Near the end of 2019 after a discovery glimpse on Twitter, I decided to explore the tech world 👩🏾💻. Like any curious person does, I went down the rabbit hole of research. I DMed people and asked for advice on what direction to take.
Thankfully they were kind enough to respond 🙏🏾, and I continued down my research rabbit hole. Now mind you, I studied Information Technology at university, but programming just never stuck and I never got in the tech field as intended. Anywho, the more I researched, I discovered "Tech Twitter", along with numerous blogs and YouTube videos on how to get into web development.
Needless to say, I read everything. What I didn't immediately read was bookmarked 🔖 for later. Then comes the "I'm going to do EVERY course 😁" excitement. Insert 'signed up for several Udemy courses' and 'bookmarked every course/learning resource' here.
Care to guess what happened next❓
If you guessed information overload, overwhelm and analysis paralysis - yep, that's right. Then I started to feel discouraged with all the things I'd have to learn 😞. It's a lot! Yet every time I read someone's story through a tweet or blog, every time I watched a video, I'd be inspired to get into this industry too 😌. I decided I would be on this journey for the long haul, struggles and all.
Then I jumped into 2 different courses, tried to do 100 Days of Code twice, fell off and gave up. Add feeling discouraged because other developers who call themselves "newbies" are way ahead of you to that, and you get "Can I even do this?" Their version of newbie and my version of just starting newbie are two different things 😩.
The developers I follow and admire are at minimum 1-3 years into their career. Plus, as a dev, you know many concepts aren't easy to understand and sometimes take a while to click in your head. I felt like giving up, though I never shared it. Seeing tweets from experienced developers encouraging beginners to "Keep going" and "It'll click, don't worry, just don't stop" became something I looked forward to daily 🙏🏾.
So far I've been staying on the learning journey, but also realise I wish I had an accountability partner who could relate to where I am on the path. What is refreshing though, is that the tech community is welcoming and supportive 💙. I'm learning to lurk less, not be afraid of being a beginner, find a non-judgemental community and learn in public.
Thanks for reading! Until next time 👋🏾.
Top comments (21)
I so much I can relate to your story, few weeks ago I was down "imposter syndrome", it took me days to come out of it, that feeling that's others are doing great, why are you moving at a slow pace ..., it kills alot. One thing I learnt and that how was able to pull through the feeling, is that I am in no competition with no one, the most important thing is I strive to be better everyday.
This! The "Why are you moving so slow" thinking had me beating myself up for weeks! It took me talking to other (more advanced and experienced) developers and them literally convincing me it's okay, to stop comparing myself, learn at my own pace and be in competition only with myself to realise it is in fact okay.
And please, what is this "tech Twitter" you mentioned
If you're on Twitter, you can find several inspiring developers you can follow and learn from on your journey. Definitely recommend!
Oh OK thanks
Great one, Debra!
I can relate to how you feel 🙂
I feel that "Can I do this?" too, especially when I realize that some of people that I know start from the same phase are way ahead than me. It's just frustrating.
Until I finally accepted that people journeys are different. Also this is a marathon and not a sprint.
Once there was said in VC "Comparing (yourself and other people) steals the joy!"
And that's so true!
So from now ahead, let's enjoy the ride to reach there! 😊
Thanks so much Ayu! It's really comforting knowing that other very new devs feel the same way and that I'm not alone 🙏🏾. Sometimes it's discouraging and frustrating when I don't understand many concepts yet, but I always try to get back up 😌.
Let's do this! 👊🏾
I think this is something we all go through. I'm going through it too. My computer crashed three times this year. It's tough. We will get through it.
It's comforting knowing that everyone goes through this. It's like I know that the more I improve the less newbie I'll feel, but as a real newbie right now it's tough. But gonna keep at it.
I can only imagine how tough it's been for you with your computer 😞. I hope things are looking up and you're back on the journey. We can do this!
Thank you and good luck to you too!
"Fear is the mind killer" - Dune, Frank Herbert: haven't finished reading it. That quote pretty much sums up my Web Development career so far. Your story resonated with me because It's pretty much what I do to myself, it's like some sort of self destruction loop. I've started #100daysofCode a few times and each time get to about day 15, struggle with what to tweet, in seeps the fear of being caught out as being some sort of "fake web developer" and I disappear from Twitter, delete all my tweets then start again a couple of weeks later hoping nobody noticed, and then the cycle continues.
I've got two Udemy courses in different stages of completion, I did complete Advanced CSS which was great, but it's always the Javascript courses that I get the "Imposter Syndrome" feelings again and everything gets dropped for Netflix, Xbox and records.
Everyone says that building a network can help on Twitter and places like Dev, supporting other developers regardless of their level and support will come back to you.
I took the extra step of pushinng myself out there and offered my services free of charge to 2 people I thought might need websites. One is live and they're even buying hosting from me. Such a good feeling to see something you've put together yourself and will actually hep someone else's business.
We, as beginner developers.....or just web developers really, we just need to root for each other. So good luck in your journey and I look forward to seeing more of your posts
I think I've lost count of how many times I've started and fell off #100DaysOfCode. I'm still at CSS and haven't started JavaScript yet and I'm scared already, lol. But the dev community on Twitter has been amazing in helping me stay on the web development journey this time around and not giving up. Support is key - 100% agree.
Thanks for reading! Let's keep going!
Props for being vunerable and sharing this. You're doing great Debra-Kaye!! Think of 100Days as a continuous journey where you track each day you code, if that helps... That's what I'm doing because I want to finish it but also, burn-out is real... 😬
Also, I wish I had heard of Tech Twitter at the beginning of my journey! (Found them just under my one year mark) Play the long term game: Your small actions will add up and a year later you'll look back and barely recognise where you started from 🤗💪
You absolutely got this!!! 🔥🔥💯
Thank you so much Annie! The encouragement from Tech Twitter has been so great and is definitely what has kept me going 🙏🏾
Congrats on your first post!
Thanks so much Nick! 🙏🏾
This is me😢. At a point I felt I'll need tutoring in person but not any longer. I'mma learn coding, ask questions if stuck and become better by the day. Currently learning CSS too😉.
So happy I'm not the only one struggling. I also wished I had an in-person tutor, but then thought "What if I don't learn as fast as they'd like or think I should? Are they going to be impatient and fed up?" I beat myself up a lot. It's only now it's started to sink in that majority of things won't click now, and if I give up again I won't ever get it.
Love that you're learning CSS too! We got this! 👊🏾
Thank you for sharing. I think a lot of newer developers can relate to this journey. And a lot of the seasoned ones can probably remember these feelings as well!
Thank you so much Kirk! Definitely many bumps on this journey, but grateful for the support 🙏🏾
I learned C++ years ago, but never used it and don't remember how to use it now, lol.
Thanks for reading! 🙂