It all started in the summer of 2015, I needed money to sustain my teenage lifestyle and I didn’t like the idea of taking money from my parents. So as an alternative to getting a part-time job and waste my days working for someone for a minimum wage. I thought why not sacrifice this summer, stay at my house with minimal spending and learn something that will make me money in the near future and will increase my chances of getting a great job later on. That’s why I picked Coding.
2015
My first time actually coding other than those HTML courses I used to take in school was in the summer of 2015, I didn’t know where to start. After some research, I found the website that will entirely change my life, Lynda.com. Lynda.com had everything I needed, a cheap subscription fee, a wide variety of courses and good quality videos. The First thing I did is that I scanned the full platform to see what are the various course combinations I can create. It ended up like that: HTML, CSS, More CSS and even more CSS. It took me around a month to learn everything HTML related including HTML 5. And the Remaining 2 months were allocated to CSS where I learned the basics. At the end of this summer, I was able to make Ugly Websites but with good structure.
2016
Since I couldn’t find time to code and practice between summers because of school. I had to give myself 2 weeks to refresh my HTML knowledge and get back on the CSS track. CSS was way more entertaining than HTML because you can start adding your creativity to the mix. My first attempt at making a styled website was a jewelry website of an Imaginary brand, It looked awful but back then, it was a masterpiece if you ask me (I still have it). In that summer, All I learned was CSS, from the basics to the advanced animations and layout techniques passing by responsive design.
In the end, I was able to make good looking websites, that look well on all devices. That was enough for me to land myself 3 clients which are still active clients to this day. It felt great to get your first paycheck after a year. That’s when I knew that I made the right decision since I earned in 1 month the equivalent of 3 months in a part-time job which would be the case if I went that route a year ago.
2017
This is the year where I took my skills to the next level, at this stage I had 6 active websites, I was making a reasonable amount of money every now and then, and I was ready to dive into the world of scripting. Oddly enough my path didn’t have server-side scripting in it in the beginning but after working with WordPress and seeing a need to have a dynamic Content addition added to my websites. I decided to learn MySQL and PHP. MySQL was easy to learn, it has a simple syntax and unless you have a really complex database in mind, you can start producing databases in a short period of time. PHP on the other hand, was kind of tricky at first but with practice, I was able to go through the courses and I was able to make my own Version of WordPress, I called it Kegler. It looked kind of weird, not the best CMS out there but it was Okay, the databases worked fine and everything had a responsive behavior.
Kegler took me all summer to finish with an extra month. It was an achievement to me that I was able to make my own tool for the first time, and even tho I didn’t make a profit out of it, The process in which I learned and practiced the interaction with database tables and data manipulation helped me a lot with WordPress. I was now able to customize the platform to my needs which had a big impact on my income.
In addition to server-side scripting, There’s Front-End scripting. Knowing JavaScript is vital for your coding toolbox. I learned the basics of JavaScript and Jquery which helped me deliver advanced user interfaces if needed. JavaScript was the hardest thing I had to learn in comparison with the rest. And quite frankly I’m still not a wizard at it but I always try to practice it as much as I can.
2018
Now after 3 years in the business, it took me 2 weeks on LinkedIn to get myself a great job opportunity where I earn more than regular graduate. Even tho I still don’t have a degree, all of the stuff I learned on my own were enough for me to carve my way to the corporate world. I’m making a good living now in comparison with the Lebanese wage median.
My current Toolbox:
HTML, CSS, JS, SASS, LESS, RUBY, PHP, MYSQL
Always remember to:
- Create a Music playlist just for coding.
- Make sure to be comfortable while coding.
- keep your first practice websites somewhere saved to see your progress.
Note: This is my first Medium Post, It’s not perfect but I wanted to post something personal maybe it will help someone who has a similar situation than mine.
