My Story

#beginners #webdev

When I joined the Navy in 1999, I knew computers were the way of the future. I decided to take a job that would work with computers and the Recruiters sold me on the Advanced Electronic Computer Field. Sounded amazing, and in fact it was amazing. I worked with missile systems shooting missiles! But it wasn't what I had originally wanted when I signed up.

Twenty years later, I still know computers are the way of the future. I still want a do get a job that will work with computers. I thought cyber security was interesting, and one of my co-workers was planning to do that when he got out of the Navy. So I dabbled in that and got my Security+ cert. But the more I learned the less I wanted to do that full time. I also got my Project Management Professional and Professional Scrum Master I certifications thinking that I could backdoor my way in by being an IT PM or SM. The more I learned, the less I wanted to do anything strictly PM.

I started looking at coding, and web development. I enjoyed making something from nothing. Designing, building, and writing something of my own and having a finished product. Being as creative as I could be, and finding a solution to something I didn't know. I was hooked.

I searched Google for everything I could learn in coding. I wanted to start with Python, but couldn't wrap my mind around it since I was new to everything. It gave me more information than I could ever process, telling to start here, and there, and over here. I signed up for some Udemy courses, but found it difficult to learn from the instructors that I got (not sure why since I had done Mike Myers' Sec+ course on Udemy). So I began to look for coding bootcamps. I came across Vets Who Code who gave you pre-work and a two-week deadline to read, comprehend, and make an "About Me" website. I learned so much and enjoyed every second as I stayed up to the wee hours in the morning trying to figure out how to make a text box stay where I wanted it to stay. I was hooked before, and now I was caught.

I was ecstatic when I found out that I had made the Vets Who Code cohort, and started consuming information so that I could have a great start. Almost five weeks into the cohort, and I am learning by leaps and bounds. I can do far more, and understand far more than I ever thought at this point. Just yesterday, I decided to do some reading on Python for a break from the computer screen. To my amazement, as it explained Python, I could see and understand what they were talking about, even in the different syntax, just from what I have learned in Javascript. My mind is blown and I look forward to the rest of this cohort, and lifelong learning in coding and programming.