We all have our origin stories. Maybe you were born to become a programmer or you started off when you first went into college.
For me, I became a...
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I was first introduced to coding with Geocities which, for the young ones was one of the OG website building platforms.
But it was a hobby and I never thought of it as a career.
In university I took some computer science classes and enjoyed them and did pretty well, but still thought of my career as going in another direction (more creative marketing)...
But then when I started my career I found that the most creative work was actually being done by the developers! It was clear that's where I wanted to be, so I went hard into self-teaching to be a professional software developer and the rest is history!
Hey Ben! That's great to hear from you! Thank you for providing us Dev.to and congrats on the MLH partnership!
I never heard of Geocities, but it does look interesting for web hosting! Wish I knew it before.
I'm glad your journey as a self-taught developer works out for you! Any advice when self-teaching yourself into the Dev field? I know it can be hard (especially for me) when I want to learn complicated topics and it can be draining.
Once again, thanks for sharing your experience Ben!
Any time I'm self-teaching, then or now, for me it really helps to be motivated by a specific project I want to fully see through — and then committing to making it 100% how you envisioned or better. Not getting distracted or discouraged when it becomes a grind.
Great point! Is it usually any projects (Beginner to Expert) or do you usually start small and once you get conformable, you challenge yourself to build something bigger?
I'll do some small things along the way as I'm learning — but I personally learn best when I have a big proper ambitious thing I know I'm working up to and am committing to fully building.
I loved games growing up and always wondered how things worked, in high school, I joined a robotics club, I remember that being the first time seeing those old bulky Alienware laptops. I asked the programmer why his laptop was so “fat” 😂 after I joined that robotics club my interest peaked from there
Hey Maame! Great to hear! What do you like about being in the robotics club? Every time I hear someone is in robotics, they are extremely smart since you work with hardware and software.
I was in that club like 11 years ago, but we used to use a software called “RISE” I don’t know if it still exists. But it had a similar interface to scratch… then you build up and connect it to their mini robots to do tasks like following a black line, knocking off balls… it was really interesting. Would definitely get into it probably as a hobby after my uni studies
Interesting. Never heard of RISE. For me, I know that the robotics club that we have use Lego MindStorms as a starting point. I also heard from my University that someone used Lego MindStorms to perform Machine Learning tasks, which was interesting. Have you messed around with Arduino? Those are great for hardware related projects, especially for AI!
Omg yes I do remember Lego Mindstorms… before in 2015 thereabouts when I joined we used to use ROBOTC, I think now it doesn’t exist anymore and the reason you have probably not heard of RISE is now they don’t deal with mini robots anymore I think they went industrial… but I do remember Lego mindstorms and vexcode… if that’s the correct word… this has brought so many memories 😂
Ahh yes! It was good times. I remember my uncle build a Rubic cube solver using Lego MindStorm. It's was crazy to see it when I was a teen. Make sense of why I never heard of RISE. But then again, to be fair, I never went into Robotics. Though, it would have been a good opportunity to start off in my opinion.
Yeah it’s a really interesting field tbh. Great article!
I'm still finding my reason to be a developer. Though, I love tech and always keep myself updated on tech reviews and tech news to learn about AI. But, yeah first time experiencing as a developer when I participated in a hackathon as a freshmen and wanted to test my skills and win the hackathon but that gave a sense of satisfaction to make and then get inspired from seeing what other are making. Though I lost my spark for few years but I can't express how grateful I'm to this platform that welcomed me with open hands and provided me with such informative and inspiring articles and the amazing writer behind them. Each writer with their story and backgrounds and willingness to share their learnings and their support is unimaginable. I neither experienced nor expected such love and support from strangers from the Internet as I wrote my articles and wait for that one like that finally someone got the meaning of my post. How Dev.to provided me a new platform to be write, I always wanted to try technical writing but never had the courage to start but participating in the Dev Challenges made me write what I did and I loved it and I continued the journey. Since, I'm learning so I couldn't find my niche yet . But yeah, always keeping the attitude of learning to make something epic. Soon, will make some cool projects and share the progress. Thanks everyone for their awesome, love and support.
Thanks Konark! I appreciate your thoughts and grateful to read your experience!
I also never had the thought of blogging since it's just a lot of work. Additionally, my English isn't that great, but I think it's good enough for others to understand the main idea. I came to Dev.to because I thought that "writing it out" will allow me to solidify what I learn so far, which it does!
I hope you will find your niche in your development journey! Any ideas what you are leaning towards based on what you experience so far? It's ok if it is not solidify yet.
I hope your journey goes well on Dev.to! MLH and Dev.to are in one, so I bet we will find more opportunities from there!
Once again, thanks for sharing!
Yes it's an amazing collab. Let's see and hope what new doors it will unlock for all of us.
I read system design and I started to like it and wanted to go deeper into it and look from a very different perspective of how apps and website usually works. Like the scaling part 0 to 1 millions users. Sharding, managing databases and disaster management, Availability and load balancers all these topics fascinate me a lot.
I use ByteByteGo to learn about them and ofcourse GPT and Gemini as well for some topics and examples.
What's your speciality what you like to do and what projects did you make that you are proud of.
Right now, I am doing Full-stack, but one of the things that I like to do is creative coding, specifically p5.js. If you like bringing creativity to web development, you can check it out here! p5js.org/
For projects, it basically creating a web game. Me and my friend created "Rhythm Swipe", which is a game where the goal is collecting gems while following the beat of the music: github.com/FrancisTR/Rhythm-Swipe
Thanks again!
Sure @francistrdev. It seems like an amazing game I would definitely play with it for hours. I would love to collaborate and make new games and learn from you more about web games.
Looking forward for all your new games.
Hey Thats Whats Up my brother! Im new myself and the AI has been very helpful with learning programming for me. Just a word of encouragement thats all this is. I see alot of discouragement alot of places on the Web and thats not cool. Do What You Do always!
