The Time I Almost Quit Tech (And Why I’m Glad I Didn’t)

The Breaking Point

February 2018: I was:

Debugging a Laravel app for a client who vanished after delivery
Burning through savings with 3 months' rent due
Facing this error for the 11th hour straight:
```
SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] Connection refused
```

I remember staring at that error like it was a personal insult. I tried every Stack Overflow answer, restarted MySQL twice, cried once (quietly), and finally just sat in the dark wondering how it all went sideways. I wasn’t new to code—but I was new to the crushing doubt that creeps in when the gigs dry up and the code won’t compile. The impostor syndrome had stopped whispering and started shouting.

What Saved Me

The Pivot: I stopped chasing one-off freelance projects and took a contract role with a startup that actually paid on time. It was less glamorous, but the consistent income let me breathe.
The Mentor: I met a senior dev named Travis (shoutout if you’re reading this). He reviewed one of my GitHub repos and said,
"Your value isn't in never failing—it's in how you recover."
That single line reframed how I saw my messy portfolio: not as a graveyard of failed experiments, but as a record of persistence.
The Win: I landed a Shopify developer role by doing something unexpected—I showcased a failed project. In the interview, I walked through the architecture, what broke, what I’d do differently. Turns out, they were more impressed by my ability to reflect than my ability to succeed.

If You're Considering Quitting

If you’ve ever Googled “should I quit tech,” first: breathe. You’re not alone. Most people don’t talk about the valleys—only the mountaintops. But the valleys are where we pick up the grit.

Sign	Healthy Fix	What I Did
Burnout	3-day break	Took a literal hike (Forest Park, Portland)
Skill Gaps	Targeted learning	30 mins daily on Laracasts
Isolation	Join a community	Posted on dev.to, met folks who'd been there
Financial stress	Stabilize with part-time or contract work	Took short gigs at boring companies—it paid off

Rebuilding Confidence

There was no single moment when everything changed. It wasn’t a movie montage. It was a slow climb: small wins, tough lessons, and reframing what "success" looked like. I stopped obsessing over becoming a 10x developer and started aiming to be a 1.2x version of myself—every quarter.

One underrated tip? Teach someone else. I mentored a junior dev who reminded me how far I’d come. When you explain closures to someone just learning loops, you realize: Oh wait—I know things.

What I Tell Engineers On the Brink

Quitting is a feeling, not a decision. Let it pass through you. Don’t build a life around it.
Find your floor. Not every job needs to be a dream job. Stability is underrated when you’re in survival mode.
Build in public—even your failures. That postmortem I wrote? Still my highest-viewed article. Vulnerability is magnetic.
Stack Overflow is helpful, but friends who’ll roast you and then send solutions are better.

"Every stuck moment is a future story. Every error message has an expiration date."

Lessons & Reflections

The worst part of your career might secretly be the turning point.
Consistency outperforms genius when you’re under pressure.
Confidence can be rebuilt. But you have to give yourself time—and space—to do it.

This post offered an unexpected lens into the topic of "The Time I Almost Quit Tech (And Why I’m Glad I Didn’t)"—something I initially underestimated. What began as a routine story evolved into a surprisingly personal audit of where I’ve grown, where I’ve slipped, and what continues to challenge me. I realized that my path hasn't been about linear progress; it’s been a series of weird detours, punchline errors, and the occasional small win that gave me just enough momentum to keep going.

If there's a takeaway, it’s this: context matters. The same challenge that might’ve broken me five years ago now feels like a teachable moment. And maybe that’s the definition of growth. Thanks for sticking with the post—I hope your own journey is full of equally ridiculous, humbling, and surprisingly meaningful moments.