Introduction
Hi, I'm Melanie and I'm going to share my tech story with you.
Currently, I'm taking a boot camp course on web development, on Udemy by Angela Yu. How did I get here? how did I make the decision? has it been worth it? I'll answer all these 😌.
In the beginning
Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.
-Paulo Coelho
Growing up I fancied a quiet, uneventful life when I made banking my career choice. In another phase, I noticed the creativity in architecture and decided I wanted to be an architect. Then another phase was when I gave up deciding and went with the flow - wherever it could lead.
I could sing, write and daydream, then it dawned on me that creativity was my strong suit. I took up writing (poetry) and sang for my ears only.
In August 2018, my school got an opportunity from an NGO library - keeping it real (KIR) foundation - to sponsor some students in learning web development basics. I was in grade 11 and was pretty confident in my math skills, my teachers were too because they nominated me for the sponsorship entrance test.
Out of 6 students from my school, 3 of us passed. I had no idea what I was tested for (we weren't told) till they congratulated me.
School let out for the holidays and we started lessons. I remember feeling excited at the prospect of being productive for the holidays. In the first session, we learned about the web and how it came about. I was in awe because I had never thought about the creation of the internet - considering I spent a lot of time on it.
We followed a roadmap from HTML to PHP, along the way I met CSS and it was love at first curly bracket 😁. The fact that a string of text could turn into a beautiful sight was appealing to me. Then and there I resolved that I had found what I wanted to do with my life.
After the training, I'd been born anew and had a better bearing on my career choice.
Since my discovery
Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.
-Paulo Coelho
I did not immediately delve into web development until early 2022. I had been having challenges with starting on my own. It seemed fate was on my side when I stumbled on an email on International Women's Day. It was about a community for women starting out in tech, She Code Africa (SCA) community. I immediately applied to join the community seeing the opportunities they offered.
I joined their YouTube live event tagged #SCAIWD2022 and won a course scholarship. I used it to purchase a boot camp course on Udemy.
Elated at the idea of everything, I resolved to do my best. I didn't own a laptop but it didn't stop me, I used the resources I had and have been going strong ever since.
My knowledge of web development went from 0 to something and it kept me going, knowing my goals were attainable.
What spurred me to pursue web development
A number of things contributed to my decision to become a web developer including:
The desire to create
My love for CSS
Solving problems
Limitless possibilities
My passion for design
What keeps me going
Never give up. When your heart becomes tired, just walk with your legs - but move on.
-Paulo Coelho
As any developer can attest to, it's not easy but putting one foot in front of the other will lead you anywhere. So here's a list of what drives me;
Aiming to be better
My big and little wins
My improvements and noticeable progress
My love for problem-solving
Presently
I've learned a lot so far, including putting out mini-projects. I'm proficient in HTML and have a good grasp of CSS, I've done several mini-projects with responsive design. I'm still following the boot camp course. I push all of my projects to GitHub so it's accessible.
Conclusion
And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
-Paulo Coelho
I wanted to be a web developer because of the challenges I could conquer with coding and my love for CSS - even if I'm not an expert yet 😁.
It's been a rollercoaster but the journey has been worth it. Anybody can do anything as long as it's learnable. If I'm doing it, you can too, because it's ...learnable.
I'm hoping my story - even though it's unfinished - has inspired you.
first and second images from unsplash.com by Lee Campbell and Brett Jordan respectively
subsequent images from undraw.co