Taking a Pause for a Big Move

If you haven’t heard from me in a while, it’s because I’ve been kind of MIA from the world, or at least it feels that way. Towards the end of last year, I had just wrapped up a coding boot camp with every intention of transitioning into a new career. I was excited and ready to dive into the world of programming and web development, fully committed to starting fresh in a field I was passionate about.

But life had other plans. In a whirlwind turn of events, my family and I moved from New Zealand to the south of France—an incredible experience, no doubt. However, this also meant that I put my career plans on pause and became a full-time stay-at-home mom, at least until my son started school. During that period, I didn’t touch my laptop—not even once. It felt like all the hard-earned skills from my boot camp, the late nights of coding, and the excitement of switching careers were slipping away. I was worried. I had invested so much in the boot camp, and my plan was clear: to break into programming. Yet, for months, I was fully immersed in motherhood, wondering if I would ever regain that momentum.

An Unexpected Push

Then September rolled around, and my son started school. From March until September, I hadn’t touched my laptop or written a single line of code. I was nervous about jumping back in—would I still remember everything? Would I still be able to code?

A week before my son started school, I got a message on LinkedIn from a recruiter for a startup. Totally out of the blue. They liked my profile, and after a great conversation, they invited me to do a technical interview. They gave me a project and five days to complete it. But here’s the kicker: we were moving houses, and my son was about to start school that same week, so I had even less time to work on it.

Reclaiming My Confidence

This project was exactly what I needed. I had been planning how I would get back into coding — organizing tutorials, books, and courses to ease myself back in. But this? This forced me to dive right back into the deep end, no time for hesitation. I had a project to complete, and it needed to get done.

And guess what? It was perfect. That push was exactly what I needed to remind myself that I can do this. I hadn’t lost my skills after all. I was still resourceful, reading documentation, repurposing bits of code from my old projects, and figuring things out on the fly. And, most importantly, it was fun. I learned a lot and rediscovered my love for coding.

In the end, I didn’t get the job (they paused hiring for 2024), but that didn’t matter as much as what I walked away with — a sense of confidence. I realized I didn’t need to spend weeks or months going through endless tutorials and reading material. I had the skills in me all along. So I scrapped all my lists of tutorials and courses and decided to focus on building.

This blog you’re reading is one of the projects I’m working on. Back in boot camp, we built a blog using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I’ve since decided to rebuild it using React and Supabase, and it’s been a fantastic learning experience. That’s one of the things I love about programming—there’s always something new to learn, and the feedback is instant. Did your code work or not? The process is challenging, but it’s also incredibly rewarding.

This whole experience — moving countries, becoming a full-time mom, and then diving back into coding — has taught me a lot about resilience and trusting the process. I’ve learned that it’s okay to take breaks, and that my skills don’t disappear just because I step away for a while. Now, instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the things I “should” be doing, I’m embracing the projects that excite me and focusing on continuous learning by doing.

Whether it’s working on this blog or jumping into new coding challenges, I’m excited about the journey ahead. Sometimes, life pushes us off our planned path, but I’ve found that it often leads to new and unexpected opportunities. I’m grateful for the detours, and I’m ready for what’s next.