After 8 years as a marketing manager, I decided to pivot to tech at age 32. I started with freeCodeCamp and YouTube tutorials, building small projects on weekends.

The biggest challenge was imposter syndrome - I felt like I was too old and starting too late. But I kept building projects, contributing to open source, and networking with other developers.

My breakthrough came when I built a React dashboard for my marketing team at my old job. This real-world project became the centerpiece of my portfolio and showed employers I could solve actual business problems.

The job search was tough - lots of rejections, but each interview taught me something new. I focused on smaller companies and startups where I could wear multiple hats and my business background was valued.

On the interview

Applied to 50+ companies, had 3 technical interviews with coding challenges, final round was a portfolio review and culture fit discussion.