The Conference That Took Away All My Excuses

The Scars of a Career Changer

“I have scars. Some that I’m proud of. Some that I hide with facial hair.” Danny Thompson spoke these words directly to my soul. He was commenting on the cost of wisdom gained through experience—the marks from lessons learned in tech and AI. But all I heard was a description of my own journey. My scars are the marks of previous, failed attempts to change careers; the times I was an outsider looking in. Over the years, I found what seemed like “reasonable” excuses to abandon my dreams. The 2025 Commit Your Code Conference took every single one of those excuses away.

I’m a civil engineer who dreams of working in tech. I’ve been teaching myself Linux and Python, following a curriculum to become a cloud engineer. When I saw the Commit Your Code Conference had a cloud track, I couldn’t let the chance to learn and network slip away. I came with a checklist and a goal—how was I to know it would have such a deep, emotional impact? I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that I left the conference forever changed.

Finding My People

It all started with the community. On Day 0, I met Jacob and Richard. They were kind enough to invite this novice to sit with them. They didn’t flinch when my “tech stack” was AutoCAD and Excel; in fact, they just congratulated me on my work with Python. Two straight hours of their wisdom may have converted me to JavaScript. The next day, I met Prescott and felt his passion for creating video games. Susmita and Sai didn’t look down on me, even as they listed off three or four languages each and I mentioned my Python basics. Kat didn’t know me as a Python noob, she knew me as the volunteer in the Purple room. Kasi was happy to discuss anything outside of code—especially his food truck (I hope to be one of the first customers in line!). I came as a complete outsider, not knowing a soul. I left the building with 25 new connections, new friends who welcomed me warmly and without judgment.

Lessons That Landed

The community softened my distant heart, and the speakers spoke directly to my soul. Thompson’s message about the wisdom gained through scars echoed in my mind. Why did I have knowledge, but he had wisdom? Why hadn’t I learned from my failures like he learned from his? Then Mark Techson delivered his thunderclap and helped me uncover the obstacle: the issue was Fear. He was discussing the developer path and how AI is affecting software engineering, but he was speaking straight to my heart. I was chasing knowledge to become artificially intelligent, but he reminded me that I am Already Intelligent. I can do things, but I desperately needed a plan.

The Francis Bombs

Enter Aaron Francis. I can say without exaggerating that I left his keynote a different person than when I sat down. He gave us “Timeless Strategies For Success” which was actually “Timeless Strategies For Increasing The Odds To Be Successful.” If only he were just funny and charming. But he had to be a great leader, an inspiration, and he had to deliver one of the most important talks I’ll ever attend. His lessons were practical, structured as five simple, but not at all easy, steps:
1. Become Known For a Thing. Sounds reasonable.
2. Ask For What You Want. That’s great advice, too.

Then he dropped the first bomb, the ultimate question:

“Do I want to be comfortable or do I want great things in my life?”

Actually, he dropped several bombs.
3. Operate In The World As It Exists, Not As It Should Exist

“Is this stupid or is this something worth sacrificing my life for?”
“It’s not fair that…” should instead be: “Since it’s true that…”

4. Act Like You Belong

“There’s no such thing as faking bravery. That’s just bravery!”

Finally, he finished his 9 a.m. gut punch with:
5. Stay In Motion

“You don’t have to get it all right. You just have to keep going.”
“You can just do things. You must do things.”

I walked out of his talk physically, mentally, and emotionally altered. I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t speak to anyone for ten minutes after we exited the main room. Chills ran throughout my body. Later, when recounting the powerful message to Adrian – a new friend who missed the talk, the chills returned.

As I reflect on these powerful two days, I can’t help but feel immense gratitude. I am so blessed to have met so many wonderful people. I am so fortunate that my very first tech conference involved an amazing, welcoming community. I am still in complete awe that so many speakers would impart their knowledge, and incredibly thankful to the wonderful staff that made the entire event possible.

A Call To Action

At 5 pm on the second and last day of the conference, Danny Thompson addressed the attendees, and I thought about his scars. Some he was proud of, and some he hid with facial hair. I thought about the lessons learned and the wisdom gained from those scars. I thought about how he wouldn’t be standing among two other amazing community leaders – Leon Noel and Quincy Larson. I thought about how I don’t need to be afraid because I am Already Intelligent. I thought about a question: Do I want to be comfortable, or do I want great things in my life? I thought about my scars, the ones I’m currently ashamed of and the ones I have not yet earned. Then I thought about the community gathered around me. I felt safe. I felt welcomed. I felt included. And I was called to action.

I can just do things.
I must do things.