Completing my apprenticeship with Quba

Back in November 2023, I wrote about my decision to leave the teaching profession and embark upon an apprenticeship in software development with Quba. Now, 16 months later, I’m happy to report that I have completed the apprenticeship earning a merit and have stayed on at Quba as a junior developer! It’s been incredibly gratifying to complete my career change, but not without challenges and lessons to be learned.

In my first post I said there is a “seemingly infinite amount to learn”, and I now feel quite confident that most new developers will share this feeling. You might work as hard you as can to improve your knowledge and skills, but at some point you will still come across an issue that leaves you with the thought “I have no idea what to do next”. I think there are two natural responses to this realisation. Which one you have will depend on your perspective.

The first is imposter syndrome, which has been written about extensively, so I’ve nothing to add but my own experience. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and demoralised when progress seems to slow to an imperceptible crawl. You get stuck, panic and spiral, before eventually finding the answer or having someone help you get there. Luckily for me, developers are hardly the only ones to suffer from this, so I’d already dealt with it as a teacher. If nothing else, suddenly being called Mr Walsh or sir by children and adults alike was jarring for the first few months! It leaves you with the exact same feeling of fraudulence and that you’re one slip-up away from being found out.

Strangely enough, I found myself reflecting on the advice I used to give to my students – it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s all part of the process and is expected. It’s important to remind yourself of that, but support from those around you can be a huge help too. The occasional reality check goes a long way, and luckily there is an abundance of support available here at Quba. The ultimate aim is to accept where you are and that progress takes time. The kicker is that this won’t completely dispel imposter syndrome, as it doesn’t ever completely leave, but it helps you deal with it.

Once you can deal with imposter syndrome you can move on to the second response to getting stuck – taking the time to learn something new and enjoying it. The steps aren’t really any different, it’s just how you feel as you go through them and how kind you are to yourself as your trudge on. The panic fades and you get on with it.

So I’ve learned to accept that even though I’ve finished the apprenticeship, I’ve still got a lot to learn. I celebrate my successes, no matter how small, and I lean on those around me to get me through. Eventually someone will come to me for help and I’ll have to deal with imposter syndrome all over again, but I’m ready for it.

It doesn’t matter that I’ve left teaching, every day is still a school day.