DEV Community: Will

Mid Life Coding Newbie - Staying Motivated/Imposter Syndrome

Will — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 05:13:28 +0000

So like me, you might be in "mid-life", which means you have a job, family, friends, hobbies, etc. and you want to ALSO find something that may help your future. But you only have time a few hours a day/week to be able to get that done. On top of that, you don't necessarily know what you want to do or to know how to go about it or if you are doing it "right". You spend months/years working towards a project, but too afraid to "pull the trigger" to move on to the next level to make something of it all.

I've been going through that for some time now and I've been going back and forth on it and stopping and starting. After about a month or so, I finally went back and completed that last project on FCC and got my first certificate on the site. I realized that it didn't matter if it was pretty or perfect, it only mattered that I finished it and learned the lessons that it was trying to teach me. I didn't need for it to be perfect. If I was trying to do that, I would be creating a purpose driven portfolio and would spend hours/days/weeks on each project to make it "perfect". In this case, the purpose was to finish the challenge, complete the lesson, LEARN the lesson, and move on. So I went back, got rid of all the complications I created for myself, kept it simple, passed the final challenge and moved on.

So now what, what is next? Do I continue to push on with FCC and learn JavaScript or do I try something else and make sure I know what I think I should know. Did I learn everything I should have learned? Did I miss anything along the way or not learn "enough"? The problem with doing all this on your own is that you don't have someone else to guide you and to tell you you are on track. You don't have someone to say, "ok, this is a good start, let's move on to the next topic". You need to determine that on your own. This is where the "imposter syndrome" starts to kick in.

After I did that, I did a few things. One was to enjoy the little bit of happiness with finishing a certificate, even if it meant little to anyone else. Second was to start JS on FCC. Concurrently, I also found 3 different programs via Udemy that were on sale and started learning from someone else, other than FCC. I wanted to make sure that I was learning all I could and getting the full experience of HTML and CSS and by getting lessons from another, recommended source, I was telling myself that I was on track for learning all I could.

Part of one of the Udemy courses is also accompanied by a book that teaches the student how to also make money doing this. I am still very fearful of trying new things and putting myself out there in ways I've not done so before, but I feel that it is important to do so. That is how this all works and that is how you start to build confidence.

When I first started many of the jobs I've done over the last 20+ years, I always felt that imposter syndrome at each and every one of them. I didn't feel that I was "supposed" to be hired at the job I was hired for. I felt that I was going to be "found out as a fraud" or fail miserably and everyone was going to realize I couldn't do the job. But the reality is, I didn't get the job by accident and my skills and education and experiences got me to the place I am now for a reason. The same thing applies to the courses I'm taking now with trying to learn coding.

On top of this, doing a bit of research, I've found that this field of work is still very much in demand and in Europe (my ultimate personal goal), there is a lot of demand and few skilled workers to do the job vs. the need (as in the US and other places). This is motivation that I need to keep me going.

Having a goal in mind and always having that in front of you is KEY to success. I even wrote down on a sticky note that goal and taped it to the wall in front of my computer to constantly remind me of those reasons. Without motivation, we have no real purpose or drive in life. That is the key to all of this, pushing through the hard times to get to where we want to be!

Till next time...

Continuing the Mid Life Coding Journey

Will — Thu, 27 May 2021 03:43:37 +0000

Obviously understanding that I can't continue to blog down a journey of the past forever, I want to get it all out there as to where I am and how I got here. Having messed around with it as a kid here and there, that didn't really make the potential sink in, obviously. Fast forward to college, I was in a large university and was roomed with a CS major. You would think that this would have piqued my interest and inspired me to explore it. However, even at 18, I knew, or assumed that due to my limitations in math and science, it was probably not best to venture down a path that is heavy in at least one of these. So I moved into other directions with my career.

