Yahoo’s Jacqueline O’Connor swapped cabin crew for software development. Here, she explains how her new career has taken off.
Jacqueline O’Connor has worked at Yahoo as an associate software development engineer since last summer. She had previously interned at the company for nine months.
Prior to pursuing a career in this area, O’Connor was unsure of what career path to follow. Initially, she studied mathematical sciences, but she realised it wasn’t the course for her and changed direction after two years. After this, she spent some time working in a betting shop and saved up to travel around south-east Asia.
“When I returned home, I got itchy feet again and wanted to combine travel with work and decided to try life as cabin crew for an airline.”
As part of this role, O’Connor availed of an opportunity to move to Poland for 18 months and then relocated to the west of Ireland for another 18 months, after which she decided to go back to college to pursue a degree in software development at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
“When applying, I reflected on my previous college course and remembered how much I’d enjoyed the coding aspect of it,” she says. “So, I bit the bullet and applied for a software development course.
“From day one, I loved it and knew it was exactly where I was meant to be.”
What made you decide to pivot away from your previous work and move into software development?
I remember particularly enjoying the coding, operating systems and algorithm elements of my original mathematical sciences studies and felt that I would do well at it.
I’ve always enjoyed challenging myself, setting goals and trying new things. I loved being a cabin crew member because it was fast-paced and every day was different; different routes, different passengers and different crew. I loved working with people and hearing their stories. I also liked working on the ground behind a desk solving problems.
With my love of helping people, challenging myself and finding solutions, software development seemed like the perfect role for me. I have always been drawn to technology and coding and I thrive in environments where I can learn and push myself.
How did you go about making that move?
One day something clicked. I knew I didn’t want my role as part of the cabin crew to be my long-term career. I decided I wanted to go back to college and finish the degree I started, so I went for it. There was no help from my previous company other than the skills I had learned from my three years working there. The timing probably worked out well for me because six months later, the global pandemic began.
Tell me about your journey from starting as an intern to the role you have now.
My internship at Yahoo gave me a taste of what was to come and gave me the motivation to keep working hard to get where I am today.
As an associate software engineer, I have the option to work from home or go into the Dublin office. I choose to go in one day a week in order to socialise and collaborate with colleagues from my team as well as meet colleagues from other departments.
Currently, I’m part of a feature team which is API-focused. We have lots of opportunities to improve our skill base by taking on tasks outside of our comfort zone such as front-end work, creating monitoring dashboards and writing design documents.
My team and I have a 15-minute stand-up each morning to touch base and iron out any issues that we may have. As an engineer, I don’t have many meetings throughout the day so it gives me an opportunity to put my head down and focus on my tasks. Usually, we communicate via Slack, which is great because it is a lot quicker than using email.
‘Software development is a continuous learning journey’
How does working in tech differ from your previous experience? Did you find you were able to transfer some skills from your previous career?
I went from a physically demanding job to a mentally demanding job. I’m very happy I did and although the careers are very different, I found that I had transferrable soft skills that I’d acquired as a cabin crew member which were of benefit in my tech role.
Working with different crew each day helped me considerably when it came to collaborating with teams, my time management and communication. It could be said that working as a team, in a time-sensitive environment, inside a large metal tube is comparable to getting a feature developed and tested in software development!
What were the most challenging elements of making a career pivot into tech and how did you navigate these challenges?
I would say the most challenging element was returning to college as a mature student. As you can imagine, it was a massive adjustment. I had to adapt to new learning environments, methods and study habits. I have always enjoyed learning so I threw myself into it.
Another challenge was managing my personal finances. I went from working as a full-time cabin crew member to working as a part-time retail betting assistant while studying. I was lucky enough to have parents that helped me with that burden and I was able to move back home.
Finally, I would say imposter syndrome, I’m sure everyone experiences this in their career at some point. I just kept reminding myself that I deserve to be here and that I worked hard to get here.
What do you enjoy most about your job now and working in software development in general?
I enjoy working in a team as well as collaborating across other teams. I love the fact that every day is different and that I am continuing to learn and grow while improving my skills.
Whenever I am stuck or in need of guidance, there is always someone there willing to lend a helping hand or vice versa. Yahoo’s hybrid model suits me down to the ground and helps ensure I have a healthy work-life balance.
What advice would you give to others considering a career pivot into tech? Is there anything in particular you wish you knew starting out?
If you feel ready, go for it!
From my experience, when I finished school, I wasn’t ready to go to college. I knew I needed to see the world, that’s why I decided to do some travelling first. If you force yourself to study when you don’t want to, or you’re not ready, you won’t enjoy the experience and could resent your career choice.
When beginning your journey in software development, you must master the fundamentals of programming at the start and build from a strong foundation. In software development, we never stop learning.
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