In this series, I want to take you through the journey that I took, and am still taking, into the big world of software development. And no not all of it, that would have been one hell of a ride! It’s especially about the journey to becoming a Front End Developer. I want to tell you about my experience, my ups, and downs, where I am now, and maybe the most important part, where I'm going.
How it started
Let me first tell you what drove me to take this course of action and change my entire life to be part of something completely different.
For years I was a claim handler in the insurance company world and it was great work to do, but you might have guessed it, not the best. For years I was stuck, there was no real way up, only sideways. Maybe you recognize this feeling? Being stuck in something that makes you unhappy is not how you should live. So what did I do? After a bad period I decided, it was time to change the negative into a big positive and go for something I always wanted to do, create kick-ass software that would blow people’s minds!!
So, what now...?
You have a dream and the will to go, but how in the big wide web do you start? Do you go on YouTube and search for every coding video you can find? Trust me, you will get lost! Do you buy all the books, yes, there are still books available, and go from there, same thing, you will get lost. There is so much information on how to code, which coding language to use, front end/back end, what people like, what people dislike, etc. I can keep going, but let’s not.
What did you do..?
That’s a solid question! I started on Google, read reviews of courses, looked at traineeships, went to YouTube, watched a bunch of videos, ordered a “think like a programmer” book, and so on. But wait, didn’t you get lost? Yes, I did! So I did what I thought was the best solution in these types of situations. I asked a friend, who is a real coding Yoda, for advice. He told me to start looking into Front End Development because he thought that would be a fit for me, and especially to look at Javascript and later on React, Javascript I heard of, React, that was a new word to be added to the vocabulary.
My starting point..!
So I did some research on Front End courses, I wanted an official certificate because that would look damn cool right? After some research, I found an online course that I could do at my own pace and it went from zero to React.
So checklist time, online course, check. Certificate at the end, check. Teachers that are available for questions throughout the week, bonus! So I decided not to linger any longer, paid a lot of money, got access, and started right away!
But.. was that the right decision or was it not?
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