Thank you so much @birdface for you words of encouragement. It means a lot always.
You also keep learning and providing amazing content for us to learn from your experiences. Keep breaking and building stuff always. The more you break the more you learn.
My first experiences go back to middle school, with cassette-based computers. I was barely 13 or 14, and my curiosity was sparked. Then I graduated from high school and enrolled in an intensive short program in large and midrange systems programming — but before I knew it, I had already shifted toward PC databases. Since then, I’ve been developing, testing, experimenting, documenting… and I never get tired of it.
That's great to hear Pascal! I remember seeing the cassette-based computer at one point in my life, though I never used it. Did you get it from the get go and what was a specific thing that made you curious?
Again, thanks for sharing!
Yes, I got it from the get go… And in fact, if you wanted to do anything with these computers, you had to code… there was no software included, if I remember correctly! So… I started programming!
That's great and good to know!
I was introduced to programming out of curiosity. I often wondered how games are created, so one of my first Google searches was along the lines of "Who makes games?" or "How are games made?" This exploration led me to discover programming languages.
I enjoy programming because it allows me to express my creativity. When I write lines of code and see the results, I feel like a creator. My curiosity compels me to continually explore new programming techniques, bringing my projects to life in unique and innovative ways. Additionally, as a developer, I have control and authority over the code I write, which makes me feel like a king or commander of my creations.
Games are a big reason folks get into this space
Hey M Saad Ahmed! Thanks for sharing! It is great to have ownership of the things you built.
I notice you are doing the 100 days of code. Looks like you made a lot of progress. Great work! Can't wait to see the results!
Yep, Thanks ❤. Will share the results as well
First of all, thank you for the shoutout, Francis. That genuinely means a lot more than you probably realize. I remember when you first started posting, and seeing you stay consistent and curious has been inspiring for me too. It’s rare to see someone approach learning with that kind of sincerity.
As for your question, I think I fell into development partly because of proximity. My dad is a software engineer, so building things and talking about systems was never something foreign to me. It was just there always in the background, I just didn't understand it then, only wished to. I also spent a lot of time playing games growing up, Clash of Clans on mobile and, on a thick old Dell laptop that struggled to run half of them.
At some point after school, it became more practical. I saw development as a path that offered independence and financial stability, which is what led me toward web and app development initially.
But what made me stay wasn’t just the money. It was the realization that being an engineer gives you a kind of leverage over reality. Once you understand systems, you start seeing patterns everywhere, not just in code, but in products, businesses, and even people. It becomes easier to move across domains because you’re not just using tools, you understand how things are built underneath.
I’m still figuring out my exact path, but development has given me a way to think clearly and build things that didn’t exist before. That alone has made it worth staying.
Thanks again for the shoutout, and I’m glad you’re sharing your journey here too.
Thanks Aryan! It has been a good month since I joined! Looking around on Dev.to, I found your post on Learning Starts after Graduation was a great starting point for me to engage on Dev.to in my opinion. I appreciate your reply to my comment about it!
Growing up in a household who is already a SWE is rare in my eyes. I am grateful that you were able to grow up in an environment that you are passionate about! I do agree that "engineer gives you a kind of leverage over reality". It gives you a sense of patterns you see everyday and being able to problem solve since you already experienced it before.
Thanks for sharing! I hope your journey is still going well for you! Keep a lookout for the Monthly Dev Report for this month next week! :D
Thank you Francis, I'm truly grateful for your support! I wish that your journey is awesome as well! Looking forward to the monthly report! ^_^
I started a company running drone media services back in the day. I couldn't code back then so I created my website using a no code platform. I realized then that I had little flexibility on how I could expand my business on the software side and then decided to start learning how to code. I liked it so much that I continued down that route and became a developer as my main profession!
That's great to hear Julien! Seems like you had a great starting point of becoming a developer! Usually, most start off from the basics such as learning to code, but in the most modular way where it is easy for everyone to understand and getting their feet wet. I am glad that you like and continue your profession. Thanks for sharing!
I always loved mathematics. Over-memorizing other subjects, maths gives me a tool, and I can apply it as I want to find the result. As I entered college, coding was one of the subjects that challenges problem solving skills. I instantly liked it.
Hey Suraj! Hope you are well! Thanks for sharing your journey! Math + Developer is a great combo for the Dev journey because that what make Developers stand out! What's the highest math you took so far? Also, how do you apply Math in your development journey?
Regardless, thanks for sharing!
The good old RPG Maker 2000 was what gave me the original inspiration when I was a kid. Even though I played with Lego Mindstorms earlier in my life, the RPG Maker was what really got me into the stuff. It had some sort of logic system that had some basic programming capabilities, but the only variable types were bools and integers. But it had if statements, loops, even something that resembles functions, if you squint your eyes a little. It was a tremendous amount fun building games, bringing ideas to life and also seeing what others could build with the tool.
I started building scripts others could use, and I wanted to present them to the world, so I asked a friend that had their own website how they built it and they introduced me to HTML. After some time, I wanted to learn how I could update my website without uploading new HTML files every time, so I learned PHP, recognizing bits and pieces of logic from the RPG Maker (as in "Oh,
whileis just aloop! Andifis simply afork condition!" - yes, don't question the naming, the RPG Maker was an adventurous translation of the Japanese original).I then suddenly realized the power that an actual programming language gives you. Like, every program I ever used and every game I ever played on the computer, everything was written in code I could now potentially read and write myself! That "Woah" moment was when I decided to get good at programming. Still in high school, mind you. I originally wanted to pursue a career in technical drawing for years, but programming felt way more fun than drawing.
So I spent every free minute I had on building more fun things, trying out stuff and learning along the way. Eventually, some two years later, it worked out for me and I got into a secondary school for Computer Science and got my first job quickly after that. Rest is history :)
Hey Pascal! Hope you are well! Glad your journey started off well! I experimented RPG Maker on the Nintendo Switch and it was quite interesting based on the features it provided and things you can make out of it!
