It’s been a year since I “retired” from coding.
Crazy to even say that out loud, considering I spent more than a decade living and breathing it. Code was my comfort zone; the thing I could always rely on to make sense when everything else didn’t.
But after years of late nights, endless sprints, and a never-ending cycle of burnout, I started to realize something had to change. My mentors had been hinting at it for a while; that maybe my real strength wasn’t just in writing code, but in leading people who do.
So I took the leap. I traded my IDE for meetings, strategy sessions, and helping others navigate the chaos I used to live in daily.
If you know me, you know I don’t half-do anything. When I’m in, I’m all in. That obsessive focus got me far as an engineer, but it also took its toll.
This past year has been about learning a different kind of focus; one that’s less about doing all the work myself and more about creating space for others to do their best work. I won’t pretend it’s been easy, but it’s been worth it.
I’d be lying if I said I don’t miss it sometimes. I still jump in to help unblock the devs I lead, and when the itch really hits, I scratch it by building cool side projects; like the compliance platform I’m working on right now.
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