Hello World 👋,
First Post, Long time Lurker(not really. 6 months or so!). I just want to share my journey so far as a self taught developer. I haven’t been lucky enough to find myself employed as a developer but the grind will continue and through faith and determination I will eventually get my first Developing gig!
Motivation..
I am experienced...... Kind Of.....
I have been in the workforce since I graduated High School. I have cooked, tossed pizza's, packaged and shipped cheese, Managed an Ice Cream Shoppe and managed a industrial sales store. In August of 2018, I realized that this isn't my why. This is just something I am trying to make work to help my family get by. Don't get me wrong, I love my job for the chance to help my entire team learn and grow through my experiences in the workforce and before then due to my circumstances growing up as well. It makes me so happy to even play a little part in ones life to push them to work hard for their dreams.
THIS DOESN'T TRANSLATE IN INTERVIEWS
10 years of Management and Customer Service skills is great and all, however I wish I had tried harder in high school and didn't take the full time position when I was going to college. I make sure to tell my team that school is the most important thing they can do, especially if they are an engineer or computer science major. Not to say that doing a boot camp and being self-taught isn't great! It just still gives you that edge. You better be ready to put extra work in if you are self-taught!
Motivated..
I can code....... More importantly, I can Learn.....
Code, code, code. Make it a habit. Find a language you like and stick with it. My personal favorite is JavaScript, you can do legitimately anything with it. Don't get discouraged. I currently have an C.S student under me that I've been helping through his degree, it's so easy to get discouraged just based on the sheer information that is out there, all the languages and frameworks. It's absolutely overwhelming and completely understanding why we all have some sort of impostor syndrome. Here is a list of great youtube developers to watch & learn from, my personal favorites are DevEd and obviously Brad Traversy!
https://github.com/ErikCH/DevYouTubeList
Ask questions and make it known. Reach out on LinkedIn, Github, StackOverflow. If you want to be a developer people need to know, surround yourself with like-minded individuals, go to meetups if it's possible for you! ABSOLUTELY start a Github and store all your code! Even in school! Even if it makes your Arduino Light up!
Wrap Up..
Code.... beat your head against a wall... code again... don't give up... take breaks
From my portfolio site, to a simple form validation script, using API's, it's all a lot to take in. The more you build, the more familiar you get with the terms, the code, the logic, your tools such as VSCODE, Command Line, Git, legitimately everything. Learn emmet! Learn how to increase your productivity. Remove anything that takes you away from your goal, be it Twitter, Facebook or whatever may be stopping you. For me I don't have a luxury, I have a wife, a kid and a full time job I am learning around. If you have the opportunity to spend more time make sure you take full advantage! If you ain't learning your regressing.
This article was supposed to be about my experiences, turns out I really just want everyone to get a Developer Job if they are truly passionate about it
I just want to thank everyone who has released content or made documentation to help the people learning out there to become the best they can be at developing.
Huge shoutout to freeCodeCamp and Dev.to for releasing such great platforms!
Feel free to reach out!
Allan
https://www.github.com/hermetheus
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanmolson
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