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It's 2023 now, and I've been contemplating on if I wanted to write this or not.
I've read loads of 2022 reviews of other people, mostly people in tech and to be honest, they have been so inspiring, I'd be smiling while reading. When I thought I should write mine, I didn't feel like I had anything dramatic to write about, cause I felt like nothing super significant happened, I mean compared to other amazing stories I was reading.
Nevertheless, I'm sitting in my room right now, listening to Beyonce, doing a little reflection, and planning toward 2023 and I just thought I write it. I hope it doesn't get too long, I will try to keep it as short as possible.
The Beginning
I wanted to learn how to code because I was very curious, and I like to prove to myself that I can get past situations that seem difficult.
My journey in tech began in January 2022, after months of waiting to get a laptop. I didn't just decide that I wanted to have a career in tech, it was intentional and I wasn't confused. I know a lot of people coming in newly get confused about what niche to choose and what not. But for me, I knew I wanted to code. Initially, I didn't know how I was going to start, I just knew I wanted to learn how to code.
The desire to want to learn code started from somewhere. In my 3rd year in school, I offered a Computer Science course(Introduction to programming), it was a borrowed course. As an Agric student, everything was so new and strange, and learning in class was difficult because of how large the lecture halls are, most times, I barely knew what was going on in class, and a lot of my classmates complained about the course, even my senior colleagues complained as well. I hate failure too much, and I was scared I was going to fail the course.
I started my research, and my friends from the computer science department told me the course was a piece of cake to pass, from then on, I was like naaaa, I was going to get an A.
Long story short, I studied my brains out, I even read this very large book on Java, I wanted to pass so badly and prove to myself that my classmates were just scared for nothing. Results came out and I got an A, that's when it sort of dawned on me that I might want to take this more seriously and learn beyond the exams I wrote.
I tried to learn with just a phone at some point, but I got demotivated because it wasn't giving at all, so I decided to wait till I was able to get a laptop, which took quite some time.
So, not to derail from the primary topic of this article, I eventually was able to start on January 2022 learning Web Development.
The Journey
I used to research way before 2022, and a lot of people talked about sharing your journey and learning in public. I was determined to do anything that would make me excel.
I started my journey with the "100 Days of Code". I was very intentional about learning in public I didn't care, I'd post on Twitter whatever I was learning, and at the time I didn't care if my projects looked good or not, I'd just do it. As time went on, I began to build some sort of network with other beginners as well as people who have been in the game for much longer.
The most beautiful part of sharing my journey was that I realized I was inspiring and motivating other people by sharing my journey and it felt so good cause I get inspired as well by other amazing people.
Something else that warmed my heart was the fact that the tech community on Twitter was super supportive, I didn't feel like I was alone at all. It's one of the best things that happened to me cause I met amazing people there.
Like every beginner, I got into Bootcamps to learn, some of them I attended include:
Google Developers Scholarship
Empower Her Community Bootcamp
Zuri
Genesys Upskill
SheCodes Technical Writing Bootcamp
To be very honest, in terms of upskilling, I didn't gain so much from the Bootcamps except the technical writing Bootcamp. I even dropped out of Zuri after a week because it was too overwhelming.
Google Developers Bootcamp was a physical Bootcamp, and I felt I was wasting my time most days cause I was already way ahead, I just got to meet new amazing people which was nice.
I could not actively participate in the Empower Her Bootcamp cause I was on my school Internship which was time-consuming and stressful, any extra time I had, I used to learn personally, and I felt like I would waste 2 hours on a telegram call to learn things I thought I knew already. But I tried, I participated in the last project where we were meant to build an e-commerce website. I designed the UI myself and chose the colors and the layout , I was feeling like a senior developer. I didn't even know I could get design inspiration from dribble or Behance. Looking back now, that website I created scares me. I met amazing ladies as well during this Bootcamp.
I passively participated in the Genesys Upskill program, I just did the tasks and performed the final project.
The SheCodes Bootcamp was my favorite, I attended every single class and performed all my tasks, I even got awarded as one of the most active participant.During this time, Hashnode reposted two of my articles on linked in and on twitter. I honestly felt like their favourite at the time, I don't know how common that was, but I sure felt extra special.
I think what I got from those boot camps is the amazing people I got acquainted with, I made what I can call a lifelong friendship right now.
I know for sure that 70% of everything I know right now, I learned on my own, and on my own I mean I got courses on Udemy and I learned from youtube and google as well.
Apart from meeting friends that were learning just like me, I promise you I met the most amazing mentors. They were always 90% available whenever I needed them, and that just really warmed my heart cause I know people are busy.
While I was learning, I got to speak to really established people in this industry, it felt like a dream. I had people reach out to me to collaborate on projects. People reached out to me for potential jobs, though most of them were a dead end. But, the feeling that people saw it worthy to even reach out to me was just amazing.
Fast forward to October, someone reached out to me about a Technical writing gig and that was the highlight of my 2022. Let's just say I made some money.
All Time Low
Twenty-twenty-two was the year I got into my first road accident, I got knocked down by a bike rider while I was crossing the road. It felt like a dream, I thought of how bad things could have gotten, I mean people get into accidents and just die. But thankfully, I got out with a swollen leg and a few scratches here and there. But that incident left me with PTSD for crossing the road. Now, whenever I have to cross the road, I say a solid 10min prayer and cross the road with my heart beating like recurring thunder.
I also lost someone I considered a very good friend and a huge part of my tech journey.
No, the person is still alive we just had to go our separate ways. And it sucked sort of, but at the end of the day, I guess life happens and people change.
2023
I am still learning. I have several things On my bucket list that I want to achieve. I am being hopeful for a year filled with opportunities for me.
Ending this review here, hoping it wasn't too long and all over the place cause my eyelids are fighting with me right now. I think I had a pretty great year coming from a very non-technical background. I hit milestones I never thought I would hit anytime soon, I pushed myself so much beyond my comfort zone. I promise 2023 will be so much better God by my side for sure.
Here is a list of resources where I learned from:
There are probably many others but these were my Go to Places. I also read a lot of books and documentation. My go-to book for anyone that wants to learn Javascript Fundamentals properly will always be " Javascript- The Definitive Guide", that book made me look at Javascript more comprehensively.
Thanks for reading.