My Tech Journey (so far)

Learning, shuffling, falling and then rising to maintain a trajectory. This is my tech story. Coding is a broad subject and encompasses different fields. I developed an interest for coding in my second year in the university. I happen to major in computer engineering, and sooner or later I was going to have to face the gargantuan task of learning how to code( I would explain why I’ve tagged it “gargantuan” below).

Through personal findings, I’ve realised that I (might) have an attention deficit and this happens to affect how I learn and perceive things. If a learning resource isn’t broken down to very well defined units, I might have difficulties consuming such materials. As a course in the university, I began learning to code with C++ ( not the most beginner friendly), and I must say straight up that it was a dreadful experience. I manage to scale the course but the whole coding subject still seemed very foreign to me even after taking a whole semester course. The learning materials and teaching methods seemed too bleak and archaic, and this happened to put me off completely.

I’ve always wanted to build a career in the software development sector. I was amazed by how you could type in “things” into the computer system and produce fantastic results. Create applications like google map, WhatsApp and the likes.

So I took it upon myself to build a career and to start creating and building something, anything.

June 2019, I began learning HTML and CSS on codecademy.com which I must say is a fantastic resource. I had finally found my light it seemed. After a month I completed both courses, then I hit a stumbling block; JavaScript. I was able to take courses on it and read books but I had issue connecting this knowledge into building web apps. How was I supposed to use console.log() on my HTML or CSS code. How do data types effect things on my web display. Locked in this unending cycle of confusion, I stoped coding (feeble right? Lol)

There was a periodic hover of which I was trying to make progress but kept getting pull back. This was down to my (lack of) understanding of JavaScript and impostor syndrome.

Jan 1, I made a decision to put in conscious effort at actually dismantling code “road blocks” and making headway in my tech career. I had/have a resolution to write a piece of code everyday and this yielded significant improvements. I was finally able to scale that hurdle of reflecting materials and my basic knowledge of JavaScript into real-world projects.

After scaling this hurdle, I was able to start building and creating from everything I had learnt and start applying for jobs and intern roles. Gracefully, I was able to land an intern role at genesys tech hub as a frontend web developer(as at time of writing). This happens to be the latest phase of my tech career.

I’d like to stress on some aforementioned “points”. I faced some major challenges; JavaScript ( and how to apply it to the web) and impostor syndrome.

I was able to scale the JavaScript script hurdle by watching resources that displayed a practical usage of it. I also did a lot of reading and studying to make sure I had a sort of control over it.

Impostor syndrome according to Wikipedia, is a psychological pattern in which one doubts one’s accomplishments and has a persistent internalised fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. This is an issue faced by tech individuals at all levels. It can be overwhelming at times. I was able to deal with the effects by;

1. Taking breaks from coding (completely) when it became overwhelming

2. Googling anything I don’t understand. Always feel free to search for solutions to problems. There’s a common saying in tech that what distinguishes a junior developer from a senior is that a junior developer google solutions to their problems while senior devs have already googled those problems and can easily point them out. This doesn’t mean senior devs don’t still google problems, but have already a pattern to which they can solve their problems

3. Put in conscious effort. Try as much as possible to solve problems. Make efforts to always learn. Read books and documentations , watch videos and keep learning

Finally, I hope this article is sort of inspiring to you in one way or another. Code is learnable, all it needs is your time and effort. Nothing is impossible to learn with the right attitude. I’m really excited to be able to share my tech journey (so far) and really excited about starting my internship at genesys tech hub. Cheers