Finding work-life balance with code: a father's career change story

"I was rudderless," Seth Williams says, describing his professional life before upskilling to become a software engineer.

In this interview, Seth tells the story of starting and stopping college three times, working in the restaurant industry, and parenting his first child with another on the way. Seth's second child was two days old when he started Foundations, our part-time frontend engineering course. After gaining basic coding skills in our non-traditional learning environment, he enrolled in our full-time web development course.

I needed a change. I could see my old job becoming a situation where I wouldn't be able to tuck my kids in at night or take them to school. It would be a mess. I had some friends who were software engineers, one of whom is actually my boss now… My friends convinced me to try coding. They suggested the Foundations course at Carolina Code School, along with a Udemy class I'd already started. So, on the second day of my daughter's life, I began the foundations course. That's how I got to this point.

Watch Seth’s full interview below:

Seth is now a senior software engineer living in Atlanta with his family, working remotely, and mentoring Carolina Code School students.