Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Where my coding began!



        I was originally introduced to coding in my  spring semester of the community college I was attending in 2015. The class was called "Intro to Programming and Logic" and the main focus was on "Visual Studio". From the start I was very uninterested and wasn't motivated at the slightest bit in starting a career in programming, let alone coding. I've always been a problem solver and I've always enjoyed learning new things. From the "Rubik's Cube", to learning magic tricks in high school, if it looked challenging and the average person couldn't do it, I HAD TO LEARN IT!


        Later that year, I came across "Code Academy", around a week before Christmas. I decided to give it a try since I've heard about it at work and have heard nothing but good reviews about it. I began with the traditional "HTML and CSS" considering it was the basics of the web. Before I could think twice about what I was doing, I was immediately hooked!

        I found myself coding for the rest of that evening! The course itself was around 10 hours and I completed all of it in just a few days. I was solving all these little problems while feeling like a genius due to the fact I was coding! When I was complete, I felt like I could create any website out there. I decided to open up a notepad and start coding my first web page. Then it hit me, I was staring at a blank canvas and didn't have the slightest idea of what I was going to create! This isn't how it should be...I just learned how to make a web page and now I can't think of anything? That's when I realized, I needed more practice.
  
        I was looking in forums, blogs, and watching videos on effective ways to practice creating web pages. This went on for the next couple of weeks until I came across a Reddit post where numerous amount of people were recommending this site called "Free Code Camp". I thought this would be another "Dev Boot Camp" trying to take your money, but since it was free, I signed up immediately to see what they had to offer. 

      This is where I am today. On January 21st, 2016, I began the Front-End Development course. This is exactly what I was looking for. Not just doing tutorials while someone is giving me all the answers. I need to problem solve, think, and work my way through errors in order to develop myself! 

        Today is January 27th, 2016. I have already completed over 200 lessons on "Free Code Camp" and I am not going to stop anytime soon! They have everything I was looking. From projects, to do-it-yourself tutorials, to a chat room where you can interact with fellow students. They even have "Camp Outs", or meet ups where you can hang out and code at a local coffee shop with fellow "Campers". I plan on attending my first one, two hours away, so I can finally meet people who love coding as much as I do!

      So far I have learned:

  • Html
  • Css
  • Bootstrap
  • jQuery
        
        I am currently almost done with JavaScript, which has been the trickiest language thus far. There's a lot more that goes in to JavaScript than the previous languages I have learned. But in less than a week, I have done well over 200 lessons and counting. I also feel like I'm actually learning to code, and not just doing tutorials! This year is going to be a big year for me as a developer, and as a person!!!

        My goals for this year:

  • Complete Front-End Development Certificate from FreeCodeCamp
  • Refinish or create at least 3 web pages for my community
  • Create a portfolio website
  • Become a Junior Developer!!!!

        If you enjoyed reading this please feel free to share this on Twitter and Facebook!I will continue to update this blog three days a week, every week. Feel free to follow me on Twitter for blog updates and how things are going on a day to day bases!


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