Ask HN: Have you converted to software engineering from another profession?
While my work can be interesting, I've had a fascination with writing software since midway through my degree. I started out building websites for family friends. This progressed to writing optimisation software for my degree projects. The work I did at university got me a more technical role in the oil industry where I was promised I could occasionally write software to solve specific problems and automate 3rd party software used for subsea installation. I ended up writing a program that the whole department is reliant on for their work. Unfortunately, the boss that originally hired me has left, he was the only one that had an appreciation for engineers who could also code.
In addition to all this I have built a variety of web apps in my spare time. Most of these have had very little attention, but a couple (https://flutter.social, https://leanlab.io) have been featured on Product Hunt (not that featuring on PH is any measure of success).
So, I'm currently at a crossroads in my career. I either continue as an engineering analyst in the oil industry or convert to software engineering. The conversion to software engineering is the basis of my question.
Has anyone reading this converted from another engineering discipline to software engineering? If so, how has that played out for you?
I am somewhat stuck in the north of Scotland so I think remote work or freelancing is my only real option. What is the best way to go about getting into this? And is it possible to ease into contract/freelance work from salaried work.
For those of you in the UK, is it worth getting some sort of accreditation? If so, what?
I'd really appreciate any guidance on this and would most of all like to hear from anyone who has gone through a similar transition.