After 6 months of learning to code, I had some paying customers from my products.

Ann Ng — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 04:20:27 +0000

Hello everyone, I’m Ann ✌️.

I've had a long-time interest in programming, but with a 9-to-6 Mon through Fri work schedule, I was just physically tired and had no time for learning new things.

So, I decided to take a break to travel and do what I love. I considered it an award after five years of relentlessly working for corporates.

My journey began in June 2022.

I started learning JavaScript, HTML, and CSS from online sources such as FreeCodeCamp, Udacity, etc., along with helpful guidance from my mentor (my boyfriend 😊).

To avoid boredom, I always find a project to practice every lesson. Then, my first product was released, makecohort.com - a free-to-use tool that helps people create cohort analyses from CSV files.

My second product.

One day in late Aug, my boyfriend suggested me find an idea to tap into the current trend of AI. After the first try using Stable Diffusion and DALL-E, I was hooked. I thought I could make a product that helps people pick their app icons without knowing how to create prompts or code.

I then turned my learning path to React, Next.js and a bunch of new things I had never ever worked with (databases, webhooks, APIs). Honestly, I was having trouble understanding the concepts of React. Even now, I'm still a bit vague about some of its Hook features 😅.

After one month of frustration, I finally launched the first version of candyicons.com, which offers AI-generated app icons. I recently added some features like custom favicons and app icon generators.

What I've achieved so far ~

Some paying customers on candyicons.com 🥳

The moment when I had my first sale
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An ongoing deal to sell a clone of makecohort.com to a company.

Valuable skills and knowledge.

JavaScript, HTML, CSS, React, Next.js, mySQL database, working with APIs, payment flow setup, .etc. I don't want to overstate it, but these things are precious to me 😅.

Wrap-up

I feel so happy when I look back at my journey. It was daunting yet fun at the same time when diving into the world of programming. As a code newbie, I love hearing your feedback on my products. That would be a huge help to me in improving 😻.

Thank you so much for reading!

P.S: My Twitter is @_ann_nguyen. If you’re on Twitter too, let’s connect 🤗.

DEV Community: Ann Ng

After 6 months of learning to code, I had some paying customers from my products.

My journey began in June 2022.

My second product.

What I've achieved so far ~

Wrap-up