Prologue
I am a lawyer with three years’ of post-qualification experience. But I want to learn how to code. Here’s why.
I currently work as a Research Fellow at a leading think tank in New Delhi, India. After some degree of introspection, I have decided to try my hand at something new, with the aim that, if it inspires me, I will take decisive steps to forge a new career in that field. I will explain my reasons for coming to this decision, in greater detail, in a subsequent post here.
My elder brother is a software engineer and has been working as one, for the past five years. I have always observed how satisfied and content he would be with his line of work. I would often wonder if my brother’s case was an exception in his field or whether his experience was the norm. Anyway, when I expressed my decision and willingness to dive into something new, he strongly suggested that I give programming a serious try. He shared a number of articles and videos to underline that: a) anyone, irrespective of their professional background, can learn how to code and excel at that, and b) it is an interesting career where the work would never cease to be interesting and intellectually challenging. After a few rounds of discussions with him and having done my own research, I felt I was ready to take the jump into the wide (and, so far, quite strange) world of Computer Science.