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Kevin Sweeney

Kevin Sweeney

Freelance

Career Roadmap

Kevin's work combines: Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Problem Solving

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Day In The Life

Software Developers, Applications

I engineer and build software applications.

Skills & Education

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Physics, General

    California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Software Quality Assurance Analysts & Testers:

High School

Bachelor's Degree: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    Had an interest in the universe so I took a physics class in high school.

  • 2.

    At the same time I took a computer science class and was quite good at it.

  • 3.

    Then I decided I wanted to make planes so I majored in Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering.

  • 4.

    But I had to keep taking physics and decided my major was too specific, so I switched to Physics.

  • 5.

    I graduated with a degree in physics but didn't want to pursue it further.

  • 6.

    Then I remembered I liked programming so I started looking for intro-level work in the field.

  • 7.

    6 years later I moved to China to work remotely for a company still in San Francisco.

  • 8.

    Now I work for startups wherever I want.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Society in general:

    Personally, I didn't hear much noise. My parents were very supportive of letting my brother and I do whatever we wanted. I suppose I was always into engineering/smart-people stuff so it was easier. For me, noise comes from society telling you that you're entitled to all this stuff; you're not. Yes, you can do ANYTHING! However, it's not going to be easy. Period. I guess my noise was people telling me that I was smart and making me think it was going to be easy.

  • How I responded:

    If I have kids, I've told myself to congratulate them on hard work and never on innate traits like beauty or intelligence. It doesn't matter how smart or beautiful you are, or even how much you love doing something, mastering something is going to take some hard work. The trouble, of course, is figuring out when to push through the challenges and when to give-up. No one can make that choice for you, but definitely don't give-up because it's the easier or more socially accepted option.