It all started with my photography hobby.
Yes. You read it right.
One day, at the beginning of 2018, I chatted with a friend. We talked about many things until she saw the photos I'd uploaded for sale on a stock photo platform. Then she asked me why I don't write a personal blog about my life living in another country and showcase my works. I thought, 'That's a good idea.'
So I began to Google everything about creating a website until I bumped into articles about web development. Out of curiosity, I browsed deeper and found about freeCodeCamp. I thought, 'Well, let me try a couple of lessons just to know what this is.' But that couple of lessons ended up being halfway through the HTML part. I got hooked!
I am more of an audio-visual kind of person in terms of study. It's much easier for me to digest when someone explains something to me verbally and see the explanation visually at the same time rather than reading something. So I started taking a Udemy course, The Web Development Bootcamp by Colt Steele.
When it hit the JavaScript part, the story changed. I got confused with everything and started to doubt myself. (later on, I learned that this is the so-called imposter syndrome).
The Power of Dev Community at Twitter
I wasn't a Twitter person. I have had an account for ages, but I barely use it. One day, exhausted from juggling between taking care of an almost two-year-old, doing house chores during the day, and learning at night, I picked up my phone. I opened Twitter and just tweeted out my frustration.
No one ever responded to my Twitter before, like literally. But that day, I got notifications on Twitter, mostly from moms who also learn to code with kids! And they all encouraged me! I'm not alone! And I started looking around and found so many great people with remarkable journeys. I get pumped!
Life took over
My mom, who was my root, the biggest support in my life, passed away at the end of 2018. My world was crumbling down. I took a long break from learning to code. And honestly, I didn't even know at that time if I was ever going to get back to it.
The Coming Back
Every time I touched my laptop, the feeling of excitement when I rendered my first Hello World in HTML kept coming back. I wanted to go on, but the fear of impostor syndrome and stopping to learn again held me back.
Then I made up my mind. In January 2019, I grabbed my phone and made a new account on Twitter. I started fresh, and my #100DaysofCode journey began. And since then, I have only moved forward.
I am maybe not fast compared to others. I might have more limited time than others in a day. And I still get plenty of imposter syndromes. But I believe that persistently taking one small step would still bring me forward.
As I read one quote somewhere before,
"Diamonds form under pressure. Whenever you feel under pressure, you're in a powerful place of transformation. TRUST THE PROCESS."
Thank you for reading!
Last, you can find me on Twitter. Let's connect! 😊