Lego Mindstorms was great. Even though it was confusing for me back then since my Uncle usually build stuff with it (like the rubrics cube solver). But it was interesting for me nevertheless!
I'm glad you enjoyed being a Dev and got your first job quickly! Thanks for sharing and hope your journey goes well for you! :D
Thank you so much! Journey's been well so far, I'm working in the industry for a good 15 years now, got a bachelor's degree under my belt and even wrote a book at some point, so one could say I owe that RPG Maker a lot :D I was 12 to 14 back then when I first learned PHP and I'm 36 now, so, yeah, quite a while ago :)
I really miss the experience of it, though. There was a newer version of the tool that supported Ruby as an internal programming language, which was quite amazing, but I didn't know Ruby back then and kinda lost interest over the years. Also, the community around the RPG Maker was slowly dying, and if no one's around playing your games, it's only half the fun, sadly.
Next best thing to Lego Mindstorms nowadays is fiddling with Arduinos. The possibilities are endless, even though it's often not nearly as approachable as simply putting together some bricks, BUT: You can combine Lego Bricks with Arduino and build some pretty fancy stuff. YouTube's full of insanely creative people that build all sorts of things with that combo.
That's great to hear! Only 4+ years for me, but still a noobie at it lol!
It is a small community for RPG Maker now. Would have wished to see it sooner. It's still great, but yea I agree with "if no one's around playing your games, it's only half the fun".
I didn't know you can combine Arduino with Lego Mindstorms. It makes sense for that combo, but now it makes me want to try it lol. Gonna look into it a bit more in the future, but thanks for highlighting it!
I became a developer when I first played to a point&click game called "The Neverhood" (amazing game). Years later, I was 15, and I discovered web development with "Le Site du Zéro", like so many french devs.
At that time, I decided this is what I wanted to do with my life: building stuff with lines of code, thinking systems and bringing them to life.
Thanks Thomas! Glad you had a good start on your Dev Journey. What kinds of things did you ended up building if that's ok for me asking? Not really familiar with Le Site du Zéro. Regardless, thanks for sharing!
Well, at first it was a nice journey, but nowadays I feel kind of bitter toward the software industry.
I ended up building webapps, mostly. My dream would be to find another job and leave this industry for good, and just keep coding for myself
That's fair. The market right now for tech is not quite good so far. Regardless, I hope you will find your next job in this volatile industry! Keep it up and great work!
For me, it started with frustration.
I needed small tools for daily tasks, but most sites asked for signup or felt slow. So I tried building one for myself.
The first time it worked, it felt different. Not just using the internet — but creating something useful on it.
That’s when I realized development gives you freedom. If something doesn’t exist, you can build it.
Curious — what was the first thing you built that made you feel like “yes, this is for me”?
Thanks Bhavin! Glad you found the solution that you needed as well as enjoying what you do!
The first thing I built was my portfolio I believe. It's been awhile, so it's hard to pinpoint but I remember I created my portfolio using Vanilla HTML, CSS, and a bit of JS and I enjoy it! Mostly because I can visually see my work and able to show it to other that are non-developers! It gets to show your creativity.
Thanks again for sharing! Hope you are well :D
I became a developer playing Warcraft 3, lol. It's an old game, but it's awesome, and probably one of the only ones my GPU can handle at 60 fps. I was impressed by Dota 1, which was created in its map editor. Yes, the authors changed several times, but the most amazing thing is that they were the alone. We don't know much about them, but we do know that in 2003, there was nothing publicly available for learning the Warcraft language. The fact that they learned it on their own, without tutorials or especially without ready-made solutions, is impressive. So, I was inspired and became a developer too. Too bad about vibecoder.
I think I've only been gone a week. I've already managed to bury my project several times, abandoning dev.to for several periods of time. Richard left. I'm starting to disappear too.
Hey Ember! Thanks for sharing! Like @ben mentioned, games gave us inspiration to create our own and create what we enjoy! For me, Minecraft was also one of the inspiration. Clash of Clans is more of "critical thinking" moments.
I know Richard left. It was unexpected too. No need to be active on Dev.to everyday (I am not active on weekends!). Take as much time as you need. It's not like we do not remember you since the community is small enough where we remember each other. If you remember Richard, I can guess we would remember you!
Thanks for sharing once again! Hope you are well :)
Thanks!
My journey started 45 years ago when I discovered I could create things in code, explore my fascination with geometry and acquire skills I could later make into a career and have fun.
I would wish everyone were as fortunate to find their life-long passion.
Hey Tracy! Hope you are well! Glad you have started off well on your Dev journey when it comes to the interest in Geometry :)
Sometimes people find their passion early on and sometimes people find it later. It's pretty much how it is since everyone is different and therefore everyone has different experiences. What matters is what you enjoy doing and being mentally healthy for yourself. I hope you are well and thanks for sharing Tracy!
Because I asked the question, "what's the worst that would happen, if I just try."
Added bonus: It sounds cool. 😂
Also, because curious.
Thanks for sharing Anna! Glad you took the risk to see what would happen lol.
Looks like you are doing well so far on your journey! Great job on the "ASCII Whisper" for the Github Copilot submission! Hope you will win!
