Coding: Expectation vs. Reality

When I first started my coding process I expected it to be tough and I was scared I wouldn’t understand it- or it would be too hard. I was scared, nervous and anxious to dive in. But I couldn’t be more happy with my decision to do so.

I recently graduated from Flatiron School: Software Engineering program. We learned ruby on rails to ReactJS — which I can’t recommend enough. It was definitely a humbling experience. I never knew how rewarding something could be to just make a button render onto a computer screen. The feeling of instant gratification is something that we all love. When it comes to the front-end or back-end with coding, though different, there’s a lot of it that comes with doing so.

Being stuck on one line of code that can make or break your entire project is definitely a frustrating experience. But the amount of open sourced projects on various websites, such as, Github, CodeSandBox, etc. is almost overwhelming. Every problem that I had, there were hundreds of people that had the exactly same thing. Google is your friend is 100% true with coding. You’ll never 100% memorize all the code. But if you learn how to scrap the internet/ google it is a very effective way to figure out and understand your issues.

Growing up, I’ve always had ideas and solutions that I thought could create to make actually businesses or companies. But I had no idea how to do so. With coding, the opportunities are literally endless! It’s an incredible feeling knowing that I have the knowledge and skills to create anything that I want. Obviously, there is still a WHOLE lot to learn but that makes me even more exciting for what the future can be.

I just wanted to write down my thoughts and mindset before and present because I know how scared and anxious I was when I started. If you’re on the fence about making the move to the coding world, professionally, or even just as a hobby, DO IT.