Intro
I'm currently a marketing director at a security solutions company with an international presence, and that might sound amazing... if you're a marketing fanatic or simply enjoy doing marketing stuff. I can honestly say that I don't, I've always liked the aspect of code, coding on one side, and seeing the outcome on the other. I never really got into code while going to college, I did a few UDEMY courses that will focus on SCSS & HTML here and there but was always afraid to get into JavaScript, more on that later. I was just taking marketing and doing marketing internships because I thought marketing was something I would enjoy, and when asked why I was graduating and pursuing marketing? My response was something along this line, "I like the creativity side of marketing, branding, and so on". That pov of why I wanted to graduate in marketing rapidly changed as I intern in a few companies, marketing felt more like sales, pressured to increase revenue, and never really exploring the so-called, "creative side" of marketing. A few years later I'm a marketing director...for now 😶
The beginning
Early this year I purchased a JavaScript course from UDEMY by Jonas S, a 65hr long course with an in-depth dive into the language itself. 55hrs completed and my fear for learning JavaScript turned into excitement and a bit of confusion. The fear only resided with me thinking that I would not be capable of building the smallest task using javascript. Now, there's a sort of eagerness to build a small project with an API. Although the journey to becoming a front-end web developer is exciting, I've made tons of sacrifices such as sleep, going out, and spending time with my girlfriend and our dog(🐼) to simply watching an NBA game. Currently, my schedule follows this format.
Current Schedule
I get out of work around 5 PM, get home around 6 PM, eat meal #4 and head over to the gym, by the time I'm able to sit and start learning JavaScript it's around 9:40/10 PM and sleep usually falls somewhere between 12 AM - 1 AM.
Difficult journey
Yes, this journey is difficult but having a supportive environment is a huge plus. Many sacrifices continue to be made such as not been able to go out at times with my girlfriend or me staying late up at night during the weekends she falls. Her support and understanding have helped me focus on learning a new and complex language. Therefore having support is important.
Lastly
Lastly, I've built multiple projects that reflect my learning on codepen and I'm on my way to start my second course. I want to have a great understanding before diving into React. The goal is to have a remote front-end web dev job by the middle of next year.
Top comments (5)
Nice story, Mescudi! Great that you're looking for something you're more excited about to work with! Changing careers is never easy but hold on to this journey that you'll achieve that!
Awesome projects you have there on CodePen, congrats! I advise you to put them all on Github since that's where you'll be able to show your work when applying for jobs. Also it'd be nice to learn a bit about Git when pushing your projects there.
Another tip, I'd give you is to create a Twitter account and also document your journey there. There's a big dev community also in your situation and that will help you to have another support system. Hope it helps :)
Bom dia 🇧🇷 Rafael,
Appreciate your response and tips. Currently looking to move many of my code pens to GitHub. With Twitter I’ve had small interaction when it comes to web dev. Any suggestions on what community to follow etc. I will be learning about git(taking a course pretty soon on it) next project is a basic web api using call of duty’s web app and fetch twitch”s api. Thank you and appreciate your feedback!
Haha Bom dia, Mescudi! Tudo bem? 😆
Nice! Github is the best place to put our code. I think with Twitter you could see people tweeting with #100daysofcode #DEVCommunity and follow, interact with them to find out more people. Aaah cool! It'll be a good way to practice and learn about APIs and backend dev 👏 Keep it up! Reach me out if you need anything :)
I highly recommend using the #webdev tag rather than the #scss one for better visibility
Thank you, really appreciate it !!