan & me, a touching tale of optimism through tough times.
The resource bit
There are plenty of valuable takeaways in David’s story and I hope you found it useful and are inspired to explore tech and, why not, DevOps / project management.
Interested to follow David?
Perfect, here are all his deets:
- Github: https://github.com/dren79
- LinkedIn: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/davidleerenton
All the goodies he mentioned
Finally, here are some of the things he mentioned:
- Ethan & me, by Geraldine Renton – also follow her here
- Genesys
- GDPR
- Accessibility
- DevOps
- Phoenix project & Unicorn Project
- OneNote
- Google developer groups – and specifically the one in Galway
- Google Cloud certification
- Amazon Web Services certification
- Prince2
Hey, if you found David’s story as inspiring as I think it is:
– please be sure to share it with a friend who could use it &
– drop a comment below to let us know what you thought and if you’d like more stories like this!
Also, don’t be a stranger, find Transition Into Tech on social (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & YouTube). Especially the YouTube – since you can find additional bits and pieces from our conversation that didn’t make it into the article. See you there!
Hi All,
Thanks for reading, if you want to have a chat about anything in particular or life at Genesys, connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m always happy to talk ☺️