Back in 2017, I found Freecodecamp.org. Over the course of the last 10 years+, things like internet education and
online teaching platforms, etc. have become more and more prevalent and less and less taboo. This site spoke to me because I could try it for free and if I stuck with it, I could create a decent portfolio while helping non profits develop websites, win-win. However, after a few months, I didn't really stick with it as much as I would have wanted to. I went back to it from time to time, but nothing with any substance.

Over the last several months, I've gone back to it again, having played around with it from time to time over the last few years. I figured that if I wanted to really learn it, it was going to take time and if my plan was to retire and do this as side income, time I had. So why worry as to how long it took. The problem was that I didn't know what I did or didn't remember from the lessons I had taken. So, instead of just starting where I left off, I reset the whole thing and started over. Some of the content and lessons had changed, so it was a good thing anyway. I learned new topics while reinforcing the lessons I'd learnt already.

I'm now at the projects section for the first certificate and I thought I was at a good place with my lessons. But I still don't feel like I really know anything. The last project has a certain set of criteria to pass that can leave you fumbling and it feels like I'm just guessing as to how to find the answer. I could simply look at the example code and I've done that for some answers to past challenges. However, on this one, I refuse to do that. I am looking to Google, my past code projects, W3Schools, or wherever else, but I'm still struggling. This is where the real test for me comes.

As I get older, I begin to understand myself more and know certain signs to look for. One of them is that when things get challenging and I don't NEED to do it for any reason other than personal fulfillment, I will stop and move on to something else. However, this time, I am refusing myself that option and it is really hard to move on. So instead of doing so, first, I'm going to give myself a break for a bit, to not get overly frustrated. Second, I'm going to buckle down, go to W3schools, back to FCC, Google, wherever I need to to figure it out. This is the only way to get through it. If I stop now, it'll be another pause in my progress that will prevent me from getting to my goal.

Blogging in this manner and style is helping me to stay focused on coding during those times I'm not actually coding. Hopefully along the way, others are inspired or can feel similarity and connection. Remember, life is complicated and busy. Don't forget to put down what you're doing and do something else for a bit. We all need a break and variety in life. But don't forget to go back and finish what you started!

Mid-Life Coding Newbie

Will — Thu, 13 May 2021 04:01:28 +0000

My name is Will and I do NOT consider myself a coder, but a future hopeful. However, even at the age of 45 with 3 kids, a full time career (not anywhere near coding) and a pretty busy life, I've decided that something I've been toying around with for literal decades is something that MAYBE, just maybe, I might be able to consider as a future.

Even now as I start to write my first blog, I realize how much of a newbie I must be to anyone who might consider reading this. This will probably not be the typical tech blog, full of the usual items from those well versed in programming. However, I'm doing this for my own personal journey into coding and anyone who might be crazy enough to travel along with me on this journey and possibly be inspired to do the same.

A bit of background, I started with computers in the 80s and you probably know what that means, archaic and interesting to say the least. I started messing around at the age of 8 or so either playing with my Atari 2600, using tape drives on Radio Shack computers and learning with basic coding on IBM computers to create simple programs to make moving shapes and such dance on the screen. However, that was short lived and I quickly moved away from programming, while still continuing to be active in computers all throughout my life.

I had many stops and starts over the next few decades toying with the idea, however, it wasn't as easy to do online learning as it is now, especially if you weren't a CS major in college and paying the bills immediately took a front seat. I did not go into CS, but another, unrelated major. Over the last several years, I took a more serious approach to this and have been looking to really get into it, but felt completely lost and "too old" to NOW learn to code and translate that into a career.

Starting in 2017, I found FreeCodeCamp.org and it seemed like a great place to start to dive into this and see if it was something I really wanted to do. I went through the beginning content for a while and again stopped and started over the last few years, mostly trying to overcome the thoughts I was too old and trying to convince myself that this was something I could really do, even in some sort of freelance/side gig method, instead of trying to transition to a full time career.

Over the next few posts, I'll explain a bit more of these past experiences I've had and to go into more detail of what I've done specifically over the last few years and what my plan is going forward. As I go through my personal experiences trying to learn coding through a self paced, self learning process, I'll take you along with me.