The Fall: How Failure Fuelled My Career

I was always eager to prove myself. Since my earliest days in high school, I jumped from project to project, attempting to push my technical prowess and creativity. I showed my friends, family, and teachers what I could do by developing intricate, overly complex solutions with a huge scope. Many of these projects remain unfinished — confined in a private limbo where they wouldn't see the light of day.

One pivotal moment that put me on the path I'm on today was running a Minecraft server. I would spend countless hours playing on Minecraft servers; I was in awe of all the possibilities it brought. I was inspired to build a tight-knit community that I could share my creative vision with. I started off by running a server on my laptop. I spent a few months learning all the technical details I needed to know to get it up and running. I would go on forums advertising my server, hoping a few people would stop by. When they did, I’d make sure I spent one-on-one time with them so they felt welcomed. This allowed me to develop a tiny community. However, because I was running it on my laptop, I was extremely limited with how many players I could house.

Among my small community, a mother and son were regular players. One day she reached out to me and explained how much it meant to her that I would spend time with her son, giving them a space where they could connect with each other. As a token of gratitude, she gave me $50. I was ecstatic as I was now able to get paid hosting, allowing me to add more functionality and increase my 5 player maximum up to 30.

As my server grew, I introduced a perk which was redeemable if someone made a Youtube video featuring the server. This accelerated advertising at a significant pace. Before I knew it, it was growing at an enormous rate and bringing in more than enough money to expand further. At its height, the server would house approximately 100,000 monthly unique players and I had around 20 staff members working under me. Unfortunately, the Minecraft server space started to become saturated. My most successful project became overrun and ordinary. Hundreds, if not thousands, of others started creating their own servers with similar ideas.

I would lock myself away for months to thwart the competition. I wanted to build intricate and unique game modes that had yet to be seen in the Minecraft space. Unfortunately, paying developers to execute my creative vision was extremely expensive. I decided to teach myself how to program. I'd feed off of the energy from my community, showcasing all the things I could do as I slowly but surely learned the foundations of development to start building full-fledged game modes.

Despite the initial success with each game mode I released, the players unfailingly went back to my original server. Overall, the server was still successful but I started to grow resentful. None of what I thought to be my more groundbreaking and creative projects had gained any traction. I continued to try to push more complex and feature-heavy games, but unbeknownst to me, I lost the personal touch that initially made the server special. The thoughtfulness and personal connection wasn't the main priority like it used to be. My server started declining in popularity as my player base grew older, competition grew stronger, and I failed to bring in new players. I plunged into a whirlpool of self-doubt. This was more than just a hobby; this was a world I had invested into using time, money, and most importantly, my identity. As I watched its demise with a heavy heart, I found it hard not to mirror its downfall internally. My self-esteem plummeted with each departing player. I felt like a complete failure and tried to keep it going for as long as I could. Eventually, it became unsustainable and I could no longer afford to pay out-of-pocket to keep it going. I was left with no option but to shut it down, a decision that felt like closing a chapter of my life.

I decided to see if I could salvage any of the functionality I created in those custom game modes and release it to the public. One thing that stood out was the health bar system that I had implemented. I packaged, polished, and released that feature as standalone software. To my surprise, it gained traction and had a lot of community engagement. At this moment, it has over half a million downloads, is used in 57 countries, and serves over a million monthly users. It struck me again: another project that was so simple yet so successful. I felt distraught that my true passion projects were nowhere near as noticed.

In retrospect, the experience I gained from running my Minecraft server was far from failure. Rather, it prepared me for my career today as a software engineer.

The critical thinking, perseverance, and problem-solving skills I undertook were invaluable. I learned to interpret user needs, prioritize tasks, and look for simple, effective solutions. Managing a team honed my leadership skills, and the necessity to market my server bolstered my communication skills.

Despite my server’s decline, the lessons learned weren’t in vain. Programming customized game modes unveiled a deeper passion for coding, ultimately steering me toward software engineering. It not only provided me with the hard skills necessary for my current profession but also gave a unique perspective on product development.

The truth is that success isn't always a reminder of our capacity. Sometimes, it is our perceived failures that spark new paths and open doors to fields and passions that we never would have imagined. If I hadn’t decided to create my own server or taught myself programming in pursuit of innovation, and if I hadn't failed in the evolution of that server and tried to salvage what was possible, I wouldn’t be the software engineer that I am today.

I’m grateful for the path I took, despite its twists, turns, and tumbles. Now, as a software engineer, I can appreciate the simplicity within complexity, the value of connection, and above all, the resilience needed when things don’t go as planned. The journey was strenuous, but it led me to the career that I am passionate about today, and for that, I am very thankful.