John NnamaniFlashback to 2017 when I was beginning to like this technology stuff. I used to think that it is almost impossible to venture into the world of technology and succeed as a Nigerian because of the unavailability of resources. Nonetheless, I still loved technologies and wished I could learn how to build software on my own since human beings like me built the ones I use. How am I going to be able to do this?!?!😬
I was still 17, not open to the world of technology yet. I had just a small Nokia X2 Java phone and no laptop nor hope of getting one soon. Thanks to Google Search Engine. It did really helped me a lot in this Journey🤗.
Knowing fully well that I could browse the internet with the small phone I had then, I decided to research on how to make some of this software. Day after Day, Night after Night, I was always on the internet researching, getting little or no information on how to get started. I was more concerned about the websites though.
Each time I search on the internet, “How to make a website”, most of the articles I read always talked about WordPress. It made me narrow my search to something like “How to make a website with WordPress”. I began to get a piece of more detailed information about that. Along the line, I discovered that I had to change my phone so I could be able to access the WordPress website correctly. I saved up some money and I was able to get a small Android phone. This time I was able to assess the WordPress Website and create blogs with them.
I really thought I had arrived by just creating a WordPress Blog. With time, I began to visit some other websites and each time I do that, I find some interesting features I’d like to add to mine. Of course, I love trying new things. I would love to add those to my site too. That was when I discovered that, creating a website is not just all about drag and drop which the WordPress platform provided.
Not to go into so many details, I learned that there was something like HTML for creating the skeleton of every website and CSS for styling the website. Ok. It was good I found out. But it seemed that became my greatest issue because I can’t write the so-called HTML and CSS with my phone. A laptop is required. OMG! How do I get a laptop?!?!😬 Anyways, I had to sell my phone, save up some money and my parents helped me with some. So, I was able to get a low power laptop.
It wasn’t so easy learning how to code for the first time with nobody to guide you. I think, what kept me going was my curiosity to learn new things. I’m obsessed with technologies. Yea as you might have guessed, I was able to scale through. Some random Youtube videos also helped me to learn too. I started checking out different platforms where I could learn, including, freecodecamp.org, w3schools, Udacity, etc.
In 2018, I took up a beginner python programming course at Udacity “Introduction To Python Programming”. I was able to finish the course and its exercises😊. I did some random web design projects from frontendmentor.io but, I never touched javascript.
What’s actually going on?😯 Are you kidding right now? Well, no. I was afraid of learning javascript because of the syntax when I view source code from websites. It looked scary!🙉 I rather skipped it and started learning PHP which seemed a little bit more friendly to me.
I got to learn about Github towards the end of 2018. I wanted to register, only to discover I already have an account there. How come? That was when I was still registering at random websites seeking for information. It happened that Github was one of them. But I abandoned and forgot about it since I couldn’t find the information I was searching for. So, I started to upload some of my projects to Github and started learning a little bit of how it works.
I thought I could run away from Javascript, but it kept on following me around. Even in my PHP programs. So, I had to go back to learn Javascript. This time, I was courageous enough to learn it because I already have strong programming knowledge. While learning Javascript, it seemed a little bit easier than I thought🤗. Not actually easy though.🤔
At this point, I was already in school. I joined the Google Developer Student Club (DSC). I got to meet new developers. I met those that were more knowledgeable in programming than I am, those that had the same level of programming knowledge with me and for sure, I also met those that I’m better of in programming. All the same. I was happy joining the community. At least I was not going to feel like I was the only Programmer in Enugu(my state) again.
I was being exposed to different Javascript frameworks including; Angular, Vue, and React. It might sound funny, but I actually learnt the 3 different frameworks.😁 What made me learn the three? Well, “What’s the best Javascript framework” made me learn the three of them. That was when I discovered that all those stuff are just tools. You just have to choose the one you’re more comfortable with or the one that best suits the project you want to work on. To be honest, Angular is out of this game, because I’m never going to use it. It seems very difficult to use😢.
My curiosity have made me test different tools for programming which I might not be able to list here and I’m not regretting it. Seems I’m forgetting something. Yea, I wanted to say, I finally settled with React and React Native(For mobile apps), then, Nodejs for my Backend. You can check out my project on Github. I am currently a full-time Software Engineer. I am KeScript.
Thanks for your time. I really appreciate. At least you know me better now.