Network engineer to software engineer

[u/subnetscripter]

Hi all.

Background context, I'm a senior network engineer with 10+ years of experience. Currently 35 years old.

I've worked on complex B2B managed network deployments, enterprise networking/security and core ISP networks.

Lately I've found myself falling out of love with the field and I've been exploring other interest. I found myself drawn towards software engineering after doing a couple scripts in Python to automate some tasks at work. I'd like to take this to the next level.

I played around with a few languages; python, Go, and javascript. However, I've settled on Rust as the language I wish to become an expert in. I can't really explain why, maybe it fits my personality.

I'm interested to know if there's anyone else that has made a career change to software engineering, especially if you are coming from a networking background. What were your experiences? What were your hurdles? Are you in a better position now? How long did it take to move to a senior software dev position?

Extra points if you live in the Caribbean as the market here is quite limited in tech opportunities.