“I’m the least techy person ever” — My first time at Codebar.

I watch from afar at work as developers and designers buzz away with their techy brains and totally excel at everything they do, but I just can’t wrap my lil head around it. So when the opportunity of a free coding class with Codebar arose, I saw a way of delving into the dev world and I jumped at the chance!

I had no idea what to expect, but with it being held in our own office and my good pal Beverley Newing being the organiser, it didn’t feel like I was venturing too far from home. That was until I opened Codebar’s tutorials. I had no idea where to begin, but I thought HTML lesson 1 would be a safe bet. After a slow start I was soon following the tutorial with minimal hiccups (Get in!) and, lo and behold, soon enough I had created a fully functioning HTML page (with links and everything!) Unbelievable scenes.

You know what? I get it now. I get the satisfaction the comes when your code works, and the frustration when it doesn’t. I get the magic of a bunch of words and symbols transforming into a working product. And ultimately I get why people who code for a living do it as a hobby as well. Of course I understand that I was doing the basics of the basics, but I have a much greater appreciation for my developer colleagues now; their skills, perseverance and just the sheer ability to stare at code all day long.

My three key takeaways from my first Codebar were:

• Damn son I actually learnt the basics of writing some HTML! I can’t believe it actually gets more complicated than that. I just have so much admiration for those who can do it as a full time career.
• What Codebar does is brilliant. An active non-profit organisation working to improve diversity in the tech industry by offering free workshops to underrepresented groups.
• What a wonderful dev community there is in Oxford. Everyone I met was friendly, helpful and just all-round good eggs. Lovely stuff!

Unfortunately I can’t say that coding is for me (my brain just isn’t that logically wired!), but giving it a go was a super enjoyable experience.

If you’d like to find out more about Codebar or get involved yourself then visit https://codebar.io/ for more information!