New Blog, New Posts, New Life Path

I decided to start a blog about my coding (mis)-adventures and share my journey from a layman to a software engineer.  I decided I wanted to take the next six months of my life and train myself to become a software engineer.  My previous profession was teacher, which I had been doing dutifully for seven years.  Teaching was great. It got me out of the country and into China and South Korea, so I feel like I've taken the time to explore some of the world.  I've taught pretty much every subject imaginable.  Math, Science, History, Chinese, Philosophy, if it's a subject, I've taught it.  I felt I had hit a plateau in teaching and there were few frontiers to expand.  

So then, why software engineering?  Why computers?  Why coding?  Easy!  It's a growing field, companies need tech people like there's no tomorrow, so I'll have an easier time becoming employed, There's plenty of room for me to make a meaningful contribution to the field.  My main goal in life is to do something that I'll be remembered for!

My coding journey starts at 14.  I used to make websites for my mom and her business associates.  I taught myself HTML and CSS.  I was a huge text MUD nerd.  I played a MUD called "Lost Souls" for hours.  Eventually, I decided to start my own MUD, "Wanderlust Realms."  I never got it live, but I learned a TON while trying to do so.  I began teaching myself C, back when it was in vogue, but then, I just left programming alone.  I didn't see much point in doing it after I became disinterested in MUDs, and then I went on to teaching. 

In some small way I wish I had stuck with it, had pushed further.  In the 12 years it has been since I stopped, I have learned all about languages and platforms I had never seen or heard of.  It's all been rather exciting, getting back into the swing of learning.  

The first language I am tackling is Python.  I have the concepts of while and for loops down, functions, and closures.  I already understood the concepts of inheritance and composition, and Object Oriented programming has always been something that has made intuitive sense.  

This blog will chronicle my day to day.  I am studying like it's my job...literally.  I will try to make posts explaining my pitfalls and "Eureka!" moments, and my readers are encouraged to chime in, especially my readers with programming experience!