Kyle Willard
4 min readJul 29, 2021

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I want to take a moment out tonight as I have music blaring to just kind of reflect on the last year.

First a warning this is from my phone so it won’t be quite as polished as I normally produce, basically deal with it. Sometimes it’s better to just be real.

Last year was a traumatic year for me. I won’t get into details but long story short things hit a wall. COVID was flying around, plus other life events really forced me to shift my mindset.

The end of may 2020 I found myself at home with far too much time on my hands. I went into my norm when I was stuck at home for days off because of weather or sickness. Boot up a video game and grind while binge watching tv shows. That lasted less than a month.

I never considered not working and gaming full time while amusing really did not feel the void of feeling like I was accomplishing something.

One day completely done being bored playing video games that I had hundreds of hours into I had to do SOMETHING. so I started googling things to do and eventually stumbled on the answer. It was time to dive into something and lock in a career change

I was desperate for something that better fit me. I was someone that had always loved tech so I looked into IT. I kept going and decided answering questions and fixing computers wasn’t me.

At this point I was talking to someone about building an application to replace a preexisting one. I found python and toyed with a bit but it just didn’t feel right. It wasn’t comfortable, as stupid as that sounds. The level of frustration that day was pretty bad so I went to bed and started the search for what I wanted to turn to.

I was toying with a freecodecamp web tutorial (responsive design) and it clicked. Web design. I was always complaining about UI/UX issues with sites and I already knew html and css. So maybe that would be a good option.

I needed a path. So I started looking around for courses and boot camps. I knew I needed something part time and I knew it needed to be in depth. Eventually I landed at lambda school.

What a wild ride. Today I sit in the computer science portion of the program (easily the one that I most want to rip my hair out) and while there have been substantial frustrations and hurtles I got through the core 4 units and I AM a full stack developer. The fact that I can say is awesome.

I am solid at code but a complete animal when it comes to planning and putting together solid plans on what needs to be there. (Humble brag) I have accomplished that. Now while I am not done with the program completely I could stop going tomorrow and feel completely accomplished. I made the move. I pushed in a year farther than I ever anticipated.

Along the way I have met some outrageously awesome people and have built friendships that I hope to have for decades to come with some super driven and smart people!

The point is that while I was an awesome sales manager and I am damn good at running businesses for other people I am where I feel like I am meant to be for the first time in my life.

I’ve gone even started by writing articles here and building a podcast that has hundreds of listens and a solid listener population faster than I expected.

Now while I am feeling like I’m on top of the world there is work to do. Right now I am finally at a point that it’s time to actively build out a portfolio and build two of the projects for it that had been on my list. It’s time to expand my knowledge of typescript and graphql. It’s time to get back to work.

Up until now I have held off trying to apply and I have held off pushing. It’s time. And I am ready to do what I do best. Hit the gas and go hard. Finally diving into the industry that I’ve felt the most comfortable in and being able to get creative while I do so.

Here’s the lesson: always explore. Always take the time to realize your potential and your calling and RUN! Run straight at it and dive in. Don’t wait! Hit the gas and be who you want to be, doing what you want to be and never let obstacles stand in your way until you achieve what you set out to do!

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