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Subha Harini
Subha Harini

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๐ŸŽฏ From College to Career: My Journey with Postman and APIs

Hi everyone! ๐Ÿ‘‹
Iโ€™m Subha, a recent Computer Science graduate who is passionate about building full-stack web applications. As I transitioned from college to career-building, I realized that one of the most important skills developers need today is a strong understanding of APIs.

That's when I discovered the Postman Student Expert program, which gave me hands-on experience and confidence working with APIs in real-world scenarios.

๐ŸŽฏ Why I Decided to Learn Postman
In every project I worked on โ€” whether it was connecting to a weather API or storing user data โ€” APIs played a critical role. But testing and understanding them wasnโ€™t always easy.

Postman helped me:

  • Send and test HTTP requests (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
  • Work with query and path parameters
  • Use environment and collection variables to simplify workflows
  • Automate API tests with JavaScript scripts
  • Add authentication using API Keys
  • Organize requests into reusable, shareable collections

๐Ÿงช What I Did During the Skill Check
In the Postman Student Expert program, I built a mock project using the Postman Echo API where I:

  • Made a POST request to simulate booking a movie
  • Added a query parameter movieName with my favorite film
  • Sent a JSON body with the actorโ€™s name
  • Used API Key authorization
  • Wrote a Test Script to automatically store the actorโ€™s name as a collection variable

Hereโ€™s a glimpse of the script I used:

let res = pm.response.json();
pm.collectionVariables.set("favoriteActor", res.json.actorName);

It was exciting to learn how everything โ€” request, body, headers, auth, and scripts โ€” worked together in one clean workflow.

๐Ÿ“ My Personal Notes
While learning, I also created detailed notes on:

  • What APIs are and how theyโ€™re used in the real world
  • Types of APIs (REST, GraphQL, etc.)
  • Status codes (200 OK, 404 Not Found, etc.)
  • Variables and scopes in Postman
  • Query parameters vs. path variables
  • Authorization methods like API Keys and OAuth

๐Ÿ“„ These notes helped me understand not just the how but also the why of API design and testing.

๐ŸŽ“ From Student Expert to Confident Developer
Even though Iโ€™ve now graduated, I continue to use Postman in my projects. For example, Iโ€™m currently building a smart ingredient checker app where APIs help scan, analyze, and compare product details in real time.

What I love most about Postman is that it's not just for backend developers โ€” it's for anyone building modern apps.

๐Ÿงก Thank You, Postman
The Student Expert program was an incredible learning opportunity โ€” it helped me improve my technical skills and build confidence for job interviews and real-world projects.

๐Ÿ“ข Want to Become a Student Expert Too?
Hereโ€™s the official link to apply:
๐Ÿ‘‰ https://www.postman.com/student-program/student-expert/

And if youโ€™re already a graduate like me โ€” donโ€™t worry. You can still contribute to the Postman community by sharing your journey and applying for the Postman Community Contribution Program.

๐ŸŽ“ My Badge
I earned my official Postman Student Expert badge!

๐Ÿ“œ Click here to view my badge on Badgr

๐Ÿ™Œ Letโ€™s Connect
๐Ÿ’ฌ Have questions about APIs or Postman? Leave a comment!
๐Ÿง  Want to read more content like this? Follow me on Dev.to

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