I actually didn't, which is why it was a much easier decision for me to make.

If you had asked me whether I wanted to quit my job to learn to code so I could take a nearly 50% pay cut to be a junior developer, I would say absolutely not. But I was already not working, earning zero dollars, it was a much easier option to think about.

I tried to separate the signal from the noise, and that required getting rid of everything that was not essential.

New York has a funny way of making you REALLY think about what's essential and I wanted to apply that same principle to my life, not just my apartment.

When I got back, I still had to answer the question, "Now what?" I saved some money but not that much, so I knew I needed to get back to work. I thought about what I loved doing as a child. Coding and math stood out.

Even then, learning to code wasn't an obvious choice for me. I was actually an opponent of this movement that everyone should learn to code and of this movement that kids should be taught how to code. I thought that if anything, I wish they told me how to handle life when I was a kid.

I wish someone had taught me how to deal with life when you don't get something you really, really wanted, and that you worked really, really hard for. I later discovered that like sports, coding is a great way to teach these skills.