Every year since I wrote "hello world" for the first time in 2017, I have tried to find ways to stay consistent in coding, I have also failed as many times as I have tried. But one thing I knew and was certain of was that I did want to learn to code and be able to use my skills to do something meaningful, this has been the force that has kept me coming back for this long, that is why I jump on every opportunity like the one HNG and Zuri, to help learn more and network with other learners like myself. During the pandemic that broke out last year, I like many others in the world found out that I had a little more time on my hands and decided to get back into coding. It was very slow as it was such a mentally draining period and I still had my job to attend to as I worked from home, still I was determined to push through. Fast forward to April 2021, I landed my first paid internship at a tech innovation start up. Throughout my time there, I have learned so much and had the opportunity to do stuff with the little knowledge I had from all my years of trying and failing -truly, little drops of water make a mighty ocean. I am so proud of my growth within this short period and feel eager to learn more, which is why I joined the HNG8 program. I previously participated in the program and felt completely distraught when I only made it through 3 stages before feeling lost and completely out of place and having to quit. I felt defeated as to me that was yet another failure on my part. However, I feel much more confident now and acknowledge that this is a learning opportunity. I intend to participate fully, enjoy and take as much as I can from this experience for however long or short the opportunity lasts. My goal is to leave the program a better developer than I currently am.
On my learning journey, I have had youtubers like Florin Pop whose videos have helped me a lot. Two of those videos are conquering html and html5 youtube.com/watch?v=pACOweChpEU, which was helpful to me in completing my freeCodeCamp responsive design projects and this hamburger menu tutorial youtube.com/watch?v=ydZc17rlR5E which I used only a couple of weeks ago :)
I am thankful for developers and engineers who share their knowledge for free through videos, articles, podcasts and social media and hope to one day do the same so that I can help many other people like me out there.
Some beginner tutorials that have helped me so far and I would recommend are:
- Figma - udemy.com/course/learn-figma/learn/lecture/..
- Github - youtube.com/watch?v=8JJ101D3knE
- Javascript - youtube.com/watch?v=PkZNo7MFNFg&t=107s
I hope these help someone as much as they have helped me.
cover image shot by me.