My Web Development Journey

#beginners #career

Introduction

We all have to start somewhere and not knowing everything is okay. With the right amount of discipline anything is achievable.

How I went from customer service representative to Front End Web Developer in 5 months

I graduated from university in 2015 with a degree in Animation and Graphic Design, I then spent 4 years after university focusing on 3D art while working in customer service. When I started to not enjoy that, I picked up web development and haven't looked back.

Not feeling good enough to make it as a Developer

In 2018 I learnt HTML and CSS and I remember naively thinking it was enough to get a job... and luckily I had scored a freelancing gig. I definitely struggled to get anything more than that which was discouraging and led to a 6month hiatus.

I came back to dev in August 2019 and I would stay up super late learning JavaScript and improving the skills I had already learned. I would then read https://eloquentjavascript.net/ on my lunch break and sometimes take my laptop to do https://edabit.com/ (I feel like this site had helped me the most)

As soon as I felt confident in my JS skills, I started learning React and felt as ready as I could be to get a job.

How I scored my first Web Developer Job

I was applying non-stop, I would get calls from recruiters to only be told I am lacking experience no matter how hard I showed I was hungry for knowledge and extremely dedicated.

I then had this idea of cold emailing local companies / studios and it went like this:

"Hello, My name is Chantel and I am reaching out to see if there are any junior positions in Frontend web development going at your company.

I currently freelance web development and design while working a casual role in customer service at EB Games. In my downtime, I work towards increasing my skillset, designing web mockups and completing personal projects, web dev projects with friends.

I'd love to meet face to face and tell you why I would be a great asset for your company.

In the meantime, you can check out my portfolio - https://chantelsky.netlify.com"

And it actually worked, crazy right?!
I implore you to give this a go, you never know where you might end up.

Although I was not in that position for very long, as a few weeks later I was employed full-time as a Developer which has then lead me to an even bigger and better position elsewhere.

conclusion

I hope this has been inspiring and useful to you on your own developer journey. Always be persistent and the willingness to work hard and learn as much as you can.

Believe in yourself and don't give up!