*Author context: This WeCoded 2026 post is a twist on a writing challenge Future did last year. This letter is written to myself back in 2000-2001 (I was a freshman in high school at the time).
Dear Sarah,
Congratulations! You are officially a high school student. You are almost finished with your freshman year.
I bet you are thinking that one year is in the bag and you have three more years left to go. That’s how I felt when I was in your spot many years ago. Have you started looking at all the college flyers that are coming in the mail?
Don’t worry if you haven’t gotten any yet. You’ll be getting plenty of those for the next couple of years as you start thinking about the future ahead. You won’t start doing college applications for 3 more years, so you’ve got plenty of time to think about each of these for now.
Here’s how things are going in 2026. I turned 40 last month (I’m middle-aged now, and let me tell you it isn’t as scary as people make it seem). I am still in tech am coding. Now I am starting to diversify my skills in data analytics, AI, and project management.
I did follow the traditional path after high school by going to college and graduate school. After 6 years in school, I spent a few years out subbing and teaching once I finished with school. By 2015, I was ready for a change, and that’s when I discovered coding.
2015 was a life-changing moment in my life because the decision to learn how to code transformed my life.
Technology might sound like a strange choice since most of the technology you have been around so far is the family computer and typing lessons you took in school. However, you’ll reconnect with technology on a deeper level at this time when you write your first line of code. My first line of code was not the fanciest line of code ever written, but it gave me a lot of clarity and set me on a path to connecting with the person I always wanted to be.
Remember this feeling because being in tech isn’t easy. Being a developer in 2026 is hard to put into words because technology is always changing. It might not seem quite obvious at first, but it is always evolving. You will see things like phones, VCRs, and CD players turn into new devices and software over the next few years.
Yet there are no signs of it slowing down. There is new stuff waiting on the horizon that will change the way people live and connect each day. If you can think of it, chances are technology will play a part in making it a reality.
As technology changes, developers are behind the scenes making sure everything works smoothly. Developers don’t just write code and create amazing things. They read a lot and keep an eye out for potential errors in their code.
AI is a big topic in 2026, and it has disrupted every industry. AI has shown why developers are still. It may make code easier to write, but human eyes are still needed to help double-check everything AI creates and spot errors that even AI might not realize it is making.
Debugging and refactoring will be vital skills in this new AI world, as well as understanding the syntax in every programming language and framework. When I started learning how to code in 2015, Avi Flombaum used to talk about how reading code is just as important as writing code. This will be very important as AI continues to learn and be used in every industry.
There’s a lot of exciting stuff that is coming your way.
I don’t want to spoil everything that is coming for you. However, I want to share four pieces of advice I’ve learned over the past 40 years that can help you where you are now. This will help you get started on the path to where I am now, much quicker and make the most of this time of your life.
Advice One: Take those career assessments seriously!
I know. These tests are very annoying and take so much time to complete because there are so many questions. You would rather do anything else than take a very long test.
It is very tempting to randomly bubble in answers so you can get done quickly and move through the rest of your day. DON’T DO THIS! Take your time and most importantly, answer as honestly as you can.
Those answers will give you a picture of not just the careers that are the best fits for you, but what your personality is like when it comes to different careers. You are going to have a lot of people telling you what careers you should go into and what will land you a job. That is a lot of noise that will distract and make it hard to hear what your gut is trying to tell you.
The answers you put on these tests aren’t going to be judged by anyone, and no one is certainly grading you on what career best fit for you. However, these assessments provide information on what is the best fit for you based on your personality, interests, and the way you work. That information is powerful as you get older because it will form a picture of what you are and what works for you.
You might want to check out the book What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles when you get a chance. This book includes some creative exercises that will help you even further figure out what you want to do. Take the information from the career assessments you take throughout high school and use them to really look at what you want and what you know best.
Advice Two: Start networking.
Word of warning: the job search is going to change as you get older. The way people find jobs is going to be heavily impacted by technology. The advice people will give you in high school and college won’t work by 2026.
