How It Started
Four years ago, I was in my third year at the university, pursuing a degree in Psychology and Theatre Arts. Everything was going great, I was ready to change the world. At least, till I started doing my research and realized how difficult it was going to be as a fresh graduate to venture into the Multimedia space as a filmmaker. My plan B was to find a job to take care of my needs while I saved towards pursuing my dream.
Now, that would have been a good plan, if I hadn’t seen an article that indicated that in my country, ‘Only 10% of university graduates got employed immediately after school and it could take up to 10years for most to eventually find work’ (Yes, you read right 😢 ). This article gave me sleepless nights! I had about a year to graduate, so I needed to think fast. Right around that time, a friend of mine in a conversation told me about web development and how programming was the future.
Intervention
Seeing it as my escape and guarantee for a better future, I saved up, bought my first two courses - $20 in total and started studying. With no guidance, I spent months in a tutorial loop and the closest I came to building anything was doing code-alongs.💔 I got frustrated so many times, took month-long breaks and doubted myself every single day (I still do occasionally when I face a bug in my code 😅). One thing I didn’t do though, was quit.
After two years of struggling to build things on my own, understand programming logic, fighting imposter syndrome every day (this battle is not finished 😑)... I managed to become a front-end developer (sigh...feels so good to say this out loud 😩). Having eventually won this battle, with the help of mentors and a supportive circle of friends, I believe I have figured out a way to help other beginners have a smoother journey.
How It's Going
I’m working with Women Who Code Frontend to organize cohort-based learnings for beginner web developers. The goal is to get these beginners to build projects on their own, (no matter how small) which will ultimately improve their confidence. We’ll also ensure accountability using the study buddy system for pair programming. If you’re female, learning to code and interested, sign up here and let's get you started.
Thanks for reading 👋