The Latest CodeNewbie!

The time is about right for my first Medium post. A quick summary about my journey from the world of Civil Engineering to the dynamic world of Web development.

Civil Engineer cum Coder

Hold up! I can see that smirk on your face right now, “another wacko coming to tell us a long story”…. Nah! This isn’t that post, I hope you learn from this post.

Let’s begin.

My first foray into programming came in 2016 during one of my most curious moments. I found “Programming for dummies”, then I got stuck till I got to compiled languages, I ran away afterwards. I later picked up interest in HTML and CSS after going through John Duckett’s book. All the excitement came to a halt when I had to take a job as a site engineer because let’s face it, I needed experience to work in my field and money for myself. This was pre-NYSC.

Fast forward to 2018, two years after I first touched HTML and CSS, I finished the compulsory National Youths Service Corps program, went back to where I interned as a site engineer before my NYSC program, I was not satisfied with the response I got. I went back home and started looking for various opportunities online.

Like most Nigerian graduates, I applied for various kinds of jobs, at some point, I thought I was going to get into one of the big four accounting/audit firms, just imagine!

Enter CodeLagos.

In my regular online crawls for jobs and opportunities, I found CodeLagos, I had recently started learning JavaScript and I’m more of a reader and note-taker — please, don’t be like me, practice more! I enrolled for the Python class and that’s when I knew I was getting back into this tech world one way or another. Six roller-coaster weeks went by and I had the best time learning something new. Big thanks to the Lagos state government for this one, I hope the program is not discontinued.

Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash

Codecademy and Freecodecamp

I was already using these two platforms but I enjoyed the former because it was more friendly, freecodecamp laid out the whole content on first view and I took the next door out, I freaked out — Never ever get so scared that you turn away from a learning opportunity. I am not saying Codecademy is for the soft and frail, I’m just saying freecodecamp can structure their track to look more finishable, excuse the grammar. Thumbs up to them for the free platform too.

Photo by Joshua Aragon on Unsplash

Mobile App Development

Before the six weeks of Python, I had started immersing myself into the tech world, I read loads of medium articles, became a regular fan of the CodeNewbie and subsequently BaseCS podcasts, I followed everyone I could find that had something to do with coding on Twitter and LinkedIn.

In my last few weeks of Python, I found a call for internship at a tech company for mobile app developers, I had a Python background, I applied for both options of Python and Mobile app development. From six weeks of Python, I moved into two weeks of intense sessions on Mobile app development (Cordova). This was the beginning of my turnaround.

So I survived the training and got employed as an intern, got all the necessary welcome and on-boarding processes. Eventually, I had to learn a framework again.

It has been fun learning all I have learnt and I’m still learning, even in JavaScript, TypeScript is fun too. So I’ve asked crazy questions and I still ask.

Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash

Coding can literally humble you when you think you are a fast learner. The fact that it’s a dynamic subject, you also have to keep up with the current best practices. However, if you are, like me, excited about the possibilities, keeping up will definitely not be too difficult.

I still keep up with Freecodecamp, had to set up reminders and a timeline to do all the projects, as mentioned before, I ran away, but I’ve been working on the challenges. I finally finished the basics of JavaScript because I needed a refresher, afterwards, I went back to the last part of the CSS chapter that I skipped. At the point of writing this, I am planning a structure for my tribute page and everything has to be done within a certain timeline.

Lessons So Far

• At some point, I did JavaScript30, content in another post soon, it was an eye-opener, I probably cannot write all the array methods I learnt but I’ve used a few lately. The exposure is important.
• Learn all you can without worry even when you think you aren’t ready.
• Google everything!
• w3schools and MDN are also there for you.
• Never run away from a learning opportunity.
• Ask questions, including silly ones.
• Practice a whole lot, try things, make mistakes, have a CLI full of red words. Have a text editor full of red lines and a console of errors. Do not fret, you will be fine!
• Do not skip the basics in whatever you are learning, they are more than the building blocks you need.
• Do all the practice projects, challenges or tasks you have to do.
• If you need a structured learning path, right from the basics of Computer Science, go for the Andela Homestudy Material.
• Find discipline, stay disciplined and do not play with your time.

If you have been considering switching to the tech world, coding precisely, now is a beautiful time.

Do follow me on Twitter @Benneee_

Thank you for reading!