Hey Dev.to! π
So here I am, finally joining this amazing community after lurking for... honestly, way too long. My friends keep telling me I should share more about my coding journey, and well, here goes nothing.
I was going through my old projects folder yesterday (you know, that chaotic mess we all have π), and I found my very first "professional" website from 2016. Oh boy. The cringe was REAL.
The humble beginnings of a serial bug creator π
Picture this: 19-year-old me, fresh out of high school, thinking I was hot stuff because I could make a div change color on :hover
. A neighbor asked me to build a website for their cafΓ©, and I confidently said "Sure, $60 and it'll be done in a week!"
What followed was probably the most gloriously terrible website ever deployed to production:
- π Table-based layout (yes, really)
- π± Zero mobile responsiveness
- π§ A contact form that didn't actually send emails
- π Images that took 30 seconds to load on 3G
- And my personal favorite: a JavaScript
alert("Welcome!")
every time someone visited
But you know what? The cafΓ© owner loved it. And that feeling when he said "This looks professional!" - man, I was on cloud nine for weeks. βοΈ
Fast forward through the chaos... πͺοΈ
The next few years were a beautiful disaster. I took on every project I could find:
- π A "social media platform" for $200 (it was basically a glorified guestbook)
- π³ An e-commerce site where I stored credit card info in plain text (please don't judge past me)
- π§ Multiple WordPress sites where I edited core files directly (I know, I KNOW)
Each project taught me something new, usually in the form of "oh shit, that's not how you do it." I learned PHP by Googling error messages. I discovered MySQL through trial and catastrophic error.
Git? What's Git? I was team Final_final_FINAL_version2.zip
for way too long. π¦
The breaking point came when I accidentally deleted a client's entire database. No backups. Nothing. π
I spent 14 hours straight rebuilding everything from cached pages and memory. That night, I promised myself I'd learn to do things properly.
Plot twist: Getting my first "real" job πΌ
2019 hit different. Landed my first company job making $1,200/month (which felt like winning the lottery). Suddenly I'm surrounded by seniors talking about "design patterns" and "clean architecture" and I'm sitting there like...
guys, I literally just learned what MVC means last week π
Laravel blew my mind. Vue.js made me question everything I thought I knew about JavaScript. Docker? Game changer. Version control? Revolutionary. Unit tests? Life-changing.
But here's the thing nobody talks about - that transition from "hacking things together" to "doing it right" is HARD. Some days I missed the simplicity of just making stuff work, consequences be damned. π€·ββοΈ
The imposter syndrome hits HARD π°
Around year 4, I started attending local meetups. Listening to other devs casually mention microservices and domain-driven design while I'm still Googling "difference between abstract class and interface" on my phone under the table. π±
But slowly, things started clicking. β¨ I began contributing to conversations. People started asking for my opinion on technical decisions.
Wild concept: I actually knew things!
Where I am now (spoiler: still learning) π―
Eight years in, and I'm comfortable calling myself a senior developer. I can architect systems, lead technical discussions, mentor junior devs. But here's the secret - I still Google basic stuff daily.
Yesterday I literally searched "how to center a div flexbox" because I always forget the exact syntax. π€¦ββοΈ
Some wins along the way: π
- β Built and deployed applications handling 50k+ daily active users
- β Mentored 6 junior developers (and learned as much from them as they did from me)
- β Finally stopped being afraid of legacy codebases
- β Started a small side business selling digital products (more on that journey another time)
Why I'm here on Dev.to π
This community has taught me so much through your posts, tutorials, and discussions. Now I want to give back. I'll be sharing:
- π Real stories from the trenches (the good, bad, and ugly)
- π οΈ Practical lessons learned from production disasters
- π‘ Honest takes on technologies and practices
- π Maybe some tutorials that don't assume you already know everything
I'm not here to pretend I have all the answers. Half the time I'm still figuring things out as I go. But maybe sharing the journey helps someone else avoid some of the mistakes I've made. π€
Let's connect! π
What's your most cringe-worthy "first project" story? I promise mine's probably worse π
And if you've made it this far - thanks for reading! Looking forward to being part of this community.
P.S. - Yes, I still have that cafΓ© website in my portfolio. It's... educational. π
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