Okay so this is just a quick rant and bio. Thanks for reading if you do!
I started learning software development about two years ago.
My first steps were basic online tutorials and introductions. I then went through a boot camp for 3 months. Although it was a great experience, I feel it was an awful lot of money spent on things I’ve since learned much better on my own for much cheaper.
At times, I’ve gotten very discouraged along the way, and have fallen off the wagon a couple of times (say, a month or two of minimal coding practice here or there). I’ve always gotten back on though!
I try not to look at other people who have been coding for 8 months or a year and gotten good jobs and let that get me down. From day one I’ve always wanted this to be a career move for me. Yet, I never find myself feeling ready to make that move. With this in mind, I know there’s never a perfect time. You just have to go for it.
Still, I don’t care one bit about any of that stuff I just said. Because today, I’m more motivated than ever to keep pushing. I have learned SO much in these two years, and to think of how far I’ve come is staggering. The one thing that does discourage me, and keeps me from applying today is my lack of a portfolio of good projects. But the reality is that’s easily fixable, because at my current skill level, I am finding working on projects to be more of a breeze than ever before. I started a reasonably flashy and professional looking front-end project using just a couple of small libraries just the other day, and it’s already almost done!
Anyway, tl;dr is basically…
Don’t measure your progress against other peoples’ timelines. Measure your progress against where you were when you started this journey. And if you’re good, eager to learn, motivated, and you know it, nothing can stop you. Because you won’t give up! I know I won’t.
I look forward to having a portfolio ready soon, and soon thereafter to smash some interviews!
Thanks for reading. 