From long shifts to long-term thinking. Neil’s journey from chef to software engineer.
Neil didn’t set out to become a Solutions Engineer. For most of his twenties, he was firmly planted in the hospitality industry. A decade of long shifts, high pressure, and a career that made sense on paper. He started working at 15, initially just to make some extra cash during his early teens. Before he knew it, he had built a career in the field and the demanding pace became his comfort zone. It kept him independent and taught him discipline.
Tech started as a quiet passion. During high school, Neil had excelled in computer studies, loving the logic, creativity, and challenge it offered. Even though his career path led him elsewhere, he kept that spark alive, following tech trends and keeping an eye on new products across the industry.
That changed when his personal life began to clash with his professional demands. As Neil’s wife advanced in her career with more traditional office hours, their schedules slowly began pulling them in opposite directions. The demands of the hospitality industry, with its late nights and weekend shifts, made it increasingly difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. He found himself missing important moments and struggling to align his schedule with his wife’s routine.
The long-term viability of kitchen work became harder to imagine, especially with an old knee injury that Neil could no longer ignore. For the first time, he started thinking beyond the next shift and toward a sustainable career path. One project turned into self-directed learning. Neil initially relied on free resources and tutorials, teaching himself through trial and error, but he quickly realized the limitations of this approach.
When he discovered ICE Campus, Neil enrolled first for the Website Designer Associate course and then for the Website Developer course shortly after. It wasn’t just about learning new frameworks and programming languages. For Neil, this was about taking the first step toward becoming a professional developer.
Neil balanced his responsibilities by maintaining his full-time job as a Chef while studying part-time. He attended online-live classes after work hours and made use of recordings during short breaks. The online format made it possible. The short-term pressure of balancing full-time work with studies was challenging, but he leaned into the structure and student support at ICE to ease his transition.
After certification, Neil put his skills straight to work. He started building real-world projects for clients, including Lista, a shareable shopping list app with real-time syncing and Maltese language support. Three years later, he is leveraging the UI experience he built to revamp the platform using the latest technology. Those projects, and others became proof of what he could do: a portfolio of work that gave him the momentum to secure full-time tech roles.
Neil also took advantage of the Get Qualified scheme, which refunded 70% of the course cost. That financial support gave him space to take risks and focus on building his skills without the added pressure of overwhelming financial responsibilities.
Now at 9H as a Solutions Engineer, Neil’s work goes beyond building websites. He focuses on developing tailor‑made web systems built with the latest technologies and trends, designed to be scalable for any business need. Alongside this, his role blends coding, problem solving, and continuous learning. He uses AI tools to assist his work but emphasizes the importance of strong foundational skills.
The career pivot has positively impacted Neil’s personal life. With more regular hours and the flexibility to work from home occasionally, he now has more time to spend with his wife. Neil’s transition into tech was a gradual process. He spent around six months self-studying before joining ICE, followed by nine months completing both courses. Over the course of a further year, he built projects and went deeper into industry frameworks and content management systems before landing his first role with Sancho. The impact of that transformative journey extends far beyond just professional satisfaction.
It’s not too late. You don’t need to wait until life forces you to do it. Be determined, focused and start.
NEIL MALLIASolutions Engineer
