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Happy Sunday Techtopians. On this week issue I reached out to David, because I noticed something peculiar on his YouTube channel. And that is that from early on I saw he uploaded videos about real estate and then, transitioned to tech.

So I reached out I wanted to know his story because one of you guys might be on a similar position, not knowing if switching careers is a possibility and let me tell you that you can, just read David’s story below and you’ll see what I mean.

But enough about what I have to say and lets see (read) what David has to say!

Closing Deals to Coding Wheels: How One Professional Rewrote Their Transformation Story!

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do?

I am 27 and from Wilmington, Delaware. I have a background in the Army (Airborne Field Artillery) and sales (Car sales and Real Estate agent). I have 3 kids and a wife of 5.5 years. I broke into tech in March 2023 after spending 9-10 months self learning whenever I could and facing challenges with landing interviews with no degree or experience. I now reside in Salt Lake City Area and work an AI startup.

What was your main inspiration for switching careers?

I really fell in love the work of programming and problem solving. I went college for 1 year for engineering before dropping out for Army. I always wanted to be engineer and having the chance to get back to do something I enjoy, while making great money, was a no brainer.

What motivated you to pivot from real estate to software development, and how did your experience in sales and client relations prepare you for this career shift? 

Timing was crucial, being a realtor at the time, my schedule was very flexible. So I would work evenings or while things were slow. Also the market was tough and I need to provide a consistent monthly check. Real estate can be big checks but very inconsistent.

Can you walk me through the learning process of acquiring programming skills? What resources, courses, or strategies did you use to make this transition?

Honestly there are a billion resources. The main thing I learned was to not rely on one. Maybe start with a good basic course for foundations, but acquiring the ability to find the answers for a questions/problem you have is skill you will need, so start while your learning. It’s okay to ditch that course and start another when you get what you need. Books and papers are great as well. 

During all of this build a ton of projects! Build unique things. The project that landed me a job was a web app for realtors that allowed them to share out of state referral leads.

Some resources I used:

• The Odin Project

• Python for Everybody: Coursera

• W3Schools

• FreeCodeCamp

• YouTube (CodingwithMosh, coder coder, fireship, webdevsimplified, web dev cody)

If you were to start again from scratch, what would you do differently?

Start networking early. I had no one in my circle, but I could’ve went to meetups in Philly or more virtual ones. Networking is what landed my current job.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out or has the same idea of switching careers? 

Learn to love the craft and be persistent. The journey seems like it never ends to land your first role. So instead staring at LinkedIn just build and learn for fun. If it’s just for the money you will fail. But if you do it for fun everyday and yell about it to the world, you’ll break in before you know it.

How do the skills you developed in real estate - like negotiation, client communication, and project management - translate to your work as a developer? 

I work very well with people (collaboration) and I have great work ethic (the time and effort don’t get to me as easy others). I also very good at problem solving. There are countless challenges I ran into when helping save deals from falling apart as a realtor.

What was the most challenging aspect of switching careers, and how did you overcome the technical and psychological barriers of entering a new industry? 

Just was a completely different world from sales and real estate. Trying to do both in the transition period was tough. There’s just not that much time in a day. Also you don’t realize what you don’t know until you’re at a job. Sometimes I wish I had a chance to get my degree and learning for theoretical topics.

Where can people find you?

YouTube - https://youtube.com/@davidjustice8087?si=7s2vbRC6Bx22QoMe

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-justice-220072149

Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/davidmjustice.bsky.social