TRIGGER WARNING: I will be sharing my experience with anxiety, depression, and suicidality. I'll explain how getting into development saved my life. Then we will discuss ways to encourage yourself and others who are on the road to becoming a software developer. Come prepared to hear a motivating story and how to motivate and encourage those who may be struggling in ways we can't see. BJ Burns is a Full Stack .Net Developer, Certified SCRUM Developer, Certified SCRUM Master, Meetup Organizer, and 1/2 of the Complete Developer Podcast. BJ first became interested in computers with his first experience in fourth grade using DOS prompt to play Oregon Trail in the computer lab at my elementary school. He began programming in high school when he took a class on QBasic. For him coding was a hobby, something he did for fun until a few years ago when he left medicine and decided to pursue a career as a developer.