Hi, I'm Lyn - I'm Pivoting My Career to Tech🚀

Hi there! My name is Lyn and it’s so nice to meet you😊

I’m an Urban Designer turned sprouting software engineer who’s currently based in sunny California🌞. From Seoul to Chicago to now LA, my life in the metropolis and passion for design and the outdoors steered me down a path to pursue a degree in Landscape Architecture.

During my 6 years in the AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry, my experience designing🎨 and engineering📐 artful and intuitive built environments sparked an immense curiosity for me to learn how to do the same for digital landscapes as a developer. The two paths share a great deal of similarity – transforming a vision in my head into tangible, beautiful products through a process of concept design to technical documentation and construction – that resonated deeply with me.

(Birds-eye rendering of a very complex corporate campus project that I was recently a part of - 🍪 for you if you recognize which company this is for)

In the midst of a years-long career change debate with myself, and stifled by the fear of failure and leaving a career that I was excelling in (yet exhausted by😓), I underwent a major, unexpected surgery in February 2021 that stemmed from a health complication with no clear diagnosis or treatment options. This was a very difficult reality for me to process but it also pushed me to truly start advocating for myself; to never take my health for granted; to be bold, and to go after the what-if’s to live a life without regrets.

So in August 2021, I finally quit what I once believed was my ✨dream ✨ career at a renown firm and started my passion project of learning how to code during my recovery. And let me tell you - it’s been an incredible journey so far. I’m excited to wake up in the mornings again with a sense of purpose and enthusiasm for new possibilities. I’m thrilled to be a beginner at something again, to constantly learn, create, break and make new things every day.

Thanks to coding, my passion and drive for creativity that had faded long ago has now been restored. I can’t wait to keep exercising the design and problem-solving abilities that I’ve cultivated throughout my previous career in the world of development💻.

So, what am I currently working on? I am deep in the process of expanding my knowledge in the beast of a language that is JavaScript! 👀

When I’m not coding, you can find me:
• 🗻 Camping and hiking along the glacier lake trails of the Eastern Sierras
• 🍣 Finding new hole-in-the-wall restaurants to try with my food-loving husband
• 🐕 Training my dog, Yani, to do silly tricks
• 🌏 Exploring ways to reduce my carbon footprint in this beautiful planet
• 👯 Meeting new friends on Twitter as an introvert (ISFJ) with my #100DaysOfCode challenge

What keeps me grounded:
• 👉 My parents. They immigrated to the US to give my brother and me a chance for a better future. Our family lived barely above the poverty line but their endless support opened doors for me to obtain a college degree from a top-ranking institution and a full-ride scholarship. They are still working full-time to this day and I want to help them retire.
• 👉 Work-life balance. Health is wealth and I’m grateful for my body and everything that it allows me to do. Living a well-balanced yet professionally fulfilling life is my ultimate goal.
• 👉 My newfound clarity to never settle for things that don’t make me happy.

My work ethic is focused on these three main elements:
• ✅ Attention to detail and organization
• ✅ Never-stop-learning mentality
• ✅ Team work makes the dream work!!!

I hope to use this blog to share useful knowledge that I gain during and after my transition to tech. If you’re still reading, ⭐thank you⭐ for taking the time to learn more about me and I’d love to connect with you!:

Twitter: @onwardLyn

LinkedIn : linkedin.com/in/lyn-kim-aa78b68b

Github : github.com/lyn-kim

E-mail: lynkim216@outlook.com

If you’d like to chat with me through any of the socials above, my DM’s are always open 📫💛

Bonus: If you’re a dog lover, feel free to drop by my dog, Yani’s Instagram page ( @herecomesyani ) where I share photography and dog-training tips with a community of like-minded dog-lovers!🐶

Hope you have an amazing day!😎