sleepGuy in 
Full-Stack Software Engineer
Mentors?
Hi All,
I have climbed the ladder in my current role, but it's not what I want to do. 7 years mid-senior level experience (NOT IN TECH). 30 yrs old.
Over the last 3 months, I have started and pushed through all the homework, readings, networking through 100Devs. (100Devs is an online resource that teaches others the MERN stack.) I hope to finish 100Devs in 7 more months.
Currently, learned html, css, and working through javascript. Pushing 7-8kyu codewars daily To GitHub.
I work full-time, I wake up 2 hours before work to study, study during lunch, and block out time for when I get home. Needlesstosay, Im breathing code at this point. (Keeping health/mental priority)
I have key soft skills from my current job. Problem is that I don't have a degree.
At this rate, could I make it into tech?
And if you've made it this far, would anyone be open to chat or mentor?
Thank you for your time.
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sleepGuyFull-Stack Software Engineer
Wow, that is awesome to hear. Regardless, your quality of life has improved! Thank you for sharing your path/advice.
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For clarity though, I'm not exactly in tech (market research) or a software engineer making $500k TC every 6 months.
I program surveys and make $40k. It's not a crazy life, but the work is interesting and the benefits are great. My suggestion, and others might have better advice, is to try to go for the low hanging fruit. I would search things like HTML/CSS or WordPress on indeed or other job boards, and that usually turned up CMS jobs or the like. That's how I found my current role. Maybe this isn't the best way to get into Google, but it's a good way to get into those small local companies that provide services for other small local companies. My goal now is to keep working at it, gain experience, keep learning, and eventually switch to a better paying, SWE role.
Maybe it's not the best strategy for a $100k+ job, but my work history includes manufacturing and the service industry, and both were pretty labor intensive with annoying hours and low pay, with basically no real career advancement. Although I don't make much, I'm in a totally different boat with a totally different outlook now.