Thank you! I couldn't have done it without @trickell. It was definitely a group effort. Thank you for your kind words! We are all on a journey together. Aren't we? 🌌🦄✨️ haha
On Dev.to? Indeed we all are! Different branches of time and experience for each individual coming together into one! :D
It was accident for me. Around co-vid I got really into Hackintosh, and after a year or so I had a good grip on the whole thing. But i felt suffocated or limited a reliability on these "SSDTS" which just in appearance with 7 OR 8 in your EFI Folder just looked strange to me. So i began looking at DSDT. And of course that was discouraged, but i continued doing my own thing and I had a friend at Olarila.com give me some solid direction in that area and after about 6 months of breaking stuff and pulling my hair out, things started making some sense. I had zero programming experience when I started. My biggest achievement when I started all of it was using DISKPART on windows to format the drive for installs, so i knew nothing when I started and that community of people most of what I encountered, which was alot - and to keep from insulting people - I will just say that they were not at all very helpful, very discouraging honestly. With the exception of two people who really encouraged me and that was my friend "Maldon" at Olarila and "Slice" - creator and developer of the ever alive still "Clover Bootloader". And many tutiorials of Pike R Alpha on ACPI Table Examples turned on the light bulb.
So I became able to write my own DSDT from scratch in a text editor and I would systematically do this for every system i hackintoshed which were close to around 65 - 70 diff machines over the 3 or 4 years . Tailoring them to be as close to the SMBIOS from real MacDumps cosmetically helped me understand more about what i was doing. The Mac DSDT in contrast to the one from the stock Windows were huge, MAC = 7500 T0 11,000 Lines Of Code versus Windows 56 - 58,000 Lines Of Code. I liked the fact that everything ususally without any isssues worked out of the box. Zero slow boot times were a Myth and unmaintainability was also a Myth from a group of people I just labeled SSDT Monsters with no understanding of anything outside of that because it required real experience with the matter and no one holding your hand!.
The Rewards for this were (My DSDT From Scratch Method - totally solid, works great, everything always works,no dependability upon alot of third party kexts such as USB related. I map my own USB with the IO Registry and A USB2 usb 3 stick, drop OEM SSDTS with XHC, EHC1, Etc and rewrite entire USB Section place in DSDT Utilizing TUPC TPLD GUPC GPLD Methods for the _UPC and _PLD across all Intel Generations, works just as well on IvyBridge as it Does Comet Lake.
Anyway Today I have learned basic programming where I have been for the last couple years into C++ and C and Objective C and have learned Java, HTML, CSS, Etc. It has been a very rewarding thing for me to better myself educationally ,and it is a great hobby. One that I really enjoy Bevause I like to learn. Ive been using QT Creator as IDE Foiundation and Ive gotten into C-Lion and thus far Im really enjoying using it as Well.
Hey Ricky! Hope you are well. Thank you for the time to share your thoughts in-depth! I'm glad that you enjoyed your journey so far!
You had a very technical start! I tend to see a lot of people starting something small, but your experience is quite unique (even for me. I can see you learn a lot from the ground up!).
How long have you been a dev for since I am curious? Regardless, thanks for taking the time to share your experience!
i hit. return key by accident to sum it up whenever the ai hit with deep seekthourgh the browser last summer siometime was when i started to seriously try and do something with C++,before that i would open QT Creator evryonce in a blue moon and ge lost as fu...and then jump right back to my familiar DSDT Stuff. right now im doing basic things buiolding little mini text editors various ways with the code and i was planning and am at this point in process of putting out one of these texteditor variants with full ACPI Support on the tail end of it, compiler used would be the iasl compiler for the DSDT SSDT etc, and I was trying to make it as good as possible, because personally i thought the "xiasl" application for macOS was certainly capable of alot more and for the better all around as well. But the developer just didnt seem intersted in doing much with it other than SSDT and Zero DSDT Patching anything. i Dont know him at all , so im speculating, but thats what it seemelike to me and so instead of just building from his XIASLapp, i just thought i will make my own and put all these other things in it, which Ill close here, but it has like i said fullACPI Compatribility to write partches in the editor with the patchingerror system indise the editor built i\n with iasl as the compiler, syntaxhighlighting, i have a syntax highlighter that at this point is attached to c++ c and acpi for the editor and ties in with the themimg engine and supports over 250 syntax tokens, built around the stylesheet and the output from the developer tools in "Pulsar Editor" andf"Atom TextEditor"and anyhow it works pretty damn good. But just a simple little project. I get a little detailedabout things. Im aware of it!
i apologize, you know i thought i had replied to your response. But apparentley I havent so to answer your question i havent been a developer for very long at all. i actually just from having some knowledge on just how huge the whole coding of applications is and just how may people it takes to make some of these projects even possible blew my mind. All my life i never knew just how enormous it was until i got into a small section of it and got a little taste of it,and before i allowed my head to get inflated i reminded myself this is not a one man army on any front, this whole thing is possible only because of a community of people who have gathered together for the most part with the ideal of hey lets make this happen from ever corner in the world. And upon the realizatio that macOS Mojave the estimated lines of code for that OS was like around 86 MILLION OR MORE,i dont know if thatys exactly right , i believe i gathered that from the you.com AI when it first came out and so anyway the thing was , dude there is no way you could code 860,000 lines of code yourself and stiul have both of your wrists in tact afterwards. So im not even , i mean i dont necessarily conside myself a developer even. Im very new, and I dont know a whole lot, ive had no other choice but to teach myself most of what little I do know. Im sure many others have had that same experience. But i guess ive been DOING c++ for about i guessd since last summer. Woutside of hackitosh
game modding. i started modding games and wanted to build things the editor couldn't handle, so i learned to actually code.
Hey Ned. Thanks for sharing! Modding is one of the ways to get into Development. What mods did you ended up creating and for what game? Neverthless, thanks for reading!
When I was maybe 11-12 years old, the school required us to buy a calculator for the math course. My parents gave me money and without really knowing what I was choosing, I bought a programmable calculator ... up to 50 instructions in a kind of assembly code. After I had understood what I had in hand I was absolutely fascinated by this capacity to give instructions to a machine, and spent days and days to explore interesting algorithms that could fit in 50 steps !
That's great to hear Laurent! I didn't know a programmable calculator exist! How long did it took you to learn assembly at that age? What did you ended up creating?
Regardless, thanks for sharing your experience!
