From music teacher to programmer: change of profession after one important acquaintance

At the age of 30, Artūras Sedleckas changed his role of a music teacher and musician to the complete opposite - a programmer. In three years, he became an IT system specialist, works in a leading IT company and, after becoming a mentor, is already teaching others this craft. The young man claims that mentor helped him make this courageous career switch and break myths about programming and afterall to finally feel self-realization in his career.

"The strangest thing is that in the past I was undeniably convinced that the IT field is definitely not for me. I thought it was a boring job and I couldn't see myself sitting in front of a computer all day. Today, the situation has changed drastically - I work as a software specialist and I feel much more fulfilled than before", - says Artūras.

Music has been replaced by programming

Artūras started his music career at the age of 16 and devoted almost a decade to it, however he still felt a lack of self-realization and had to begin his search for himself once again.

"I started making music independently at school, then I enrolled in popular music studies, and finally I started teaching myself how to play the guitar. All this time, I was also performing - both with small bands and various types of orchestras. However in the long run, I felt that I could not see myself in such profession, I no longer felt satisfaction in my daily activities, so I started looking for a new path." - says Artūras.

Today Arūras works as a programmer at one of the leading Salesforce partner companies in the Baltic States. He also became a Salesforce teacher at the programming academy and a mentor on the career mentoring platform - idialogue.

"I still haven't reached my ultimate goals, but I'm glad that I had the courage to search, experiment and act. Today, almost three years later, I have already accumulated a lot of experience and I am successfully working in the IT field, evenmore I am already passing on my knowledge to others as an IT mentor. The most important thing is that every day at work I feel self-realization and because of that I can feel happy." - says Artūras.

Mentor showed the way

According to the young man, the key factor in his successful career change was Mentor Julija Varneckienė who he found on the idialogue platform, where he offers his mentorship himself today.

“To anyone thinking about changing career direction I recommend finding a mentor. It makes it easier to understand what career path and lifestyle of a particular profession look like. Mentor outlines perspectives and opportunities of a chosen career and this makes it much easier to assess yourself in this role and understand whether it makes sense to follow this path or to look for something else. If it wasn't for the Mentor, I wouldn't have even thought about making serious attempts in the IT field." - says Artūras.

First steps in a new field are usually the most difficult ones, so Artūras adds that taking first steps together with a Mentor is a significant perk of such partnership. 

"My mentor told me about the Salesforce system, with which I work today. She explained the benefits it creates for businesses and guided me through the technical features. Then together we found out in which direction I would like to move and we laid out my future steps - all I had to do was to follow them. I consider this beginning with a Mentor as a very strong foundation from which I managed to move forward to my next goals" - says Artūras.

It will require discipline

The young man emphasizes that the road to his dream was not easy, so he recommends those who want to change their career field to prepare for difficulties and employ discipline.

"Sometimes in stories of change like this one forgets that dreaming and planning is the easy part. It will require work and effort as well. There was a time when I had to wake up at five in the morning every day to study, then work full time and in the evening I had to study again and spend extra time on weekends. So discipline and a strong determination to move forward were needed" - says Artūras.

He adds that efforts will especially be needed to pursue a career in the IT field, because the competition here is high and there is a lot to learn.

"Work doesn’t end by completing the necessary courses and receiving the certificates. In order to work in the companies of your dreams, you need to gain real-world experience because the theoretical tasks are different from those that the businesses solve every day. Experience is accumulated little by little, so I myself started to accumulate it from the position of an administrator, only later did I get a programmer's certificate, which allowed me to touch the simplest tasks in this field." says Artūras.

Programming is more similar to creativity than you think

 Today, the former professional musician, who became a professional programmer, says that the idea that programming is not an interesting activity has completely collapsed in his head.

"When programming we are looking for solutions to business problems. This requires not only knowledge but also creativity because there is more than one way to solve a problem, as well as to apply and implement it. So the opportunity to explore, discover new paths, make unexpected decisions reminds me of an improvisation in music. Of course, there is not so much freedom and creativity in programming, but the feeling in the process of creating a solution is really similar." shares Artūras.

Summarizing his story, Artūras encourages others to try the path of programming and assures from his own experience that anyone can really learn to program if they have enough desire and persistence.