How One Click Changed My Life: A Journey of Growth, Curiosity, and Connection
About five to six years ago, when I was about 9 or 10 years of age, I came across a random YouTube video title that caught my eye, unknowingly setting me on a path that would add more thrill to the life of a curious and playful 10-year-old! As I write this on my 15th birthday, looking back at my journey reminds me how the simple act of clicking on that video sparked a passion that would help me break through not just technical barriers, but personal ones too.
The Spark: Where It All Began!
I remember one night, probably after dinner (and yes, I was likely watching cartoons 🤣), I stumbled across a YouTube video titled "Ditch Google Chrome and Build Your Own Browser in Python!" (Sadly, I can’t find it now to link here). Naturally, a bunch of questions popped into my head— “What does it mean to build a browser? Is that even possible? What’s Python?”
The next morning, I dove straight into Google, searching for EVERYTHING I could find. After hours of browsing, I thought I knew what I needed to do—except, I didn’t know anything about programming yet! 😅 I followed the video, installed JetBrains PyCharm on my potato laptop (which took forever), and when the instructor wrote the first line of code, I felt completely lost. I had no clue what was going on!
I tried Googling random words, hoping to figure it out (spoiler: it didn’t help). Eventually, I just copied the code exactly as it was. Then, my first error appeared—I tried to use the PyQt5 module without installing it first! I had no idea what the error meant, so I copied the whole message and pasted it into Google. That’s when I first discovered StackOverflow and began to understand the world of Python programming.
And continued the process of learning everything about which I had ZERO idea, by myself!
I didn’t have any specific resource or anyone to guide me! Just a lot of online tutorials and trial and error. But the more I learned, the more I realized how vast and exciting the world of programming was.
And the first project I built was what I called "My Own Jarvis"! It took voice input, did speech-to-text processing, and looked for keywords such as "open chrome", and did such tasks accordingly!
Lesson 1: Embrace the Struggle and Keep Going
The lesson I learned here? It's okay to feel lost at the beginning. Not knowing what’s happening doesn’t mean you won’t eventually get there. Through trial and error, and even frustration, I learned that the struggle is just part of the process—and once you push through, things start to click. Curiosity is a powerful tool that keeps you moving forward, even when things seem impossible.
Web Dev Enters the Chat
As I delved deeper into programming, I discovered the world of web development—and that’s when things really started to click. It all began when I started learning Python and stumbled upon frameworks like Flask and Django, and suddenly, I could see how the pieces fit together.
The idea that I could build a website, manage databases sparked a new wave of excitement in me. This was a whole new realm of possibilities. Driven by that newfound curiosity, I expanded my learning beyond the backend and dove into the front-end world. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript became my next challenge.
The more I learned, the more I realized that web development was not just about writing code; it was about creating something people could interact with, a canvas for ideas to come to life. That feeling of watching my code come to life on the web was just as thrilling as when I first wrote that "Hello, World!" program years earlier.
Lesson 2: Don’t Limit Yourself to One Path—Explore the Possibilities
Web development opened my eyes to how expansive the world of programming is. There’s no one "right" way to learn or create; the key is to follow your curiosity, try different paths, and see what excites you the most. By exploring both the backend and frontend, I learned that each aspect of development offers unique challenges and rewards, and the journey of discovery is where the true magic lies.
Overcoming Personal Fears: From Shyness to Connecting with the Community
Fast Forward to when I was around 13, I was a very, VERY shy kid, struggling to even say "Hello" to someone I met face-to-face! So one day my uncle asked me to download Twitter and participate in the community there (He's a Full Stack Laravel Dev if you're curious), and he told me about the advantages of networking and stuff. Well... I went and downloaded Twitter! Now I wrote my posts, which were receiving some good engagements (after all Twitter had a good algo back then). But when time passed, and people asked me to join meetups and spaces, I would sweat out and leave the spaces mid-way, and text them blaming my network for no reason, just because I was not ready to talk to people! Just talking to a small group felt terrifying to me!
Well, I managed to go face-to-face with this fear, and I started joining Twitter Spaces! Huge shoutout to one of my very first mutuals, Krish Gupta, who was super active on twitter at that time, to allow me to speak in his spaces. The more I did, the more I got comfortable with Public Speaking! And with time, I didn’t even notice how I lost my old fear, and I could easily communicate, without sweating my head off!
Krish had also inspired me to contribute to Open Source, which let me build more connections, while developing my skills!
Lesson 3: Overcoming Fear is Key to Growth
The biggest lesson here? The fear of social interaction and public speaking can be conquered—it's just about taking small, consistent steps. Each time I faced my fear and joined a Twitter Space or contributed to open source, I became more comfortable. It wasn't about becoming perfect overnight, but rather about acknowledging my fear and slowly pushing beyond it. Growth happens when you face discomfort, and that discomfort is temporary.
Coffee Chats and What I Learned!
Connecting and talking face-to-face with folks in tech continues to inspire me till date! As a high school student, travelling to international events has always been a distant dream, not only because of the high costs involved but also due to the visa issues. Slowly I started to look for online events and methods for building connections, and one of the most effective methods was coffee chats!
Shoutout to Ellie, with whom I had my first coffee chat! She was one of my SUPER EARLY mutuals who inspired me, helped me build my first connection, and much more! Here's a sneak peek from one of our coffee chats!
And, she helped me get my second coffee chat person - Utba as well! These two people taught me and inspired me so much in my coffee chats, that I continued to do more! Here are some more pics from my coffee chats!
And as I went on to learn more through connections, I decided to launch my first Podcast! I'm no professional, but I try my best to make it engaging and interesting! The first two episodes were with Ellie and Utba! Both of them were pretty supportive and as soon as I reached out to them, they agreed to do it in no time! (The third episode is coming out soon with another awesome personality on twitter! Make sure to keep an eye! Link for the podcast
Lesson 4: Building Relationships is Just as Important as Building Skills
Through these coffee chats, I learned that networking is not just about getting ahead in your career. It’s about building genuine relationships, learning from others, and offering value. These connections have provided me with insights and inspiration, which in turn have helped me grow as both a person and a developer. If you’re not making time for meaningful conversations, you’re missing out on a powerful tool for growth.
Reflections
If there's one thing for me to learn and remember from my journey, it is having a curiosity to learn stuff that can take people far!
And in conclusion to this article, I would like to thank all my friends who supported me throughout this journey!
Final Lesson: Stay Curious and Stay Connected
As I reflect on my journey, I realize how much my curiosity and willingness to connect with others has shaped who I am today. It's easy to get caught up in the "what's next" or "how do I become an expert," but the real secret to progress lies in never losing that spark of curiosity and always looking for ways to learn from those around you. Keep exploring, keep talking, and, most importantly, keep growing.
Thank you SO SO much to those who took time out to read this article! Have a great day!
Top comments (0)