The calculator was a Texas Instruments TI-57; there is a Wikipedia page that describes it. It was sold with a tutorial book, and a block of printed sheets for writing down our programs ... because the machine had no permanent memory, you had to enter the program again each time. There is an emulator online if you want to play :-)
That's 50 years ago, so I don't remember well what I created, but I was very excited. Probably some math stuff (prime numbers, greatest common denominator, etc.). I think that after high optimization I also managed to write a Master Mind program that fitted in 50 instructions ... better than this version !
That looks interesting. I always used a graphing calculator for my stuff. Thanks for sharing about it!
Thanks for sharing lol
Bro, Clash of Clans mentioned! 🏰 That uncle move was brutal though - getting overtaken by family hits different 😂
But honestly? That experience taught you something most developers never learn: the difference between working hard and working smart. Your uncle didn't just play more - he played BETTER.
Same with coding. It's not about writing more lines. It's about writing the RIGHT lines.
What's the one thing you do now that helps you learn faster than everyone else? Spill the secrets!
Hey Harsh! Hope you are well. I appreciate the insight! I agree on "difference between working hard and working smart". It is very important for developers since it is quite know for Devs to grind projects and Leetcode, but the cost is being mentally drained and burnt out. It is always a good idea to be smart of what are the things I NEED to learn first than I need to do ALL of it as fast as possible.
What's the one thing you do now that helps you learn faster than everyone else?
I hope this helps. Remember, actions speak louder than words! Thanks again!
Hey! Thanks for the thoughtful response — really appreciate you taking the time to write all that.
I completely agree with your point about finding your own learning path instead of blindly following the crowd. That idea of "optimizing the learning process" by observing how most people learn something and then finding a faster/more efficient route? That's gold. Most people just follow the herd without questioning if there's a better way.
To answer your question: One thing I do now that helps me learn faster — I try to build something useful while learning, instead of waiting to "complete" the learning first. Like you mentioned with the Python example, I jump into a small project early on, even if I don't know everything. That way, I run into real problems, Google my way out, and the concepts stick better because I learned them through actual need, not just theory.
Also, I really liked what you said about getting ahead before the course starts. That's a pro move. It turns the course into a revision session instead of a stressful learning-from-scratch experience.
And yeah, consistency > intensity. Small steps daily > massive burst once a week. Snowball effect is real.
Thanks again for the insight, Harsh. Actions > words always. Let's keep building!
I started writing my first scripts in high school and back then it's the people or the children or teenagers who used to write scripts were called script kiddies so I wrote little scripts that would do little things like welcome me when I'm logged into my laptop( it was my sister's laptop )and little things like that and I I also started reading about different hacking books because I thought it was cool. And later on in college, I started doing JavaScript in Khan Academy where I got to learn that I can actually make things with JavaScript and other languages. I never learned C or C Sharp extensively, but JavaScript was the go-to language for me that I started learning. And I think in the middle of COVID-19 is when I actually started my first developer certification on freecodecamp. That's where I actually started to develop projects. And after that, it was just going on and I started doing more projects.
Hey Shahriar! Thanks for sharing! Hope you are well. Writing small scripts is a fascinating way to get into Dev because it shows what you can create and showcase it to others. What kind of projects are you creating right now? In any case, thanks for sharing your experience!
I started with the same story but now i hope to find my goal,
I'm still searching about it,
but my inner voice and soul told me stop programming at traditional job and change your way, I want to be a free man with no job connection with no job position without restrictions.
Hey Taaaioo! Thanks for reading!
Thanks a lot...
I didn’t become a developer because of “passion for coding.”
I became one because I kept running into tiny problems online.
I’d copy text → formatting breaks.
Paste JSON → errors.
Convert something → paywall or ads.
At some point I thought: instead of searching for a better tool every time, why not just make one?
So I started building small utilities for myself. Then other people started using them. That’s when it clicked — code is basically a way to remove small frustrations from someone else’s day.
I still don’t chase fancy projects much. I just like creating simple tools that solve one problem properly.
Thanks for sharing! Yea, it is usually what most Dev goes to. If the software you are using tends to break or have annoying ads, mind as well create one yourself lol. Thanks again for sharing your experience!
Have a great DAy!
My dad taught me how to use my hands and my brain to create things. He was demanding; even when I did a good job, he’d silently nod and say, 'You can do better, son.' It was a harsh lesson, but a powerful one.
In short, I love to build—usually big, ambitious, and complicated things. That sense of liberation when you see your creation working and knowing other people are benefiting from it? There’s no better feeling.
Hey Kaspars! Hope you are well. Thanks for sharing your experience!
It sounds like a harsh lesson. I hope you are well from that. But it is true in a sense and it is indeed a valuable lesson for all Developers! I remember I was told that I can always improve and always do better, even though I have reach my goal. That what makes one stand out. Instead of reaching the minimum, we should reach our fullest potential as much as possible! That way, our journey would be much easier and see how far we have accomplishment. It takes a lot of discipline for sure!
I am glad you enjoy building complicated things and being able to see your work make an impact! I hope you are doing well and thanks again for sharing!
No mental damage done, I assure you! If anything, it just hard-wired my work ethic. Now, whenever I start a task, my prefrontal cortex gives me an ultimatum: either do it freakishly well, or don’t bother starting at all.
Thanks for the feedback, Francis. Have a good one!
Sounds good! You too as well and Good Luck on your Dev journey!
I did a course in web design back in high school. I learned how to use Dreamweaver CS5 and Photoshop CS5 where I was able to build my first website from a CMS platform. That was when I broke into learning Python and computer science to further my learning. Up to day, I stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies from social media to emails to attending events and learning different ways to think.
That's great to hear Kyle. Glad you made your first website to learning computer science! Hope your journey continues to go well for you!
I once google searched, how to make games. It said you need coding.
I search, how to start.
It said Python.
