Accounting → Software Development?

"So you quit accounting to do programming?"

Kind of? The stuff I learned in accounting is what made me a programmer in the first place!

The Real Origin Story: I Refused to Use WordPress

Here's what really started all of this: I was reading personal finance and tax blogs obsessively since I was a teenager. This made me want my own blog since I was 15. You may be able to see why I chose accounting - I enjoyed business, finance, and taxes since I was young.

But I really, really didn't want to use WordPress.

I can trace so much of my motivation for becoming a web developer to that single fact: I wanted a blog, but WordPress felt wrong. Too bloated, too constrained, too much fighting the admin panel to do what I wanted.

Plus, WordPress was expensive. Every single blog I followed had a "how to start a blog" article that basically said: get WordPress from these providers for $10-15/month. And I definitely wasn't considering Shopify at $25/month.

(And those were the introductory rates. WordPress hosting costs have a magical tendency to balloon over time.)

I'm cheap. I wanted to do it for free. So instead of paying for WordPress, I decided to learn to make a blog myself. Which somehow made sense at the time.

The math? Spend thousands of hours learning to make a blog myself to avoid $15/month. This felt entirely justified, even when it was definitely difficult in those early days. The return on investment makes no sense, but here we are.

I Actually Tried WordPress (And Hated It)

I bought WordPress hosting for a year or two. Gave it a real shot. Tried to make a blog the "normal" way.

Mostly hated it.

Here's what I realized: I didn't enjoy "posting content." What I actually wanted was the ability to publish random stuff myself out into the world - and own my data and opinions. Not be locked into a platform.

Paying $15/month to "post content" made no sense when what I really wanted was to just... have things available on the internet. On my terms. In my control.

I was arriving at the principles of web development without knowing how to code at all. I understood why owning your own platform mattered before I understood how to build one.

The Setup: What I Actually Studied

My accounting curriculum wasn't just debits and credits. It was:

• Data analysis and visualization
• Statistical analysis and auditing techniques on large financial datasets
• Database design and normalization
• ERP systems and data and corporate controls
• Financial data technology and IT

That's not accounting. That's backend development with a CPA license. And I was enjoying all this stuff a bit more than actual financial statements and tax returns.

The Awakening: Excel is a Terrible Database

By the time I graduated in accounting I was an Excel Grand Wizard with years of advanced Excel experience. Pivot tables, XLOOKUP, array formulas, Power Query, Macros? I was learning features that would make senior accountants weep. I could make Excel do things it was never meant to do.

One thing I will always remember is this absolutely awesome assignment I did in Excel. We were doing proto-programming without calling it that: using CONCAT for string manipulation (the first thing you learn in actual programming!), data validation for dropdown menus, navigation elements across sheets. We were building programs in Excel.

I'd seen VBA too - recorded macros, read the generated code, even loaded someone else's macros at work to create templates. I understood VBA could do things, but never actually wrote it myself.

But eventually I hit a wall where I was building complex systems in a tool designed for simple calculations. I used one too many utility cells or helper columns before realizing maybe Excel isn't actually good at everything. Combining functions and utility cells into God's unholiest formulae broke the camel's back. There had to be a better way.

How I Learned to Code? Tool Upgrades

Once you realize you're fighting your tools, the path forward is obvious: get better tools. I wrote a separate post about the actual learning journey — AutoHotkey to HTML to Python to JavaScript to TypeScript: How I Learned to Code

The Truth: I Never Left Accounting

Here's what people miss: I didn't abandon accounting. I integrated it.

Some developers can't:

• Take a creation and turn it into a real business
• Read financial statements or understand business performance metrics
• Navigate taxes, audits, bookkeeping, incorporation, compliance
• Design organizational controls, data controls, access controls

That accounting degree? It's my differentiator. I can build the product and the business model. I know how to validate whether something is worth building. I'm not just a dev who can ship features; I'm someone who can turn code into a business and ship products that make financial sense.