Spring in NYC, during a Global Pandemic

We’ve lived in NYC for 8 months now. We had 6 months of the best pre-pandemic life and New York was everything I imagined and hoped for (except, like a true snob, I think California’s food — and especially produce — is better).
It’s really unbelievable how much NYC has changed because of Coronavirus. I don’t have a recipe to share in this post, but since it’s the tail-end of spring, a season we’ve spent mostly inside our apartment, I’m going to share pretty photos from the time we walked to Central Park’s Conservatory Garden and from our many walks in Riverside Park (a block from where we live).

Only a few months ago we were living our best NYC lives: we were spending our money on comedy shows, Broadway, amazing food, getting drunk on $15 cocktails and taking the subway safely home. Now we’re at home 85% of the time (the 15% is to take Rocket out 3 times a day and occasionally venturing across the street for bagels).

I’m so grateful I decided, at least for our first year here, to move into the neighborhood I really wanted to live in in NYC, the Upper West Side — with all its rom-com vibes and You’ve Got Mail filming locations. We moved into the largest apartment just inside our budget, rather than going for a cheaper place further away — which would have been a practical way to balance how much we had hoped to be spending on living an awesome life in NYC. But now, with the world as it is, being at home in this apartment with it’s creaky floors and white crown molding, in the beautiful flower-decked, Riverside Park-abutting Upper West Side has been so soothing to my anxious FOMO- susceptible mind.

So many friends have reached out to see how we’re doing. The truth is, we are really doing well. We’re extremely privileged and grateful to live in a neighborhood that is largely unaffected. Most people we know have been able to work from home and not get sick. Both our jobs were planning on keeping us.

I say *were* because I have some more news…

It might seem like the worst time ever to do this, but being in quarantine has helped me take the proverbial much-needed step back to evaluate what I’m doing now, and if it’s what I want to keep doing later. I’ve been in a few jobs recently where I haven’t felt passionate, or where I felt like my role was limited. It’s felt extremely difficult to improve and grow, and in the last few roles, I’ve encountered so much change with managers coming and going, my career growth has observably suffered in the wake of these changes. These factors, and a few others led me to decide to pursue something different.

Last week was my last week in social media/marketing for the foreseeable future (though, as we all know now, the future is rarely foreseeable).

Since the beginning of this year, and more-so now during quarantine, I studied intensely, then I took a test, did a coding interview, and got into a selective all-female software engineering bootcamp. And I finally feel excited. This is a step I’m taking of my own initiative, to learn something hard and new, and potentially rewarding. It’s a step I’d been considering in the background over the last couple years as I worked alongside engineers at tech companies, and most recently, as I was working from home alongside my husband Jonathan, a full-time software engineer who loves his job.

I’m entering my 3rd week of a 17 week program. It’s hard now, and the pace is so fast, but I know I’m improving! What used to take me 3 hours, takes me 45 minutes tops. It’s the baby steps!

Later on I’ll probably have deep thoughts to share about when you should consider a career change, how to research one, and how to actually do it. But for now, I’m just really enjoying learning. It feels good to stretch these muscles again, memorize things, do homework, apply concepts, write code, and pass tests.

It’s new. It’s hard. But it’s fun.