Since then, I've been learning Python and recently explored it's internals a bit. Though I've been inconsistent and need to restart again.
I don't love Computer Science specifically, it just happens to give me a headache. I love getting a headache, that feeling of despair. That's what I chase.
Hey Bhavesh! Thanks for sharing!
Those of you over the age of 35 may remember that in the late 1990s you couldn't turn on your PC unless you had a mouse and a keyboard. My mum would hide the mouse so I couldn't play games. So I decided to write a script on a floppy disk to behave like there is a mouse connected so that I could bypass the "Windows did not detect a mouse attached" screen and play my games which didn't require mouse anyway. I was about 10-12 at the time
That's great Bugra! It's interesting to hear your experience about how it was like back then. Glad your journey started off small at a young age! Not alot of people have that passion at that age! Thanks again for sharing!
Oh man, your trajectory sounds similar to mine. I started out on an Amstrad CPC6128 though (showing my age), and typing game code into the computer from Usborne "teach yourself" books that I borrowed from the library. Like you, I love to create things and see my creations come to life. More than that, I love to see them bring joy or value to other people. I've been coding since I was 10 years old. I've always loved it as my primary passion.
But what has surprised me the most recently is that I really enjoy using AI to code. Claude Code was a revolution for me back in 2025 and now I'm using it more than ever. I didn't expect that I'd like to step back from the code like this, but I still feel like I'm the creator because I write detailed specs and I micromanage, to create exactly what I have in my mind. It's just that the AI types much faster than me, and often includes tests and things I would have left until later (or never). This has transformed my journey and I can't wait to see what I can build in the future.
Hey Steve. Hope you are well. Glad we had similar experiences! I never tried Claude Code, but glad you have great experiences using it! I tend to use Copilot more than anything, but heard that Claude is better.
Glad you started off at a young age and continued your journey from there. Great work and thanks for sharing!
That's fantastic. I (and I hope you do too) want to make a bigger impact in Software Engineering and then hopefully in the future I get to work on real AAA games. The Future is bright...
That's awesome Daniel! I do recommend making some games (on itch.io!) before getting into the Game Industry! Any dream company you would like to get into?
Not really but, If I had to choose it's gotta be Rockstar. If they make the game themselves it doesn't really ship with bugs and patches and what we see with other studios. Plus they take their time so at lease I know I would be fine on the deadline front...
Built my first website in middle school because I wanted a fan page for a video game. Spent three days figuring out how to center a div (this was pre-flexbox, obviously). The moment it worked I was hooked — not on web design specifically, but on the feeling that you can make a computer do anything if you're stubborn enough.
Fast forward 15 years and I still get that same feeling when something clicks. The problems are bigger now but the dopamine hit is identical.
Hey Matthew! Hope you are well. Thanks for sharing (twice!). I saw your other post about building a python script to organize your game save files. It is a great feeling to build something that is hard to replicate. It makes you feel like you invent something new!
For this post, I'm glad you self learn web dev. Not a lot of people have a driven consistency to learn something they want by themselves, which is ok!
It makes sense that in the industry is mostly meetings and fighting legacy code, but glad you still have passion to still being a Dev.
Once again, thanks for sharing your experience!
I was given this book called Coder Academy by Sean McManus when I was 9 or 10. That got me introduced to Scratch, and in the final 10 pages of the book, it taught some super basic HTML. From then on I have learned many other languages.
Now why did I become a programmer? It wasn't really a choice. I just kind of became. I will probably keep it as a hobby till the end of my days.
That's great to hear Miles! Thanks for sharing. Whether it is for career or hobby, the only part that matters is it if enjoy doing what you do. Thanks again for sharing and appreciate taking the time to read the post!
Reading open source code is where you encounter design decisions at scale — naming, API ergonomics, how to handle backwards compatibility, what to test and how. The reasoning behind those decisions is often in the PR history and commit messages, not the README.
Hey Matthew. Thanks for sharing!
Honestly it was boredom and stubbornness more than anything inspiring lol
i was maybe 14, kept running into small annoying problems and just got frustrated that i could not fix them myself. could not afford most software, did not like how certain tools worked, just wanted things done my way.
so i started tinkering. broke a lot of stuff. fixed it. broke it again.
Never had a "this is my calling" moment or anything like that. it was just the only thing that kept me genuinely curious for more than a few weeks without getting bored. most things i pick up i plateau pretty fast and lose interest. coding just kept having another layer to it every time i thought i was getting decent.
The building thing you mentioned resonates though. there's something weirdly satisfying about having literally nothing and then having a thing that works. doesn't even have to be impressive. just the fact that it exists because you made it feel good every single time.
still chasing that feeling honestly
Hey Tom! Thanks for sharing your experience! It's great to have stuff being built by you and be proud of what you created! Sure, it does not need to be impressive, but it's only you that care about it!
Thanks for sharing again!
Hey - great topic and i love to read about these.
For me personally it was because I was a gamer and I wanted to work in the games industry, however I never made the grades to get on to the game development course at University but did qualify for Computer Science. With the thinking that I could maybe still get into the industry at somepoint.
I ended up just trying to get any job in software following my graduation, as initially I was doing technical support for a BroadBand company (it was soul destroying) and I landed one at a Pet Food Manfuacturing plant, writing VB.NET backend for extruder operating screens.
Never did make it into the games industry, but I have a few friends from University who did and most have now left it. So I tell myself (copium maybe?) that I wasn't missing out on much.
Hey Scott! Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm glad you are doing well in your Dev journey.
I am not sure how your university works, but I do know that you do not need a degree to get into the game industry. Like any other tech companies, it's mostly connections and meeting new people. You could try creating a small game for itch.io! They have great opportunities to get into Game Jams and showcase your skills!
