Documenting my coding journey in the past one and a half year
A diary of my coding journey in the past one and a half year. What I have learned so far, things I should have done better, and a note to my future self.
My first baby step into programming
On March of 2022, I wrote my first Hello World in python. I was a complete beginner, and was so excited when I saw the output of my first program. I was so proud of myself.
At the time, I tried to make a discord bot. With literally no clue of what I was doing, I followed along, copied and pasted a bunch of code. But the funny thing is that it worked, and I had created my first discord chat bot.
The rabbit hole of web development
After a few days of learning python, I was intrigued by the idea of creating a website. I started to learn HTML and CSS, and holycow did I fall in love with web development. I spent hours and hours making a bunch of buttons with funny animations😂.
I then learned some Javascript, just to make a button change its position randomly upon hover. I also made a simple tic-tac-toe game with Javascript. It was then that I realized the power of Javascript, and how it can be used to create interactive websites.
My first internship
Around 3 months into coding, I got my first internship somehow😂. It was a small startup with a very passionate founder.
Back then, I only know HTML, CSS and some basic Javascript. But I was tasked with creating a Point of Sale system that integrate with its own E-Commerce storefront. It was a Laravel project, and I had no clue what Laravel was. 😂
My first Framework
I spent the next week learning PHP and Laravel. While PHP was quite easy to learn, Laravel was a bit more challenging. I had to learn about MVC, routing, and a bunch of other stuff.
I then learned to use Bootstrap and JQuery. It was a very fun thing to learn back then 😂. I also got to learn about database, data fetching with Ajax, DOM API, and a bunch of other stuff. I am very thankful to Bong Kimlay for that opportunity.
React and Nextjs
After I ended my internship, I started building a side project with React and Nextjs. Yeah, I just jump straight into Nextjs without learning React first 😂. Never regretted it though.
Read the documentation, watched some tutorial from Sonny Sangha, and I was ready to go😂. I spent the next week making a simple Sneaker Store here it is DailyKicks. This is probably my very first side project 😂.
The rest of the journey
After that I learned a bunch more things, fell inlove with Typescript. I started doing random stuff like backend, threejs, mobile app or even devops.
Got a job at Dreamslab, do a bunch more stuffs, help out with training interns, found out that I love teaching and sharing knowledge. It was a very fun journey, and I will not forget the friends I made there.
But here I am, jobless, writing a useless blog at 1:52 AM. While knowing that no one will even read this properly. 😂
My advice for beginners (my past self)
- Be consistent, keep coding everyday
- Don't be afraid to make mistakes, stop being scared of those small swiggly red lines
- Don't be afraid to ask for help, you can ask me if you want 😂
- Don't be afraid to try new things, this is a never ending journey of learning
- Starts small, look for simple thing to build, and build it!
Advice for a bit more than beginners
- Learn to read documentation, it is a very important skill
- Learn a language with types, if in doubt learn Typescript
- Be a developer, not a frameworker. What I mean is that you should learn the fundamentals of programming, not just a framework or a library. And try new things out, don't just stick to one framework and hate on others.
- Learn to use git and terminal
More Advice for my future self 😂
- Don't be afraid to share your knowledge, you might be helping someone out there
- Build something, anything, just build it!
- I know you probably still have impostor syndrome, but don't worry, you are doing great!
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If you have read this far, thank you for reading this chaotic article about my chaotic coding journey. I hope you have a great day, and keep coding! 😂