Putting it all together

My interest in web development was born from my background in design, first with graphic design in high school and later with fashion design in college. After college I spent a short stint working in the industry followed by years of dull, unsatisfying administrative work and later, a disappointing foray into production/graphic design. Interestingly, when I’ve told people in the tech industry about my background in fashion design, often the reaction is one of surprise. I assume the focus is on the frivolousness of the fashion industry, not on the common threads between any creative craft and coding: the reward in seeing an idea come to fruition, the problems solved, challenges overcome, and skills advanced.

Reflecting on this internship and even, the past year, I know that I’ve learned a lot and that I’ve progressed a great deal. When I started exploring web development as a career, I focused exclusively on front-end because I thought that would be a natural fit based on this background. But having worked on a few projects where I’ve had to create my own endpoints, I’ve come to appreciate being able to own all aspects of a project. I’m also reminded that I’m my own worst critic. In this profession, the goal posts never stop moving and I’m learning to be comfortable with not knowing enough, or with sometimes feeling like I’m not quick enough or that I’m making too many mistakes. I’m learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, because it’s in that intersection between failure and persistence that progress is made.

I’m nearing the end of my Outreachy internship, and I’ve built a fully functioning web application. It needs optimizing and there are a few things to finish up, but overall, it works! Putting it all together and seeing that idea come to fruition is the most rewarding part. Over the next two weeks I’ll focus on tying up the loose ends so that the users can take it for a test run. And then I’ll start over — learning new things, solving more problems and overcoming more challenges.