Hello, Dev.to community! 👋
My name is Bepixeled, and I'm thrilled to share my journey into the world of coding.
At the wise age of 41, I decided to take a leap of faith and dive into programming. It has transformed my life in incredible ways.
How I got started
I've always been a tech nerd, interested in coding but never did i think I would dive into it. Well, last year my curiosity took over and I decided a bootcamp would be a good start tu just jump into programming.
The bootcamp
Intense but rewarding. 15 weeks of up to 60 hours of learning and coding. But I learned what i needed to get started in coding. Form the basic start with HTML and CSS, over JavaScript to React. Afterwards we jumped into back-end development with Node, Express and MongoDB. The best part about it was clearly the group projects. Learning how to work together from all over the country was a big deal in the beginning. Specially for me with ADHD and social anxiety.
Daily learning
At the end of the bootcamp i got sick and after graduating in march 2024 it took me months to get back to full health. I tried to be consistent in learning, but struggled for a long time.
But after that I was determined to get back on that learning path again. From watching tutorials, reading documentations to reading articles. I believe in continuous learning. I still feel like a newbie today, the long time of being sick took a toll. I "forgot" a lot of things I learned before and I had to kind of start over. But it's easier this time.
I will start a new project today, I think this is one of the best ways to learn. Reading and watching tutorials, docs etc. its great, but doing the actual work is so much more rewarding.
Looking ahead
As I continue this journey, I aim to deepen my knowledge of JavaScript and JS Frameworks. I still have to get a grip on some things React related. After that I want to dive into Angular or Svelte.
What motivated you to start coding? And what tips do you have for someone still learning?
I'd love to connect to other coding newbies
Top comments (9)
In 1981, I started college to study Electronic Engineering. Along the way I discovered programming in Assembly language for the Intel 8080 platform. I liked that so much I took a Basic class. My first job was writing Built in Diagnostic tests on military computers. From there, I worked on the OS for IBM as programmer analyst... I was finally 'in' as a programmer. Today am writing code in C#, Python and Javascript. No plans to quit.
Congratulations on your dedication and remember Patience and Persistence pays off.
Incredible!! You are really brave. I was thinking that I'm crazy to consider changing career in 30's, but your journey is motivation for others like me. All the best 🙂.
Thank you so much! In the bootcamp I attended had been a guy who was 50 at the time. It’s never too late to pursue your dreams. 🔥
Wish you the best and good luck on your journey.
This is a great read! Well done on your progress so far. I'm learning too, slowly but steadily!
Good luck! I'm a bootcamp grad too :)
I've been on and off trying to learn coding since 2017. But I suffer from ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder, so learning for me is a real challenge. I'm still hopeful and will try to learn and stick with it this time. Being stuck in an endless loop of learning and then stopping, only to restart a few months to years later because I'm distracted by other things has been an interesting battle. Your story gives me hope. Keep on trucking!
My path echoes yours to some extent. Despite a keen interest in tech and coding as a teenager, I wasn’t fortunate enough to be able to go to university so thought a career in tech was impossible. After many years in hospitality and construction, during lockdown, I read an article about coding, and how a degree wasn’t necessary, so tried out Codecademy and freeCodeCamp and loved it! So, at the ripe young age of 52, I attended a bootcamp online where we covered Ruby, JavaScript & React on the frontend, Node & Mongo backend etc while undertaking numerous group projects. After graduating, the job hunt began and I had some interviews but I feel my age put some people off employing me. Then, after returning to work in construction and trying to continue the tech job hunt, my health started to deteriorate to a point where I struggled to do any coding as I was do tired all the time. After about 18 months of illness, I was finally diagnosed with cancer and had a tumour removed as well as two ribs and part of my diaphragm. The long period of ill health took its toll on me physically and mentally and only now do I feel comfortable returning to coding and to hopefully pursuing my dream career change. Like you, I have forgotten a lot of what I learned but think it will all come back as I renew studies and practice.
Good luck with your journey and hope you stay healthy from here on in.
Hi, thank you, ma'am, for sharing your journey. I relate to your experience with social anxiety—even though oration clubs helped me, I still find networking with colleagues challenging. I guess in order to be more confident, I wanted to get better at this game, so that was my motivation i guess.
Networking is hard for me as well. But I guess Job Interviews are end game. On one side I’m looking forward to those, on the other hand I fear them with all I have.