I'm Kofi Ramos. An aspiring web developer based in Accra, Ghana. I'm writing this during the world's Covid-19 crises. The title is called I switched. I switched from being a culinary cook to pursuing my long time dream of becoming a web developer.
Let me take you back a few years. I've always been interested in tech, as a young boy I got to play video games, i.e Mario, donkey Kong, ninja turtles. That's where my interest peaked when it comes to computers. Had one myself, donated by my dad's boss who got a new computer and was looking for a way to get rid of his old one. In case you're wondering, my dad is a good cook. His job was to cook and organize parties for expats hence my access to computer at a young age.
Fast forward, after high school. I decided not to go to university. I wasn't naturally gifted when it comes to intelligence nor was I really good with my hands or legs, but I could kick football or what the Americans call soccer. Life became tough as I didn't want to go to college because I knew my parents couldn't afford the bills, and also I believed in this mantra that you didn't need a college degree to be in tech. My parents tried and sacrificed a lot for me, they always got me a pc to play around with despite us having just enough to make us comfortable. That's when I started learning how to code.
I started with html/css. This was the time when online coding websites started gaining the recognition, think of code academy and the rest. After basic html and css, I picked up php and started building websites for few friends, and friends of friends. That wasn't enough to get me a paying job in tech in Ghana because the tech scene was still young. Stayed home for about 2 years and decided to look for other alternative for income.
My uncle who was also a chef, gave me a few months of training which ended up getting me my first every paying gig. I was going to become a cook/cleaner for a family of 2, occasionally 3 on summer holidays. I was there from 2014 till 2020 before lockdown in Ghana. While there I continued learning and building website for a few people. I picked up basic laravel, WordPress and node. I was grateful for having an income but I still held to my dream of switching.
I switched!! I switched when the lockdown for covid 19 was about to be imposed in April 2020. My guts told me this is the right time to switch if I ever wanted to pursue my dream. I won't lie! Its been tough and I keep second guessing myself. I took a month to study with an accountability partner. The support of family and friends keep me going. It's been 2 months since I switched. I'm currently interning at an agency. Imposter syndrome still in the corner, I'm not super talented or super gifted. I still struggle with basic stuff and this few weeks as an intern has exposed that, but I'm determined to improve myself and become a better developer.
I've decided to start blogging to keep up with my growth. I'm always on the lookout for help when it comes to coding. My interests are in laravel and I really want to get started with Javascript and vue Js. Thanks for reading and I'm always available to bounce ideas. My latest project is found at www.edwuma.work and currently interning at www.TeamAlfy.com.
Top comments (67)
Good Luck!
We at the agency teamAlfy.com are proud of you and we think you are off to a great start!
All the best
Your Boss
You have time to blog??🤭
"everyone was once a beginner"
You can say that again. I've been at this for 36 years, 32 professionally, and often still feel like a beginner. Software development is a very dynamic field and there's always something new, often requiring a mind shift.
Whenever you feel stuck and start thinking this isn't for me I can't go any further, take a look back. And you will wonder how far you have come.
Good luck
Amazing Kofi! Same story for me; on the path to switch to tech been in the travel industry for 7years. Go for it. I’m amazed how the tech community is always ready to help, more reasons to believe we on the right path! 🤞🏾😃
First of all, congratulations on switching to Web Development field and also congratulations on your first intern as a developer! yayyy
Video games were my reason to pursue developer path too, so I can relate your hype towards technologies.
Regarding your statement, "you didn't need a college degree to be in tech", as a student who studying IT major I would say yes tech welcome to every single person regardless their background! Those who pursue in tech have to work extra hard to learn any technologies they are interested in and make something that helps other people.
Laravel, Wordpress, Node, Javascript and VueJS are technologies that commonly used so if you are good at it, it makes you can land a job on more companies. Honing skill on that specific technologies will helps you in the future both for looking a new job or even making your own job!
Glad to hear that you started blogging, it will helps you a lot to understanding more the context you are trying to share with your audience. For example, you want to share how people without any experience
on Wordpress to use Wordpress. Before making the blog post, you will probably started to install wordpress, run and test it. If it's going well, you started to write every step you tried so that other people could try it too and ended up like you did. It will helps us a lot to understand more on things. So yeah, good luck on your blogging!
I am an IT student but really wanna to learn more about culinary cook but don't know should I switch or not because I love both technologies and food!
Thanks for sharing, Kofi!
Hey brother
I also love to do web development stuffs but i cannot stick with it
Actually when i jad done some works on web designing I've reached to JavaScript like basic JavaScript but in this stage i left it then i turn my work into photoshop stuffs to learn it but then i had not completed it just learned and the did not practiced it what should i do?
Nice one , keep moving don't stop . I know is hard back in Africa but trust me you will enjoy your hardwork very soon, just keep encouraging yourself you will soon be good mentor for others in that region.
Thanks Mikael! I appreciate it!
Great job!! Keep going.
I have being learning on my own. It has being great so far. I hope to get a job in the near future. But this is not about me. But about you. Keep goin you can do it!!!
All the best friend
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