My JavaScript Journey…
It’s not about how hard you fall, it’s about choosing if you want to get up this time or stay down and never return.
It’s 11:52 p.m. Nigerian Time (GMT+1). I’m in my oven, having finally got the motivation to write this post that’s been nagging at me for weeks on end. I could think of no place more comfortable or inspiring to do this.
*Sigh* sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.
It’s actually a room for those who are still wondering, but calling my ‘room’ a room is a disservice to rooms, oven is more appropriate, dang its hot in here!
It’s uncanny how powerful words are, I mean look at the effect they had on you just now eh? They could make you wonder what kind of bug would drive a developer so mad that he’d try to fit himself into an oven and make like a cake or they could take you out of your seemingly endless code slump and piece you right back together like you never left. Suddenly you’re back to being the tenacious warrior you always knew you were. Ask me how I know? Well I’m writing this long overdue post aren’t I?
Listening to one of Eric Thomas’s speeches on YouTube did that for me. Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve had a low, where everyday I look at those beautifully colored lines of code, makes me feel more sure of how unsure I am of what the heck it is I’m doing, why I’m doing it and if I want to continue. Funniest (and most ironic) thing is, it usually comes after a ‘high’ where I’ve built something with code I previously never imagined I could, weird huh?
You may be nodding your head in agreement or shaking it in nostalgia of days you’ve experienced like this. This begs the question, why does this happen ever so often to developers?
Err…this is not a psychology post where we hash out the sources of self-imposed mental limitations. I’m sure there’s plenty of that already. What it is though is a story. A story of how I started in Web development, my growth so far, and a few tips on what could help unclog you from self-destructive procrastination, fear and fatigue, far as the developer lifestyle is concerned.
How I started in Web development:
It was my fourth year in the University(2015). The fourth out of the five years I was to complete to get my Engineering degree, glad that’s over now *phew*. Before that though, a little backstory that led to the crazy turn of events where I found myself on a Saturday morning with nothing better to do than take a codecademy course in JavaScript.
I have this friend, David, he remains one of the reasons my interest in programming was born. David and I had the unpleasantly pleasant opportunity of being roommates three times in a row for three different semesters. It was quite the experience, we’d be at each other’s throats one moment, then geeking out over a new piece of tech we saw on YouTube the next. Despite our differences though, we always found common ground as the things we loved intertwined: Tech, Anime, girls, talking about our Big dreams and Fifa13(at the time).
David is one of those kids who got into computers pretty early and went further into programming all before he was 18. By the 2nd year in University he’d been building projects for Computer Science students in their final year(the irony).
One thing he would always do, like that friend who doesn't care ifyou care or even understand what he says but says it anyway, would be to talk to me about the current project(s) he was working on. How tasking it was, the bug from hell he spent 4 hours into the night trying to fix, the nasty attitude of the person who contracted him to do the work…everything! This went on for weeks, which turned to months, which eventually became a part of our long-standing friendship, like seasoning to food. This was all before my fourth year of course, by then the ‘powers’ that saw to it we would always end up as roommates finally got bored and decided to change things up(thank God).
So, in the second semester of my fourth year, while undergoing a compulsory six-month industrial attachment at a hydro-electric power plant, I finally decided to see what the fuss was all about. And to at least understand a smidgen of what the heck David was saying when next we met and talked about some project he was doing. I wanted to stop seeing colored lines on a code editor and finally ‘see’ what was happening.
I. was. floored.
I started the course at about 10 a.m. and didn’t give it a rest until it was 6 p.m. in the evening. My brain started revolting against any further synthesis of information, I could hear it saying “if you look at that screen one more time, I’m splitting your skull and going on a vacation. Hmph!” So I had to stop.
There was nothing like it. The pleasure of finally being on the inside of the ‘joke’ that always seemed to pass right over your head. Suddenly the YouTube videos and the articles I tried reading on the subject began to make sense. I went on to learn as much as I possibly could, much as my brain permitted anyway, till the six months were over and I had to go back to school.
There’s always this new level of confidence you gain when you learn something you don’t think the average person is privy to. This air of pride. The little I learned of programming made me understand why some accomplished programmers came off as um…obnoxious. I won’t lie, I had a chip on my shoulder, just a tiny one, but it was there.
The hubris was short-lived. School work took over, I had less and less time to practice, and before I knew it, I was back where I started. Clueless, on the outside looking in, wondering what the heck those developers are talking about. Since that time all those years ago, I have made several attempts to keep at it. I would have days where everything would click, I would finish that tutorial, build that web page, or successfully debug a web app. Then there would be days where it seemed like my brain actually did make good on its promise to leave me. Tough days.
Where am I now?
It’s 2019, I’m nowhere near ‘good’. I could be considered as a junior web developer at best, give me a web page to build and it may take a while for the ‘wheels’ to start churning, and you may need to walk me through the user requirements a couple of times haha. Simultaneously though, a beautiful thing is happening, I’m completing those tasks, slowly, building up confidence with each git commit. Slowly but surely, I’m becoming a ‘developer’.
This year alone I’ve had the opportunity of building an Admin Sign Up page for the start up I’m currently interning at, in React. I built a form for their ‘Orders’ page using Formik, Yup and Blueprint JS, a React-based UI kit. Do I understand everything I did? Hell no. Did I have tons of help and direction from the senior developers there? You bet. But the fact remains that I built that, I made something with code that real live users would actually engage with. It’s not just some code along tutorial or the project section of a course on Udemy. No one can take that from me.
This is what deciding to get up and stick with it has birthed so far. For me, there is no sky, as long as I keep up the grind. Upside potential? Endless. So if you’re passing through a dry, down phase as a developer, designer or personnel in a non-tech related field, what do you do?
Few tips on getting out of a ‘code low’:
- Keep hacking at it. Completing tough tasks when your body and mind say no may be the deciding factor on leveling up your knowledge and gaining invaluable experience in the process.
- Take breathers. There needs to be a balance between persistence and rest. Sometimes, all your mind needs is time to think through the challenge.
- Take the hits of self-doubt but don’t let them be Knockout Punches.
- Ask Questions where unclear, as often as you need to.
- Write your thoughts down. Your thought process about the approach you want to take concerning a certain project needs to be recorded. It doesn’t even need to be super organized, it just needs to exist outside your mind. Worry about connecting the dots later.
- Talk to more senior developers about how they got out of a rut or two.
- Listen to motivational material. This one personally works for me. No worries if you don’t share the same sentiment, but you should give it a try.
If you found this post helpful please show some love. I’m on Github as Prodigy00, should you ever be in need of a ‘junior web developer’. Have a good one!!!
