Anna McDougall: Opera Singer to Engineering Leader & Author

Meet Anna McDougall.

Anna grew up with a real curiosity to try everything.

Writing competitions at age 8. Drama classes. Soccer. Philosophy & ancient Greek mythology.

She even taught herself to write code at age 8!

Which began with a visit to the bookstore with her parents, where she spotted a book titled “Learn HTML at Home”.

Her parents were skeptical, asking if she’d actually use it,

But she did.

Fast forward to 2009: Anna graduates and she landed a corporate conference project management job and was recognized for awards.

Looks hugely successful from the outside.

But come 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, she felt dread in her heart.

That began Anna’s first clocking out moment.

She switched to digital marketing at Opera Australia, and

during her lunch breaks, she took singing lessons with a performer who one day told her that she could sing professionally.

So Anna auditioned for the Masters of Music program at Sydney Conservatorium.

The next 2 years were spent training while working as both a personal trainer & powerlifting coach, all while living back at home with her parents.

Upon graduation, Anna was hired for Opera Australia's schools tour.

Then she made an even crazier decision: She left Australia and moved to Germany!

Because outside of maybe 20-25 full-time singing jobs in all of Australia, there was no opera career to be had.

Meanwhile, Germany has the most opera productions in the world per year compared to the United States as second..

She arrived in Germany on a working holiday visa with 1 year to find a stable job.

Those were the toughest months (she even went into debt buying groceries).

But not once did Anna consider going back and eventually, she landed a role at Hessen State Theatre.

3 years in, Anna felt that something was missing. She also fell pregnant with her daughter.

Which prompted her to think about her next big thing.

Project Management fed her head, and opera fed her heart, but she was searching for something that fed both,

As it turns out - coding would feed both her head and heart.

So Anna created a schedule for herself to learn: Her husband would care for the baby in the mornings while she taught herself to write code.

It was like a light bulb went off.

“I knew this was it.”

6 years later, she’s a Director of Engineering at Blinkist.

Named Software Engineering Leader of 2024. Published "You Belong in Tech." Became a TEDx speaker.

A journey that took many crazy twists and turns but… she got there in the end!

Check out her episode here on the Clocking Out podcast.