Three years ago, I was just another face in the crowd at Central Park, phone in hand, hunting for a shiny Charizard. Today, I'm a full-stack developer with my own gaming tools in production. This isn't a typical "learn to code" story, I want to share how a mobile game became my gateway into understanding user experience, data management, and the beautiful complexity of web development.
When Gaming Meets Frustration
Back in 2021, I was level 35 in Pokemon Go, and I'd just caught my third Magikarp of the day. I need 400 candies to evolve it into Gyarados, but I have no idea how long that's going to take. I'm standing there, manually calculating candy requirements, evolution costs, and optimal grinding strategies on my phone's calculator app.
That moment of pure frustration was my eureka moment.
I realized I wasn't only annoyed but was facing a fundamental user experience problem. Here's a game with millions of players, and we're all doing the same tedious calculations over and over again. The game gives you the data, but it doesn't help you make sense of it. That gap between information and insight? That's where opportunity lives.
The First Line of Code: HTML, Fear, and Everything After
I'd never written a line of code in my life. My technical experience peaked at creating PowerPoint presentations and a few Excel formulas. But I had something more valuable than experience - I had a problem I was desperate to solve.
I started with HTML. Not because someone told me to, but I literally Googled "how to make a website," and that's what came up first. My first attempt was embarrassingly simple:
<h1>Pokemon Evolution Calculator</h1>
<input placeholder="How many candies do you have?">
<button>Calculate</button>
It didn't work. Obviously. But seeing those words appear on a browser window? It still hooked me up.
Learning the Hard Way: JavaScript and the Problem-Solving
The change from static HTML to dynamic JavaScript was like going from reading about swimming to jumping into the deep end. Every error message felt personal. Every undefined variable was a small defeat. But here's what I discovered: debugging is more than fixing code, it's about to understand systems.
Pokemon Go's evolution mechanics are deceptively complex. Different Pokemon require different candy amounts. Some have branched evolutions. Others need special items. Some can only evolve during specific events or times of day. What seemed like a simple calculator problem became a lesson in data structures, conditional logic, and edge case handling.
const evolutionRequirements = {
'Magikarp': { candies: 400, item: null },
'Feebas': { candies: 100, distance: 20 },
'Eevee': {
'Vaporeon': { candies: 25, method: 'random' },
'Umbreon': { candies: 25, method: 'night_buddy' }
}
};
Every line of code taught me something new about both programming and game design. I was learning how to think systematically about complex problems.
The Value of User-Centered Design
As my calculator grew more sophisticated, I started sharing it with my Pokemon Go friends. Their feedback was brutal and invaluable. "This is confusing." "Where's the candy counter?" "Can you add lucky Pokemon bonuses?"
Each piece of feedback forced me to think beyond my own needs. This led me to solve problems for an entire community, and that shift from personal tool to public utility transformed how I approached development.
I learned about responsive design when someone tried to use my calculator on their phone during a raid. I discovered accessibility when a colorblind friend couldn't distinguish between my green and red status indicators. I understood performance optimization when the calculator started loading slowly with expanded Pokemon data.
Data, APIs, and the Rabbit Hole of Optimization
The more I worked on the calculator, the deeper I dove into Pokemon Go's underlying systems. I started consuming community APIs, scraping data from fan sites, and building my own database of Pokemon statistics to turn it into a comprehensive evolution planning tool.
I integrated features for:
- Buddy walking distance calculations
- Event-specific evolution bonuses
- Lucky Pokemon trade considerations
- Community Day exclusive moves
- Regional variant availability
Each feature required new technical skills. Working with APIs taught me about asynchronous programming. Managing Pokemon data taught me about database design. Creating intuitive interfaces taught me about user experience principles.
The evolution calculator that emerged from this process was something I was genuinely proud to share with the Pokemon Go community.
The Unexpected Career Plot Twist
It all started as weekend coding sessions gradually consumed more of my time. I was learning CSS Grid to make better layouts. I explored Node.js to build my own API endpoints. I was reading about React because I wanted to create more interactive components.
Six months after writing my first HTML tag, I began building full-stack applications. A year later, I landed my first developer job. The hiring manager later told me that my Pokemon Go project demonstrated exactly what they were looking for: the ability to identify problems, learn new technologies, and build solutions that real people use.
Technical Lessons That Transcended Gaming
Building a Pokemon Go tool taught me fundamental programming concepts that apply everywhere:
State Management: Tracking user progress, candy counts, and evolution goals mirrors the challenges of managing application state in any complex web application.
Data Validation: Ensuring accurate calculations with inconsistent user input taught me the importance of robust error handling and input sanitization.
Performance Optimization: Loading Pokemon data efficiently for hundreds of species taught me about lazy loading, caching strategies, and minimizing API calls.
User Experience: Creating intuitive interfaces for non-technical users taught me empathy-driven design and the importance of clear feedback loops.
Reflection: What Gaming Taught Me About Development
Looking back, Pokemon Go was the perfect introduction to programming because it provided context, motivation, and immediate feedback. I solved problems I genuinely cared about. Every coding challenge had a direct connection to improve my gaming experience and help other players.
The game taught me that good software isn't just about elegant code, but the developer must understand user needs, anticipate edge cases, and create great experiences even when the underlying complexity is enormous.
The Path Forward: From Player to Creator
Today, I work on enterprise applications that are far more complex than Pokemon evolution calculators. But the core principles remain the same: understand your users, solve real problems, and never stop learning. Every project still starts the same way - with someone frustrated by a gap between what exists and what should exist.
My advice for anyone considering a similar journey? Start with problems you actually have. Don't learn to code because someone told you to - learn because there's something you want to build. The technical skills will follow the passion, not the other way around.
The beautiful thing about programming is that it transforms you from a consumer of technology into a creator of solutions. Pokemon Go showed me problems I'd never noticed. Learning to code gave me the tools to fix them.
To be honest, the first moment when my calculator correctly predicted exactly how many Magikarp I needed to catch? I felt better than finding any shiny Pokemon ever could.
Top comments (2)
Very motivated and interesting journey, you have worked very hard these years. I am a die-hard gamer and have been playing Pokémon Go for a while, such tools are great help for players.
Hope your future will be even brighter.
Love how you turned brutal feedback into better UX! that skill alone can take you way beyond Pokemon Go.