Time is one of the most valued resources to greatness. I got to write my first HTML syntax in 2011 at NIIT Port Harcourt while doing a short course there. I got excited afterwards on how the web works and also getting an intro to the mystery way websites got built up. I’ve tried and given up at programming afterwards. I recently got stirred up again sometime in 2018. Seven years after? 😱Yeah! seven years of trial and error. But as seven implies rest I might just be getting into my rest this year😂. Boring Intro? Maybe not. Read On!
Now to the ForLoop PH 2.0 event in 2018 tagged “newbie to EXPERT" which happened to be my first tech meet-up. The event truly stirred up a new desire and lightened up my path on my journey to becoming an experienced front end developer in the Port Harcourt Tech community and beyond, since we have to develop our community firstly. I’ll share three key things I learnt and how they’ll help me going forward.
- Open Source Contribution: Practically ever developer I know to be on some level of expertise or have gained recognition as professionals are all active “open sourcerers” — open source contributors. This is one of the gainful points from the ForLoop PH 2.0 event. Now, I learnt open source contribution isn’t for “world class developers” even down to typographical corrections in documentations counts as contributions or even pointing out an issue for fixing. I’m glad I heard all of this as I’m currently aiming towards making my first open source contribution. Y’all should sign up as open sourcerers. Let’s do this open source thing! Remember “done is better than perfect”
- Volunteering at start-ups or hubs around: One of the speakers Precious Chukundah — also known as Triple CEO 😎, encouraged newbies citing his journey going from a newbie to an expert. He encouraged the audience urging us to become volunteers while seeking to gain experience. Most companies might not be willing to pay but it doesn’t matter, the experience garnered will be of great importance, and guess what? you now have the much required job experience, and also some skills up your sleeves. So even as I make a conscious effort to be a volunteer, I also encourage every newbie reading this to do same as well.
- Be a life long learner: One common factor with all the great developers that spoke at the conference is that they are all constantly learning, trying to build communities to teach and improve newbies — which is also a great way to improve one’s self. I’ve been greatly spurred on not to stop learning even if the learning process might be humongous or concepts pretty much confusing, it’ll all make sense soon enough even on my journey from newbie to Expert. I’m currently learning, unlearning and relearning on various platforms e.g. Udacity, soloLearn, freeCodeCamp. Looking for more platforms to learn as well.
In summary I really want to thank everyone who put this wonderful event together ForLoop PH 2.0 Arerosuoghene Wisdom, Precious Chukundah, Lucas Bruce ,Tiku Okoye , for those I didn’t tag forgive me. You all are wonderful. Thanks for the warm brace into the tech community. Looking forward to contributing as much as I can to this wonderful community — Tech Community: Port Harcourt City.
