And so it began…

Hi! I’m Karen. I’m an English teacher from Colombia. I’m 29 years old and recently I realized that I’ve been teaching for almost 12 years (I started with personalized lessons when I was still in high school). But guess what? Teaching is great and all but it’s never really been “my calling” and on top of that the company where I was working at the time… well, let’s just say they had some “problems” and it got ugly.

I got tired of the whole situation, not just with that company but the entire teaching field in general and so one day my brother, a frontend developer said: “why don’t you try programming?”. He probably didn’t say “programming” but at the time, that’s what I thought it was called. He told me all about the great things that the tech world can offer and it sounded like a great alternative. He recommended a course called “Curso de Programación básica” from Platzi. It was mid 2019 and so it began…

On and off

In august, I started working for another company (still teaching). I knew the job pretty well, it was easy to do and I had an ok salary. I was comfortable and stable once again. Parallel to this, I was very excited to start the programming course. It was mainly focused on some very basic Javascript concepts. I found the whole thing fascinating. I was learning something different and the exercises were challenging. However, the methodology wasn’t engaging enough. I kept going through the course but as time passed by I started losing interest and eventually, I left it aside. Looking back, I guess I just got too comfortable in my job again and forgot that I was tired of all that. Basically, I lost sight of the reasons why I wanted to become a web developer in the first place.

Blessing in disguise

The pandemic has been harsh for so many people around the world. Devastating consequences: people have lost their jobs, their families and even their lives. But for me, it’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened.

Now, I don’t say this out loud very often, I don’t mean to seem insensitive, but the truth is that being locked down at home gave me plenty of time to think and re evaluate things. My work situation wasn’t great. My contract got suspended so I basically was left without a job. Fortunately, I had some savings and I started teaching English to my brother and his girlfriend. I had enough money not to worry about it (too much). I was healthy and so was my family, so I was good.

Being locked down at home gave me a chance to put things into perspective. I thought about all the things that I wanted to change in my life, all the things I wanted to do and now thanks to the pandemic I had all the time in the world to finally do it. My plan to become a web developer was back!

This time is for real

I was extremely motivated. My brother very kindly offered to tutor me and we agreed to meet each other online (he lives in Chile) twice a week to go through different topics and start building projects. I even invited a friend to join our sessions. She didn’t have any experience in web development whatsoever, but I just thought it would be great to have someone to study with, help each other along the way and basically share the whole experience. Overall, I was very excited and happy to be back on track.

On and off (part two)

Well, it turned out this time wasn’t for real, either. Around mid September my parents and I started doing some renovations around the house. Because of it, I didn’t really have enough time or energy to study. My friend and I were still having lessons with my brother, but we reached a point where it was difficult to keep advancing at the same pace, so we decided to split up and take different learning paths.

My brother suggested taking a course online and we did look at some course options but I decided to keep studying on my own for some time. Turns out that studying on your own and keeping yourself accountable… Not that easy! I was tired because of the reno that lasted almost two months, without a clear path to follow, got really sick for a few days in November, then it was December and then, well, Christmas. All in all, the motivation just wore off and I eventually stopped (again).

Welcome to the present

So, here I am, March 9th, 2021. Almost two years after this all began, feeling like I am still on day one. Trying to find my way in the path of becoming a frontend developer in the hope for a better future.

What’s changed since then? Well, I’m 5 days into my new part-time job, with enough free time to study (one less excuse). It’s been a while so I’m in the process of reviewing everything I learnt last year, which I didn’t notice then, but it was quite a lot. I'm organizing my study sessions so it’s easier to keep going. Trying to get more involve into the web dev community. And overall just figuring out things as I go.

“It’s better to move a thousands steps in the wrong direction than standing still”

Or something like that. I don’t really remember who said that but when I heard it, it just made sense. Is web development really for me? Honestly, I still don’t know. But it seemed like the smart move to make and that is exactly what that phrase is about (man, I really wish I could remember who said that). I don’t know if it is the right decision but I do know it will take me down a path where I will learn new things, meet new people and have new experiences. Sounds like a win to me!

I made a deal with myself not to give up and to just enjoy the process, make it fun and keep learning as much as I can. Also, to get more involved with the dev community (they seem like nice folks). I know this was a long story of endless beginnings and I want to thank you for your time if you made this far. If you can take anything from reading this, I don’t know what that could be. But hopefully you did and if so… Great!! Let me know. I’d love to hear what it was.

Till next time.