Everyone has a clean, professional reason for switching fields.

“I wanted to work closer to the metal.” “I care about systems security.” “Web development felt too abstract.”

Those are true for some. But they’re not for me.

Here’s the truth.

Reason 1: I wanted to be special

When I started web dev, it felt exciting. Build things, ship fast, see results.

Then I saw millions of people flooding in. Bootcamp grads, self-taught devs, CS students — all fighting for the same React jobs, the same Next.js boilerplates, the same “full-stack developer” title.

I wasn’t special anymore. And that terrified me.

I didn’t want to be another name in the pile. I wanted to do something most people wouldn’t even attempt.

Reason 2: I’ve always wanted to take things apart

Before code, there were twisty puzzles.

I still have my collection: two 2x2s, two 3x3s, a 4x4, a cylinder, a gear cube, a pyraminx. I wasn’t just solving them. I was obsessed with understanding them.

The moment that changed something in me was when I took a cube apart. Completely. Every piece, every spring, every screw. I cleaned it. Lubed it. Rebuilt it.

That feeling—holding a complex entity I didn’t fully understand, knowing I had taken it apart and put it back together, knowing it still worked—that was dopamine straight to the brain. It felt like control. Not the illusion of control. The real kind.

I haven’t broken a system yet. I haven’t caused a segfault I can fully explain. But that’s the same feeling I’m chasing. The moment where understanding meets execution. Where you’re not just using something—you know it.

Reason 3: Curiosity I can’t leave unanswered

“Why does everyone panic when I say I’m going to change BIOS settings?”

One wrong setting and you brick the system. People treat firmware like black magic. Like it’s too dangerous to touch.

But I kept wondering: what happens if I actually know what I’m doing?

What’s behind that curtain? What’s running before the OS loads? What can I make it do?

I couldn’t stop asking. So I had to go find out.

Conclusion

I’m not a genius. I’m not some born systems programmer with a portfolio of kernel patches.

I’m just someone who:

  • Wanted to feel special
  • Chases the dopamine of taking things apart and putting them back together
  • Can’t let curiosity go unanswered

Web dev is great. Millions of people build amazing things with it.

But for me? It stopped feeling like taking apart a Rubik’s cube. And I need that feeling.