Introduction

To start out, a little something about me for context. Currently 25 years old, I dropped out of school at the age of 16 and started to work full time. For the most part of the time, I was working in hospitality and working odd jobs until I moved to Vietnam to teach English last year. For a more elaborate introduction, you can check out this - https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@kruzins/how-s-it-going-steemit-first-post-alert

Around a year ago I started to dabble into programming and I got instantly hooked. Not long after that, I made a decision that I will make a career change and seek employment in the technology industry. It seemed logical because of my love to create, solve problems and tinker with things. Excitement grew and I got ready for the journey.

After several nights of watching inspirational Youtube videos, where "regular" people with no tech background taught themselves to code in X months and were employed with a six-figure salary, I was hyped. If they can do it, I can do it too. In a very naive manner, I assumed that it will be easy.

Oh boy, I was wrong...

Okay, where do I start? What language should I learn? Frameworks, what are those? What kind of developer would I like to be? Do I want to make web pages, blockchains, operating systems, compilers, web apps, embedded systems, work in data science, machine learning, computer vision? Honestly, I did not even know what half of those things meant, but it all sounded so luring yet intimidating.

I started out by learning Python, as it got suggested to me by several people and it has a reputation for being very beginner-friendly. The very beginning everything was going smooth, until more complicated where I started to doubt my self proclaimed intelligence. The more I learned, the more I realized that this will not be this easy thing that I will just pull off. I needed more foundational knowledge of how computers work if I would like to really learn something. So I dropped learning Python and took the very highly regarded CS50 from Harvard University ( edX is a bloody brilliant resource). And it was a great and very rewarding course to finish. Also, I found it very hard and felt stupid once again.

Now, a year later the feeling of being stupid is still here, but I have grown to be used to it. I never returned to Python(I still plan to learn it) and set my eye for a role in Web Development. Some of the reasons being - job availability, an abundance of resources and the relatively low entry barrier for new developers. I have a decent understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and I more or less know what I am doing. I am familiar with Node and React and how API's work. But I haven't made nearly enough projects to showcase to potential employers, I still have quite a few gaps in my knowledge and I do not feel ready at all.

Since I am moving back to Europe in three months and I do not have a job lined up, I have decided to take this time to build a portfolio, establish a deeper understanding of the design, development, and deployment processes. My goal is to find work within a month of getting there ( I know, very optimistic) and being able to support myself solely from this.

Then we come to the purpose of this post. For the next three months, I will post twice a week about my progress, insights, and frustrations. I will also attempt to explain some concepts that I learn. Not because I think that I am competent to teach someone else, but to crystalize my own knowledge.

Have a good day guys and keep griding!