Hello developers,
blazingly fast Programming by ThePrimeagen
I'm tried everyday make blazingly fast website with experience day by day.
From today I'm tiring to make post every day of my dev life to check my journey some day.
Day one is today 05.10.2023
About me.I'm Kavindu Harshana, originally from the stunning island of Sri Lanka, close to India. Right now, I'm grinding away in the UAE, specifically in Dubai, as a Software Developer specializing in Web Full-Stack wizardry. I've got 3 years of coding experience under my belt, and my programming adventure began when I was a rebellious 15-year-old who dropped out of high school because I just couldn't stand the conventional way of learning.
I started off with HTML and CSS, and eventually, I ventured into the wild world of WordPress CMS. I dabbled with page builders like Elementor, which made life easier for website creation. But, as life goes, not everything was smooth sailing. Some projects threw me curveballs, leading me down the rabbit hole of WordPress custom theme and plugin development using PHP. It was good fun because I could build things my way. After a ton of development work, though, I stumbled upon a big problem: SEO.
You see, the main culprit turned out to be page speed, and when I decided to tackle it head-on, I realized that pesky JavaScript was slowing things down. To fix that, I had to explore new avenues, like frontend frameworks and libraries. That's when I dove into Vue, and also began experimenting with using WordPress as a headless CMS with a REST API (still in the learning phase here). But this combo of Vue and WordPress opened up new doors for me, especially in crafting stellar websites and e-commerce platforms.
Trials and Triumphs in the UAE
When I landed a job in the UAE, things got real challenging. My first major task was revamping an e-commerce website that had a whopping 20,000 products and 10 administrators. This was one heck of a WordPress project, and it seemed like it had daily drama and issues. I was the lone developer in the entire IT department, surrounded by 350 other employees, and if any computer hiccuped, guess who had to rush over? Yep, that would be me.
I asked my boss for some help – at least one more developer to lighten the load – but he insisted that I juggle both updating this project and working on a new one. That's when things got seriously stressful. So, I decided to revamp the WordPress site from scratch (no headless approach) and then build a brand-new e-commerce platform using Laravel and React, and integrating local payment gateways. Why? Because I knew PHP and Laravel like the back of my hand.
I cooked up a new theme and whipped together some plugins for the project, and guess what? It was a smash hit, way beyond what I'd initially imagined. It even did wonders for our Google Ads, boosting business by a staggering 1300%. But, here's the kicker – my salary didn't see the same kind of boost, even after all that hard work.
After a grueling 5 months, I finally wrapped up the project using Laravel and Next.js. But deploying it was a different beast, needing some serious DevOps and security mojo due to the millions of transactions and at least 10,000 daily visitors. When I suggested outsourcing this bit to a third-party company, my boss lost it and gave me an earful, not understanding how complex this task was. Fed up with it all, I drafted my resignation letter.
Turning the Page on My Career
When my boss caught wind of my resignation plans, he practically begged me to stay, recognizing the immense value I brought to the company. I agreed to stick around and, during that time, I managed to whip that WordPress project into shape, boosting its page speed from a measly 18% to a solid 78%.
However, my wanderlust got the better of me, and I decided to explore new horizons. I threw out a few job applications on LinkedIn, and in no time, I snagged a job offer from a big-league company. My new gig mainly involves crafting static websites for the company, and that's when I stumbled upon Astro – a tool that's like magic for creating insanely fast websites. With Astro using(TSX) in my arsenal, I achieved some mind-blowing page optimization results, with my most sites hitting scores of 95% or more.
Nowadays, I'm knee-deep in frontend development, and I'm expanding my skillset by diving into Django, HTMX, and Express for whipping up some simple APIs.
My journey in the world of coding has been filled with challenges and unexpected twists, but I've learned to adapt and keep pushing my boundaries. It's been a wild ride, and I'm excited to see where it takes me next.
Top comments (4)
Kavindu, your coding journey is impressive! Your dedication and problem-solving skills are outstanding and truly shine. Keep pushing boundaries and excelling in your craft!
Thanks Brother
Awesome bro. have fun coding.
Thank you Bro, happy cording