Thanks for sharing again. Hope you are well :D
Honestly? Solved a problem at 16 that was annoying me — needed a tool to organize my game saves across multiple PCs. Built something janky in Python that worked just well enough. That feeling of "I made this thing that does exactly what I want" is impossible to replicate in other fields.
Years later I realize the job is mostly meetings and fighting legacy code, but that original feeling still shows up every time something ships. That's what keeps me here.
I started out messing around with HTML back when mosaic browser was the only one, while I learned HTML and Perl for CGI things, I didn't really get into dev work until late 90s.
My dad had cancer, and living in place not near to him, as something for him to look forward to each day, we played an internet game, which ended up closing down, so I decided to recreate it myself, learned PHP and SQL and wrote a website to play the game (very badly), which we did play every day until he passed away, and since then I have just continued on that path.
Sometimes the path forward chooses for you, it was never my intention to turn to development, but I am glad I did. I found something I love doing, and cherish the reasons why I got into development.
Hey Lawrence! Thanks for sharing your experience! I am deeply sadden your Dad passed away with Cancer. I am sorry you had to experience it. I am glad that you took the time to recreate the game that both you and your Dad enjoyed. I hope that your Dad is proud of you of the Development journey you are in and proud of the accomplishments you have made.
I hope you are doing well so far and I hope you take care of yourself. Thanks for sharing your experience of why you became a Dev!
Honestly it started with wanting to cheat at games lol
not actual cheating but like... i wanted to automate the boring grinding parts. spent hours trying to figure out if i could write something that would just do the repetitive stuff for me. failed miserably at first but couldn't stop trying.
that frustration of "why won't this just work" turned into an obsession i never really shook off.
The thing that kept me going though was exactly what you said, seeing something exist that didn't exist before. even if it was ugly and barely functional. that feeling never really gets old no matter how long you've been doing it.
Never had a grand moment where i decided this was my path. it just slowly became the thing i kept coming back to when everything else got boring.
great post by the way, love hearing how different everyone's path is into this
Hey Tom! Thanks for sharing! It makes sense on what you meant by "cheating at games" lol. Creating a script to do automation stuff is very convenient and time saving. I wish I knew how to script like that back then. It would save a lot of time for me. What kind of game did you use your automation script? Regardless, thanks for sharing your experience and hope you are well :D
Great post! For me, it started with design, not code. I'm a product designer who got frustrated with the tools I was using, so I started building my own. That first moment when something I designed actually worked in a browser was addictive. Now I run a solo SaaS, and honestly, the best part is still the same - watching an idea go from a Figma mockup to something real that people actually use. The "making stuff" part never gets old.
Hey Johnu. Thanks for sharing your experience from Design to code! It is quite addictive to see the plans come to fruition. Great accomplishment of running your SaaS by yourself! Great work! :D
I became a developer because I was curious about how things work behind the scenes.
At first, it wasn’t passion. It was curiosity.
When I saw a website or an app, I kept asking:
“How does this actually work?”
That question slowly turned into learning, then projects, then a career.
What really kept me going wasn’t just coding it was the feeling of solving something complex and making it simple.
There’s something powerful about turning an idea into something real that people can use.
And honestly… I also love that in tech, you can keep reinventing yourself. There’s always something new to learn.
Hey Dashan! Thanks for sharing your experience. Curiosity is a driven factor to getting into Tech along with allowing you to learn new things. I agree with "that in tech, you can keep reinventing yourself"! Learning something new allows you to create things you never thought of that existed! Thanks for sharing again :D
My journey started quite simply, I was curious about how websites are built how it works all and so on. But before learning that, I had to catch up with english, coz I could not understand and learn anything from the courses and I didn't enjoy learning anything in my native language.
In 2022 I made real first steps into programming learning HTML+CSS+JS during summer, however I had to cease my personal development due to school issues, but came back on January 2023 and learnt react. I fell on an idea to create a space for book-readers to interact, track progress and make reading great again. I treated that as start-up, that I actually failed.
Now I make a transition from web-dev and smart-contract developer to Blockchain and Cryptography Engineer/Researcher. Cryptography was my love since I read book Standard of Bitcoin, I dreamt on learning it, but back then I was busy with the start-up project and was also feeling stupid for any mathy stuff as in high-school I sucked, due to the teacher and environment I could not apply to.
Interestingly, after high-school ended up the first day I real felt drawn back to mathematics and the world of calculations.
If you're interested on reading more, feel free to connect on dev to :D
Hey Luftie! Hope you are well. Thanks for sharing! Great accomplishments you made so far! Starting from web dev to Cryptography! Cryptography is an interesting field, but never got into it since it was quite technical for me. You can say the same with AI but it depends.
I followed you btw. Cant wait to see what you post :)
Sure, would be glad if you read my first post.
I got into development because I wanted to make websites for real people ~ something tangible and useful.
But the deeper I went, the more I realised I enjoy building logic itself. Whether it’s a site, a small game mechanic, or a custom tool, I like designing how things work under the surface.
Hey Kristieene! Hope you are well. Thanks for sharing! I am glad you enjoy your development process so far. Curiosity drives development and I am glad that you started off web dev and learn along the way that you enjoy building the logic itself! I notice you are a Full-Stack Dev and was wondering how long have you been in this field?
Regardless, thanks for reading and good luck on your dev journey!
Hey Francis, Thanks so much for your kind words, I really appreciate it.
I’ve actually been interested in full-stack development since I was around 11 or 12, but it definitely took me a while to find my footing. Back then I was just experimenting and curious about how websites worked behind the scenes.
It’s really only in the last few years that I’d say I became a proper full-stack dev ~ mostly through actually doing the work. Building projects, breaking things, fixing them, learning APIs, databases, logic, all of it. That’s when it clicked that I don’t just enjoy the visual side ~ I genuinely love building the logic underneath too.
Still learning every day, but I’m enjoying the process.
Thanks again for reading!
Destiny :-) (I feel I was/am good for nothing else)
Glad Destiny chose you to become a Dev Shitiji! Thanks for reading and hope you are well!
