My Journey into Tech

Table of contents

No heading

No headings in the article.

juicy-a-man-studies-a-tourist-route.png My journey into Tech started during the 2020 lockdown, although I have been introduced to coding much earlier before that time, 2020 was when I got to write my first lines of code. I was first introduced to coding when I was in High School, sometime around 2016 during a holiday coaching class where someone was invited to teach me and a couple of other students how to code. There we were taught about HTML and CSS, though I didn’t understand all he did, I got intrigued by what our tutor was doing so I copied all that he did and all the codes inside my notebook cause it looked like fun especially when he used CSS to make the website beautiful.

So on getting back to school I was so excited to tell my friend what I had learnt about during the holiday, but since I had no laptop at that time I couldn’t replicate the codes I had written in my notes so I waved off the idea of learning how to code. But after searching online, I found this website Xtgem (xtgem.com) that allows one to build websites with mobile phones. It works just like Wordpress(by the way, i didn’t even know of Wordpress then). The website had a collection of templates which made it easy to spin up a website within a few minutes, So I built quite a number of websites from there, before I heard of Blogger (blogger.com) moved on to start building websites with it.

After exhausting their templates, I kind of lost interest in building websites and dabbled into other skills like Graphics design and Video editing and animations. This continued until a friend shared with me a 13 hours course on Full Stack Development sometime around 2019 but I didn't even bother to go through it because I still didn’t have a laptop yet but I still kept the course. So during the 2020 lockdown and with all the emphasis on having a skill that was everywhere, I picked up the course and started with HTML and this was when I wrote my first lines of code.

During the lockdown, I learnt HTML and CSS, but when I entered Javascript everything became quite overwhelming for me, so I abandoned it until middle of 2021 where I picked up it again, but this time I realized I had forgotten most of what I had learnt during the lockdown because i did very little practice. So i had to start all over again, this time around i started with Freecodecamp’s HTML and CSS course (freecodecamp.org) after completing the course i then went on to register for CS50’s Web Programming with Python and Javascript (edx.org/course/cs50s-web-programming-with-p..). It was in this course that I got introduced to other programming languages like Python, Javascript along with their frameworks(Django and React JS).

While taking the course, the laptop I was using got spoiled and since I didn’t want to stop the course at that point, I was left with no alternative than to use my phone. After checking online for apps that I could use to code on mobile, the ones that really stood out include TrebEdit, Acode, Pydroid and Termux. (I’d leave a link to these apps at the end of the post). After coding on Phone for months, I eventually got to win a laptop online. While learning, my experience with Python was amazing because Python is beginner friendly so it wasn’t stressful learning it unlike the first time I started JavaScript. After learning Python I moved on to Django (A Python backend framework). One thing I really loved while learning Django was how fast one could easily develop websites and webapps with it and also the Django Admin panel is a huge flex for Django developers. Then, I went on to JavaScript and I must say, my knowledge from Python really made JavaScript quite easier while I was learning unlike the first time where I got frustrated. Learning React JS was kind of overwhelming because the React style of programming is different from other languages (React is declarative while others are imperative). After learning the programming side of things, I also got to learn about DevOps(Developer Operations) and Scalability/Security of which I think it's good for a Developer to have a knowledge of.

For newbies, choosing a path in tech can be a bit stressful, so following a well structured course will help lay a path for you depending on what you want to do and this is one of the things I must really commend about the course is that it was well structured and it helped layed a good path for me.

Right now I'm done with the courses but I'm majorly focused on React JS(for now) while still trying to explore other frameworks and libraries and get better at it every day. I had to learn HTML and CSS on 3 different occasions and this was because I wasn't consistent with my learning and didn’t practice often so I kept forgetting what I had learnt. And that consistency is what I'm trying to imbibe into my life right now. Infact i’m on a 365 coding challenge where I'd have to code for a whole year without skipping any day and I must say I'm doing a really good job with it.(Currently in my 10th month).

So far in my journey, some important things I've learnt about is consistency is key and that’s what can take you far. And also It’s not only about just learning, you have to practice very well and build projects too. There are quite a couple of sites like:

These are just a few out of the many sites we have out there. These sites allow you to improve your skills by solving coding challenges and they’re highly recommended. My journey so far in Tech hasn't been an easy one, of course Tech is hard but one must keep pushing and be determined if you want to make it. My name is Olowo Jude, thank you for reading my story. Links to the apps i used to code on mobile: