💡 How I Started My Dev Journey
Today, I found myself diving deep into dev articles written by my fellow developers. Then, a simple question popped into my head: "When did I actually start this path?"
I smiled, got up from my bed, and here I am—writing my very first dev post.
🎓 College Days: The Struggle Was Real
I still remember those days in college. During my first two years studying IT, programming wasn't my thing. C++? Didn’t get it. Visual Basic? Hated it. MS Access? Completely lost. 😅
I used to doze off during database classes. Every time the command line interface popped up and the instructor started typing commands, I zoned out. I had zero energy to participate—I simply didn’t understand what was happening.
💾 Chapter 2: The Turning Point
Fast forward to my third year. Another database subject, another command line interface—but this time with a new instructor, Mr. Galang. He introduced us to MySQL, and somehow, things started to click. SELECT, WHERE, UPDATE, and DELETE—those four commands became my best friends.
He also introduced us to HTML and CSS, and I remember watching a video tutorial on creating a shopping cart. That was the moment I actually enjoyed coding.
We then moved on to PHP and learned how to connect it to MySQL. I was amazed the first time I saw data from that black command prompt appear on a browser. It felt like magic! ✨
🎵 I Got Rhythm — My First Big Project
For one of our major projects, our group of four (2 girls, 2 boys) had to create an app using PHP and MySQL. I pitched the idea of a web-based music player called I Got Rhythm—this was back in 2014, and I had no clue what Spotify was.
I had the concept, the name, and a simple UI in mind. But there was a problem—I only knew four SQL commands, and integrating them into PHP was a nightmare. Even basic things like login with sessions were a struggle. To make things worse, we had no internet for research—just a saved copy of W3Schools.
After three grueling days, we realized we needed help.
We called a friend—the best in our batch—to assist us. We cooked food as a thank you and handled the documentation while he worked his magic. I explained my vision, and he brought it to life: user login, music uploads, downloads, likes, and even a like counter. It all worked perfectly. 🎉
The day we presented it, we won 1st place. The crowd clapped, my friend clapped, and we even got a prize. But deep down, I felt disappointed—I designed the project, but I barely coded it. Despite the recognition, I felt like I hadn’t truly earned it.
💻 The Real Start of My Dev Life
That disappointment became my drive. I dived into PHP, MySQL, HTML, and CSS. By my fourth year, a friend introduced me to Bootstrap (version 2 or 3.2 back then), and I was hooked. I explored templates, plugins, and really got into frontend design.
💼 Internship: Leveling Up
During my internship at the Information and Communication Technology Office of our main campus, I got introduced to Yii2—a PHP framework. That opened a whole new world for me. I learned about:
- 📧 PHPMailer for emails
- 🔑 Login with email verification & password recovery
- 📊 Generating reports with MPDF & FPDF
- 🗺️ Integrating Google Maps (lat/long)
- 📁 CSV import/export
- 🏛️ Government website standards (iGov for the Philippines)
- 🖼️ Foundation framework
But even with all this knowledge, my thesis project didn’t win any awards. As the team leader, it felt like a personal failure. Another heavy hit. 💔
🧭 Post-College: Finding My Way
After graduation, I stopped coding out of disappointment. I focused on graphic design and networking instead. I applied for graphic designer and tech support roles in Manila but ended up jobless for 7 months.
Then, just as I was about to give up and go home, I landed a job. And guess what? It was as a Web Developer. Life has a funny way of bringing you back to what you’re meant to do.
The company had everything I loved—graphic design, CAD, networking, and programming—all in one place. Destiny? Maybe.
⚡️ The Developer Grind
In my first year as a web developer, I was introduced to technologies I once hated:
- 💾 ASP.NET, C#, VB
- 📊 MS Access, MySQL
- 🖥️ IIS configuration
- 🗄️ Oracle DB
But this time, I embraced them. I even introduced PHP and suggested using CodeIgniter as our framework. I learned database tools like Navicat and HeidiSQL and expanded my skills in hosting, domain settings, and site deployment.
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
— Pablo Picasso
Over the next two years, I pushed myself further:
- 🌐 Joined communities like Stack Overflow, GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket
- 💾 Explored NoSQL databases: MongoDB, Neo4J, CouchDB, Redis
- 🐘 Worked with PostgreSQL and SQLite
- 🤖 Played around with Android Studio, Python, and Ruby
- 📡 Set up Gitea & Gogs
- 🐧 Used Linux OS and even experimented with Hackintosh
- 💡 Learned frontend tricks with JSFiddle & CodePen
Somewhere along the way, I unknowingly mastered JavaScript, AJAX, JSON, and even fell in love with VueJS. 😍
📚 Educate Yourself
When a question on a certain topics pops up, google it. Watch movies and documentaries. When something sparks your interest, read about it. Read read read. Study, learn, stimulate your brain. Don't just rely on the school system, educate that beautiful mind of yours. 💡
(Found this advice on Pinterest and it stuck with me.)
Looking back, every struggle, every failure, and every success led me here—to being a dev today. And honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. 🚀
Top comments (1)
Fellow Pinoy right here👏