Yes the title isn’t clickbait, I got an engineering position at 18yo and this is not a tutorial or guidance.
I started my career as a software engineer at 18yo at a company under one of the largest corporate groups in Indonesia, and it was an incredible experience. I learned so much in such a short amount of time, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with such talented people.
It started with video game, I have addicted to video game since I was 3yo. Until i got curious when in middle school, how the playstation's sticks can move the character in the game.
As a teenager with a very strong sense of curiosity, learning programming became one way for me to find out. Of course, I couldn’t make 3D games like the ones on the playstation because my laptop was a piece of junk, but luckily I learned some web dev that was give me fundamental understanding of programming.
So i get the opportunity when in vocational high school, I got an training and intership at that company i told as web developer, I was selected as one of 11 people out of 600 participants from all over Indonesia.
After my internship, luckily (again) I was invited to an interview for a full-time position, and ya here i am work as a full-time backend engineer.
Based on my experience, I think the most important thing is to keep improving your skills and always be eager to learn something new. I believe luck happens when well preparation meets opportunity.