Thanks for your note, I am all right, hope you are well. Regards.
I switched from software development to web development because I felt that there was an enormous amount of potential to create really great experiences on the web and whilst I don't feel like it has fully realised that early promise yet, I think it's getting there thanks in no small part to AI!
That's great to hear Matthew! Thanks for sharing!
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During covid, I was bored at home and have always been an Apple fanboy. I was scrolling thought their product pages and became consumed with their parallax scroll animations.
I started off with a basic Google search along the lines of "How to build Apple's website" which I have come to learn is such a grossly open-ended question.
In any event, I started off with SquareSpace which was not sufficient for what I wanted, then came HTML, CSS, and JS YouTube tutorials...
Long story short, I became a developer for the love of the game and have been coding since - will be 6 years this summer.
That's awesome Brandon! Glad you found your inspiration from Apple. The parallax scroll is very satisfying, so no doubt you took the time to learn about how it works!
6 years is quite a bit. Glad you are a Dev for this long? Do you specialize mostly Front-end or other stacks? What's your tip/advice for those who want to get into Web Development?
Again, thanks for sharing!!
As a security engineer for the past 10 years, I’ve seen many challenging scenarios for corporations, and I felt the need for time saving tools to help deal with cyber attacks. Since I love building things, Python in particular lets me create practical cybersecurity and network tools for Windows and other platforms, tools that improve security, streamline operations, and give users insight into their systems. I enjoy the combination of security services, automation, and creating practical solutions.
Hey Menny. Thanks for sharing your experience! Congrats on 10 years of being a security engineer! I'm glad that you enjoy what you do! Information Security is quite a challenging field since you have to learn about how encryption works and things to look for when attacks happened. I learn quite a bit in that class such as decrypting files, how to maintain code that is hard to do Stack Buffer overflow Attacks, etc.
Great work and thanks for sharing!
Nice post, For me I liked the visual aspect of web dev, building and seeing the output almost instantly. It was a different environment coming from C/C++ programming where I was mostly seeing text on a terminal.
Hey Richard! Thanks for sharing and hope you are well! I also agree that I enjoy seeing the visual stuff on the web than in the terminal. It makes it much more interesting and being able to showcase it to other people who are not developers. Gives you a wide range to people to show your work! I remember my Intro course where we simply print stuff in the terminal in Python. Sure, you can make Tic-Tac-Toe, but it wasn't user friendly and it rely on using the terminal. When learning web dev, it was satisfying see animations and colors come to life on the screen!
Thanks again for reading!
I was a tinkerer for as long as I can remember, and the job title was so attractive when I was young and naive. I thought I would be getting paid to do something easy(yes, I had the audacity to call SWE easy).
Now I'm doing it because of an itch I want to scratch. Big tech companies make software that is either buggy, expensive, floaty, or a mix of all.
I believe software should not be a privilege to those with deep pockets and I'm dedicated to building performant, free, and accessible software for everyone.
Hey Albaraa! Thanks for sharing! For me, I also thought SWE is easy in a way, but I quickly realize that there is a lot of learn. Even if doing the SWE is easy, you still have to learn a lot that you do not know. It's a grind either way whether SWE is easy for you or not. It's all about consistency.
I also agree that software should be accessible to everyone. Make's lives much easier and convenience for those that needed it! Once again, thanks for sharing and reading :)
Hi
Thank you for sharing
Hey Ketut! Hope you are well. Thanks for reading :D
Because I have no life out there lol
That is the Developer life mostly lol 🥲
Thanks for sharing Mohamed! Hope you are well :D
Especially driven by curiosity and a desire to contribute, fueled by a passion that began as a hobby, diving into the indie web.
Hey Thaísa! Thanks for sharing! Driven by curiosity is one of a big factors into becoming a Dev! Great work you have on Dev so far btw!
I became a developer because I enjoy creating things that solve real problems. It’s exciting to experiment, learn, and see ideas take shape—small wins along the way keep me motivated.
Hey Rubasri! Thanks for reading! Solving real world problems is what's great about being a Developer! It allows you to make a positive impact to the world and others for convenience!
Glad you are doing well on your journey. Taking small steps is critical since it prevents you from being burnt out! Thanks again for sharing :D
Never thought in this way. I was found of programming and development since my childhood. I do not know why but I like to write programs and codes.
Hey Moaz. Thanks for sharing! Seems pretty straightforward. Sometimes people dive right in knowing they like what they do. Thanks for sharing and hope you are well!
Fell in love with GTA games and decided to make a website about them as a 14-year-old.
That's great to hear Tomasz! I never played GTA (Never owned a PlayStation or Xbox console to do so). I know there are mobile games that is GTA-like, but never bother playing them. I always watch game play of people playing, which is quite entertaining back in the day. I am glad you started out creating a website at that age! Is it a fan made website you made or what content did you add in your website related to GTA? Regardless, thanks for sharing!
yes, fan website! We posted news and walkthrough articles. At one point, we have been even hosted by IGN! I never owned any console as well, played on PC. Although I don't consider myself PC-Master-Race guy, I would probably play very badly on the gamepad. I cannot understand why people watch gameplays instead of playing the game though - tell me how that works for you :)
Wow! That's awesome that you got hosted by IGN themselves! Not a lot of people accomplish that high! Congrats man!
Usually, I watch game play with commentary (mostly trolling videos, which I found it entertaining back in the mid 2010's). If I want to watch without commentary, I do so whenever I am eating food. I would still buy the game even though I watch it already. You could argue I was already spoiled on what is going to happen, but I enjoy it as if this is my first time playing it.
Thanks again :D
It was always fun for me to figure out the equations to make things work!
That's great to hear Evan! Curiosity is a driven factor in this journey! Glad you enjoyed the process of figuring the equations out. Thanks for sharing and reading :)