What were your challenges on your journey to becoming a programmer?.

• 2014 joined university studying computer science
• took introduction to CS , sounded pretty easy
• ACM made an introduction about problem solving contests
• tried to make some progress in competitive programming path failed misreably
• got depression
• it's 2016 now and i know some C++
• failed another year in college -it's 2018 now i know a lot more but failed another year cause i was playing League of legends too much. but hey i got to plat 3.
• went to work as a networking technician for 8 months-> learned alot but kinda hated the job. -it's sebtember 2019 went back to college -> march 2020 corona happend graduation got delayed.
• i already knew alot of nodejs i really had a talent for writtting a very effiecient code and finding a logical way to solve a problem fast.
• i used that corona period to amp up my CV
• built 3 back-end related project in one month.
• now it august 2020-> just graduated
• +90 job applications later.
• got accepted at my first programming job as a back-end developer. moral of the story be paitent AF.

Every time I finally learn a new programming skill and get a new job... They will never let me near the code.
I end up being forced to use Excel, but I will even make Excel into an application.
This will create a lot of excitement and I will be allowed to evaluate and purchase new software, customize and integrate it... However, I only ever use my coding skills when building Prototypes for presentations or when trying to customize or integrate and out-of-the-box software.
It is so difficult to get larger organizations to modernize that I am beginning to think I will have to start my own company to ever get access to the codebase.

PS: My Professional Timeline -->
1) Tried to get a CS degree around 2000 and failed Java.
2) Tried to get a CS degree again in 2002 and failed C++
3) Gave up and got a Business degree in Entrepreneurship in 2008
4) Graduated to an economic collapses and could not find a job.
5) Started selling XTC in desperation. Became a raver.
6) Got busted by DEA. Went to prison for 2 years.
7) Got back to San Francisco in 2013 and found a job as a QuickBooks Expert --> Decided to specialize in eCommerce Businesses (First smart decision)
8) Got a job as an accounting expert at an Accounting Automation company.
Got promoted --> Manager of Customer Success --> Sales Engineer
9) Did not know what a Sales Engineer was. Thought my CEO had made up the position.
10) Googled "Sales Engineer". Went to Sales Engineer MeetUps.
11) Went back to community college. (Second smart decision)
12) Passed SQL, C#, Java, and PHP.
13) Community College now felt too slow. I started learning online.
14) FreeCodeCamp, TeamTreeHouse, ACloudGuru, CodePen, Dev.to and many more are now my teachers.
15) Read "WTF" by Tim O'Reilly Quit my job in San Francisco.
16) Joined UpWork and moved to Hawaii.
17) Got a few low paying gigs on UpWork
18) One of these became a Sales Engineer role at a DocuSign competitor.
19) Grew that company. Worked as if it was my own company (Third smart decision)
20) Got head hunted by a Fortune 500 Company based on my LinkedIn profile.
21) Now I am stuck working in Excel again.

I did not have internet when I started my journey into programming. That would have to be the hardest thing for me, second only to finding a job. I lived in a rural part of Georgia, about an hour West of Atlanta. I couldn't even get dial-up. Mobile data, at that time, was pretty expensive and the data plans were limiting. It was like 5 gB for 60$ a month. I changed my cell phone provider about 2 times (Verizon to Sprint to Metro PC) because they either had a deal running that could save me money or they finally offered unlimited data.

During the time I was switching providers I would drive either 30 minutes to Starbucks for good internet or 10 minutes to McDonalds for mediocre internet. If I was studying outside my home then I would download videos and any source files so that I could keep working at home when the business closed.

It was definitely stressful but the experience taught me a lot. That I am persistent and if I plan my work load out then I can get a lot done. I would not trade the experience for anything.

Oh, man! Well everyone's different but expect to be frustrated a lot in the beginning. I was originally going to go to college and get a BS in Computer Science but once I found out you had to take calculus 1, 2, & 3 I decided against it lol. I failed pre cal when getting my associate's degree in a community college lol.

I also decided that working as a developer for someone else wasn't going to be for me and that I needed to build something that could generate a revenue stream which also meant that I was going to have to learn a LOT.

My biggest piece of advice is that if you like programming, stick with it no matter how difficult it becomes. As time passes and you learn more it will become easier. If you run into an issue and can't find the solution step away from the computer and go for a walk or a drive or do something to take your mind off of it, this is when I typically come up with a solution.

At some point, you are going to question whether you're smart enough to be a programmer and whether you should be doing this or not. Or at least I did, a lot! Luckily I have a very supportive wife that would help me when I was feeling this way by bringing up what I've already accomplished and how far I've come from when I first started. That being said track what you build and your progress this way you can look back and say "damn, I built that!".

I still to this day don't think I'm smart enough to ever accomplish greatness as a developer. But I've built a Saas business that generates revenue and that is enough for me to say "damn, I built that!". I'm not trying to be the next Elon Musk, although that would be cool!

That being said, you got this!