Networking becomes much more powerful in the changing job market, and even in the most difficult job climates. Start building your network now. This is the perfect place to do it because you are in school. Your classmates are your first connections.
I am not saying you need to be best friends with every person you meet and hang out with them every weekend. Instead, you need to do things that keep you “top of mind”. That means saying “hello” to people and providing value to them.
The secret to networking is answering questions or asking them about things they know about. Specific questions work great here. You’ll learn that people like talking about themselves, so use that to help break the ice.
You will hear about a platform called LinkedIn when you are in college. Create this account immediately and start filling out your profile. Then send out connection requests to everyone you know ASAP.
Use this time as a way to practice networking. It will be tough because I know you are an introvert, but put yourself out there by going to events and talking to people in your classes. The key thing is to start now, and you’ll thank yourself later down the road.
Advice Three: Try different things to see what skills you like and what you don’t.
You will have a lot of stuff you are learning about right now, and chances are you have a lot of homework. So the thought of learning more things outside of school sounds like a crazy thing to do. However, you will thank yourself in the long run if you start learning more about things that interest you or just try out different skills.
The goal here isn’t to learn everything you can get your hands on. You want to use this time to learn and try different things to see how you feel doing them. Each time you learn a new skill, take a three-five weeks doing this skill and see how you feel after that.
That will help you see if it is a good fit for you. Some skills will sound scary and intimidating. You will immediately be less likely to try them and will immediately assume you will be terrible at doing it.
However, you won’t actually know if you until you try it yourself. It won’t hurt if you take a little time to try it for yourself. This way, you’ll know, and that information will give you lots of confidence.
This is the time to try that hobby you've always wanted to do or learn about something that makes you curious. You are in the right place to learn new things and might know people who are doing the things you are curious about.
Advice Four: Compare yourself to your past self.
Comparing yourself to others is the worst thing you can do. Trust me. It won’t make you feel better and will only make you feel worse.
I spent years doing this as a way to check how I was measuring up against other people my age. It made me feel horrible. I learned later that it makes no sense to do this, too.
Every person’s path is different, so you can’t compare things that aren’t the same. You’ll be tempted to compare yourself to others a lot, so you need to pay close attention when you start feeling that way. This way, you can catch yourself when you start going down that path and get yourself to stop.
When you do feel like you have made no progress, don’t look at others. Instead, look at your past self. These will be the previous versions of yourself.
- What has changed?
- What are you able to do now that you weren’t able to do then?
That’s going to be a much better way to see progress because you will see growth in each version. It doesn’t matter what size that growth is. All accomplishments, no matter the size, show progress.
While people get excited about reaching the big goals at the end, the small ones are the ones that keep you motivated in the long run and keep you going. We are our own worst critics, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Be kind to yourself in those moments and look for the lessons you can learn from that experience. Remember, Rome (and Beyonce) weren’t built in a day.
That sounds like a lot right now, but these are things that if you do them now, you’ll be setting a good foundation to help you in the future.
Underrepresented groups work twice as hard to get where they want to be in tech. However, each person is proof that it is possible to be in tech. If they are able to do it, then you can absolutely do it as well.
The journey through tech is an S-curve with lots of ups and downs. You might find yourself in a curve longer than you anticipated. That’s 100% ok because everyone’s path is unique.
Being a developer in tech is less about the final destination and more about the journey to getting there. That is the exciting part and what makes the story. Each curve along the path will teach you a lot about yourself and will make you stronger as you accomplish every task along your way.
At the end of the day, you will be the one who has to live with the decisions you make. You know yourself better than anyone, so start thinking about what you value, like, and don’t like. There are no right and wrong answers, but you need to listen to what your gut is telling you and what feels right for you.
Most of all, don’t be afraid to start before you feel ready. Confidence comes from doing the work, not waiting for the perfect moment. Keep going. The effort you put in now will shape opportunities you can’t even see yet.
Love,
Sarah
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