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UID:pretalx-devconf-cz-2026-LFMLGH@pretalx.devconf.info
DTSTART;TZID=CET:20260618T111500
DTEND;TZID=CET:20260618T113000
DESCRIPTION:I started on the sysadmin side: customer environments\, inciden
 ts and the daily reality that systems fail. With no traditional CS backgro
 und and no predefined path\, I needed to extract value from every task\, p
 iece of advice\, mistake and incident. This lightning talk is an honest ac
 count of how that shaped my move into software engineering. Sometimes it w
 as an advantage (debugging discipline\, failure-mode thinking and respect 
 for blast radius)\, sometimes friction (perfectionism\, fear of code and c
 ollecting technologies without shipping). I’ll reflect on the moments th
 at changed how I learn and how I work\, including two accelerators: AI\, w
 hich shortened the path from “I don’t get this algorithm” to “I ca
 n apply it\,” and mentorship\, which turned scattered effort into focuse
 d progress by challenging and correcting mental models. The goal isn’t t
 o prescribe a path\, just to share real tradeoffs\, mistakes and turning p
 oints from a non-traditional route into engineering.
DTSTAMP:20260430T125058Z
LOCATION:A113 (capacity 64)
SUMMARY:From Sysadmin to Software Engineer: A Non-Traditional Path into Tec
 h - Kaja Prokopova
URL:https://pretalx.devconf.info/devconf-cz-2026/talk/LFMLGH/
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