This is a submission for the 2025 New Year Writing challenge: Retro’ing and Debugging 2024.
Debugging 2024 seems like quite a way to start 2025 and definitely worth the trip. 2024 was about setting the pace for my journey into development.
I cannot say that I broke any major ceilings but I can definitely look back and feel proud of my achievements as a beginner. I started the year of with a little programming knowledge and a lot of desire to learn and grow in the field.
With a background, in Business Information Technology, I had some experience in IT but not a great programming background. I can say 2022 was my turning point in development but 2024 was definitely the year I decided to do a deep dive and managed to come out on the other side.
As I started the year of, I promised myself that I was going to make strides in the development journey. However, I was completely lost on how to go about it, all I knew is I had this desire and I intended to feed that hunger.
Like any beginner, I went to YouTube and watched tutorials, worked on small projects in the Python and JavaScript Languages. I bought and downloaded any articles or books I could find online. It was all about gaining the necessary knowledge but I knew deep down that there was something missing.
In every life there is a turning point. A moment so tremendous, so sharp and clear that one feels as if one's been hit in the chest, all the breath knocked out, and one knows, absolutely knows without the merest hint of a shadow of a doubt that one's life will never be the same.
The turning point was the discovery of Power Learn Project, a Non-Governmental Organization in Kenya, that is striving to train a million devs to enhance Africa's potential. So I applied for their four month scholarship program and on August 9th, I got the mail, I was in. I have never been more excited for something in my adult life. I was so energized to start off a structured journey with instructors who would guide me on the right path, and not the blind path I had been on my own.
So later in the month, the intense journey, a race of sorts began. We started off with learning software development principles and then off to web development with HTML, CSS, and JS. Alongside this classes were the database management with SQL which were an absolute blast.
These classes were profound because I understood how to bring HTML and CSS together with JavaScript and managed to create responsive webpages and websites. Learning to use the NodeJs runtime environment and its Express framework changed my way of thinking in regards to web development.
My greatest achievement was the completion of the Telemedicine Project which was our class assignment. Completing the project with both the Front-end and Back-end code running fills me with so much joy, though I still intend to continue working on it and adding changes on to it.
Next on we moved on to the specialization stage where I decided to work with both Python and Dart Programming Languages. I guess this was when I understood what it means to love something so much yet feel overwhelmed with everything around it.
Here were sleepless nights and early mornings working on projects while jangling two different languages. On one side was Python a language I was familiar with, and on the other hand was Dart which looked a lot like C programming language, the first language I ever encountered.
As they said in Hunger Games, "May the Odds be ever in your Favor", and try hard I did.
On one side, I think I aced it managed to work on two Python projects, a Weather application and a Disaster Predication Application. Currently working on an E-Commerce application and loving every bit of it.
And Dart with Flutter, We got along well enough, worked on a Recipe App, the class project, Mobile Banking and I am getting the hang of it. I can say I rather enjoy working with language its quite interesting.
My greatest Challenge last year, was the choice of working with Three different programming language. Working with Python, Dart, and JavaScript turned out to be quite challenging as I would find myself confusing the syntax sometimes, and at other times, while debugging I would get confused by the errors the editor was displaying because my brain was thinking in Python while am on Dart etc.
It is also quite difficult to work on both the front-end and back-end as a beginner, I would find myself debugging my projects even for three days due to lack of proper knowledge on the languages and lack of understanding. But it is a learning process and we learn from every error.
My greatest achievement will definitely be the Mavuno App, it is a Dart with Flutter application with a chat application developed by Python programming language. At the end of the PLP program, each student is expected to find a problem, create a solution and develop an application or software inline with their solution.
My problem, the lack of access to international markets for local farmers and the lack of access to farmers by international vendors. The application am creating is looking to eradicate the menace of intermediaries otherwise known as brokers, and providing farmers with information on the best farming practices through a blog section.
The application is a consolidated solution to provide farmers with a place to interact, get information and trade as well. It is the ideal solution of creating sustainable farming within the region. The project is still a work in progress and I hope to make it more functional in 2025.
These achievements have definitely helped boost my morale and confidence in myself. But I recognize the fact that I have a long way to go and still much more to learn. It is not everyone who can confidently say, they have made strides in life, but am proud to say that in 2024 I made some strides and I look forward to breaking ceilings this year.
As this is my first post on the platform, I hope it sets the pace for a year of sharing my journey and writing informative pieces.
Everyone's journey is unique in different ways, lets share more on how our beginnings impact our journey and create more discussions to help understand how impactful sharing is in the life of a dev.
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