A few years ago, my world revolved around engines, machinery, and ship systems. I was working in the marine and mechanical industry, far from tech, code, or anything related to software. Fast forward to today, I’m working in tech as a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) at a major bank in Singapore. It’s been a wild journey, and one I never expected to take.

Why I Switched Careers

I worked in mechanical and industrial engineering from 2014 to 2022, including roles in marine systems and large-scale refrigeration compressors for cold storage and pharmaceutical processes. While the jobs had their moments, over time, I felt stuck. I didn’t see much room to grow or evolve, and I started craving a career that offered creativity, problem-solving, and lifelong learning.

That curiosity led me to tech. I didn’t have a computer science degree or any formal background, but I was intrigued by how software systems worked, how things got built, scaled, and maintained. So I decided to dive in.

How I Got Started in Tech

I began learning to code on my own, nights, weekends, in between work. I was eventually given an opportunity to participate in a Singapore government-supported career conversion program called Technology in Finance Immersion Programme (TFIP in short), which gave me a bit more structure and exposure to real-world tools and workflows.

Java became my first serious language. I learned backend development using Spring Boot and Spring Batch, mainly because they were industry-relevant and had solid documentation. I enjoyed the backend side of things, APIs, data flows, background jobs, more than flashy frontends.

Breaking Into the Industry

In December 2022, I got my foot in the door at DBS Bank as a tech trainee. It was intimidating at first, coming in with a non-traditional background, but I leaned on what I did know: how to learn fast, work under pressure, and solve problems logically.

After the trainee stint, I moved into a contract role, and eventually landed a permanent position in the SRE team by the end of 2024.

As an SRE, I work more on automation, monitoring, infrastructure, and reliability than writing application code. It’s broadened my view of how systems really work in production, and taught me the importance of good logging, observability, and proactive failure management.

Dealing With Imposter Syndrome

I’ll be honest: imposter syndrome is real. Coming from a different field, I often felt like I had to catch up or “prove” myself. But over time, I’ve learned that tech is too broad for anyone to know everything. The key is to keep learning, stay curious, and remind myself how far I’ve come.

What’s Next?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about moving back into a full-time software engineering role, ideally backend-focused. I miss coding regularly and building systems from the ground up.

So I’ve been brushing up on my Java skills, revisiting object-oriented design, and studying topics like concurrency and system design. It’s tough (and technical interviews are still scary), but I’m working on it.

Final Thoughts

If you’re thinking of switching into tech from a completely different field, go for it! It won’t be easy, but it is possible. You don’t need permission to learn, and your past experience might give you an edge in ways you don’t expect.

I’m still learning every day, still figuring things out, but I’m proof that career pivots are real, and they’re worth chasing.