The Journey into programming
Everyone has their own story of how they got into programming. Some people step into the world of programming because of their passion. For some it's for the sake of securing a job and building a good career. This time, I'll share how I got into programming, the hurdles I encountered, and the lessons learned along the way.
The Beginning
My programming journey stars from a single board computer named as Raspberry Pi that I got as a prize for winning tech quiz. I was always fascinated by robotics. It was the right device that got me into it. During my high school the government conducted a workshop for students to experience the true potential of the Raspberry Pi device. During that workshop I was able to learn Python and some basics of robotics. We built a small obstacle avoiding robot as our final project.
Embarking on my coding journey
Fueled by motivation I always wanted to learn more, so I dove more deep into python learned much more. As a Marvel fan boy I was always obsessed with the Iron Man and his tech. So my first project was a chatbot named Eva, built using python and a few packages. I did try some web development back in the day. But somehow I didn't go any further. Then I came to know about Arduino. Did some research on it. Learnt to code using Arduino built a couple of project using it and won prizes during my high school time.
The road isn't always smooth
The journey of programming is not always a smooth ride. It has it's on ups and downs. Here it's in the form of bugs and logical errors. Many people quit programming because of these challenges. But I personally loved them. I like to go on the internet and search web, go through random websites and blogs until I solve the issue. Websites like Stack overflow, Geeks for geeks are saviors when it comes to conquering these challenges.
Getting into a community
Being a part of an active community is the best thing you can do as a developer. While I was doing my projects using Arduino, I wasn't that much experienced. So I got into some Arduino Developer communities and whenever I found myself stuck somewhere I'll seek help from the community. Trust me, people in there are really really helping. So you must become a part of any community that is based on your tech stack.
Building Projects
There's no thing as learn and apply when it comes to programming. Here it's a bit different. "Learn as you do", yes. You have to learn programming by just doing it and The best way to do it is by building projects. Take something simple at first, slowly build the project while understanding the concepts and gradually increase the difficulty of the projects. Building projects taught me about data handling, user interfaces and the method of agile development.
It's time... to move on
Don't be stuck in a single language. Move on, explore more of them learn new skillset. I've tried many languages like C, C++.,Java, PHP, Python, JS. As a business minded person, I've always wanted to build something. Build a product that I could sell in future. Digging more on that took me back to web development. Because if I need to build a SASS product, it's one of the basic skillset that I need. The perks of web development is you can instantly see the results on a webpage. As my web dev journey continues I learnt HTML, CSS, JS and frameworks like SCSS, Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS, React, J-Query, React-native and many libraries.
Time to make some real money
Even though I originally learnt web development to build my own product, I started working as a freelancer since I don't have any product idea in my mind. During my college days I worked with many companies from GCC countries by building their websites, creating applications for them etc. It's always good to make some pocket many, right? I always had a passion in designing, I used to draw portraits and create some illustration when I first got hands on my laptop. After working for a web developer for a couple of years, I started to leap into the world of UI/UX designing. Started creating the UI/UX designs for my clients. That yielded me the title : "Web Developer & UI/UX Designer".
Key takeaways from my journey so far:
- Start humble : Begin with a simple project that you can tackle, work your way up to difficult project. It'll keep you away from burning out.
- Consistency matters : Programming is a path that you chose on your own. So be consistent, it may get frustrating from time to time. But never give up. Stay in there, face your challenges you got this covered.
- Involve in a community : You are not the only person who's embarking on this journey, so be a part of any online community. Be active in there and learn together. This will help you improve your learning curve.
- Learn as you do : please don't be stuck in theory. Get your hands dirty, start doing some projects and learn things as you go.
- Always be curious : the hunger for learning new things is a must required thing as a programmer. You should always be open to learn new techniques and programming languages. It'll always benefit you in your career.
Conclusion
Now looking back, I'm really glad that I started my coding journey back in school days. It always gave me an edge, being the tech guy and of course the pocket money I made. Programming isn't that tough like you think it is, all you want is some passion in it and be open to learn new things. Remember, every expert was once a beginner..
