A little over five years ago I was a freshly graduated mathematics student doing teaching on the side, all while still trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. There had been a thought brewing in the back of my mind of taking a leap into something completely new to me - IT. Fast forward five years and here I am!

A lot has happened over these five years, and in this session I will be sharing my experiences of doing a complete 180-degree career switch. Among the challenges I will talk about is how to handle being faced with a lot of unknowns, having to learn completely new concepts and solutions very quickly (and implement them!), and trying to find my way in a new community - all while trying to figure out what topics made me excited to go to work everyday. I will share my approach, my experiences and the insights that I found useful, all in the hope of being able to inspire anyone to take the next step - regardless if you are looking to keep your knowledge up to date, expand your knowledge to a new area, or make an equally complete shift in your career.