My tech journey has been crazy so far. When I was in my ss2, I saw a signpost advertising a programming class, picked the contact, and asked for inquiries so that I can join. The guy in charge told me that I have to pay N75k around $300 as of that time. When I told my parents about that, they said I should wait till I finish secondary school because no way I can combine it and school plus I was in a boarding school. I saw reasons with them and sidelined it for the moment. When I finished secondary school, I was ready to join the programming school but they moved to another place or even folded because I was calling the number it wasn’t going through. I was angry per se because I was so eager to become a programmer. So as days went by, I started browsing about programming and computer science. I was looking for an online community where I can join my peers that have the same hunger as me. Fortunately, I found a WhatsApp group link on Facebook which I joined. It was a group of young coders from different countries around the globe. I was so happy and stunned at how peers like me know a lot about programming. The group was very exciting.
“King Kunta” was the name of the contact that contributed a lot to the group, I was attracted by his range of knowledge, so one day I texted him, asking him questions like “what’s the best programming to start with?”, “Which one pays more ?”, “Which one is easier to learn?”…even though I have browsed about these and gotten my answers, I needed to be sure. Kunta as I still refer to him asked me what I wanted to do with programming, as of that time I didn’t know, I just wanted to program, it was my childhood dream and that was my first mistake — “No Clear Plan”.After much consideration, I chose “Python” language, it was if not is highest paying programming language and very easy to learn. Don’t get it twisted, my quest is far from being financially motivated even though you can’t remove that factor. I started learning Python, one thing that amazed me is that you can learn all these programming languages completely free on the internet, not saying paying that $300 will be a waste but at least.
Python is a very interesting language, it’s object-oriented and very fast to learn. I started with YouTube and Pdfs. I first downloaded 2 videos with a duration of over 7+ hours, I haven’t done much before so it was quite overwhelming for me to finish but I stayed tight and digested it bit by bit. The day I wrote my first line of code “Hello World” was crazy because it took me almost 2 hours with the help of Kunta to execute it, after that, I was very very happy saying I’m already a world-class coder. I even took a day off. After 4 months of learning, I have already mastered the basics of python and completed simple python tasks. Getting to 6th month I felt like I was what coders call “ Tutorial Hell”, I was going from PDF A to PDF B to PDF C and video A to Video B, etc, I was stuck. I didn’t know what my next move will be. That’s why I advise people to always go into tech with a roadmap. As this was happening, my zeal started wearing off gradually till I even took a break. By then I have gotten admission to study Computer science at the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Hahaha, the dream comes true.
The prodigal son will always come home, after seeing how my coursemates have gone far in coding, self-examination was 100% needed in my life, one of the best things about me is that my self-awareness is samurai-sword sharp. After much reflection, that was when I knew I had to reconcile with my laptop. Coding is like farming once you stop taking care of your crops, you’ll surely suffer. All my knowledge about Python has diminished drastically. It was sad. I had to dust myself up and get back into the business. “The King is Back” that’s my favorite line anytime I make a comeback. I didn’t want to go back to Python Basics, I wanted to advance and web development was that next stage. I wanted to use Python because that’s my primary language but the only way to use Python for web development is using its framework called “Django” which awed me with its complexity. God will make a way when there’s no way, luckily for me at the moment, there was an alternative which is to learn another programming language. “Damn what’s this, I’m tired”, these were my comments because I didn’t want to go that route. I was a big python fan, I can’t tolerate its slander. I didn’t like JavaScript because Python was easier but like they said “A man gotta do what he gotta do”, Html, CSS, and JavaScript were my next destination. This destination trinity was that advancement I needed. To be continued…
