Note: This is just me blabbering away. It will be long, it will drag on, it may not make sense. But if you are ok with that then I hope you enjoy what I wrote.

This is my story of how and why I got into coding. It's going to be a long ride so hold on tight.

From a young age, I dabbled in tech. I was always curious so when my family got our first computer, I looked at it like a puzzle. I took apart the pieces and putting it back together which made me feel as if I was a hacker. Of course in elementary school everyone fought to play Oregon trail or math munchers. In middle school, I learned quick how to type and my teacher would be impressed how well I picked it up. In high school, I dabble in software by messing around the computer BIOS. Then in college, I tried out different Linux OS by going to Barnes and Noble and reading books about it. I even wanted to learn how to type in DVORAK. I took my first computer science class, and I was debating if I should major in that or Linguistics. In the end I didn't do either. I had a friend telling me that I need to be really smart to get a job in tech, so then I decided to just graduate with any degree (at that time it was in grained into us to just graduate college with any bachelor degree since that will help us get great jobs). So I graduated with a BA in Japanese and left to teach abroad. Then after a few years of that I came back trying to figure out what to do next.

I went back to college to start my healthcare journey and even then I tried to incorporate technology. As a final project, I used Arduino to make a visual pill/medicine box reminder. When I provided treatment sessions, whether it be it for students or elderly patients, I would be interested in using tech from low tech to high-tech. Even at one point I wanted to be certified as an Assistive Technology specialist. Then when COVID came, everything changed. I realized my profession wasn't as stable as I thought it would be and lost my hours.

That's when I started deep diving and committed on becoming a Software Engineer. You see in the past, I completed an Udemy course on how to build your own website. But I didn't progress after that. I even started Odin project but just like before I didn't really commit. I realized later on that what I was lacking was not skills or motivation but being in a community.

I took a chance and did a free bootcamp called 100Devs. It was the first of its kind, and I was the first cohort to complete the program. Originally it was a 30-week program which turned into a 50-week program. I worked part-time while I studied and then as I lost more hours for work, I committed more hours to studying.

I learned a lot in that year time frame. The importance of being in a supportive community, finding others who support you, and the power of networking. When I started, I just did what I usually do, did everything on my own. I looked up and tried to figure out solutions when I got stuck. Looking back, I have grown so much since then. Now I rely on community for help, I ask questions quicker, I take less time on a problem. In the past, I have spent hours and hours on a problem (I have a feeling my record was 14hrs?) because I was so hard on myself for not knowing. In my untrained mind, I thought if I searched hard enough, I'll find the answer and if I didn't that means I didn't do a good job searching. But coding isn't as black and white as I first thought.

As I became more involved in communities, I opened up, learned tricks and tips, and most of all understanding the power of asking for help. The community that has helped me grow so much was Virtual Coffee. I started just attending their weekly meetups. I was the fly on the wall as I sat there quietly just listening in the Zoom meetings. Furthermore, I was so terrified to speak and participate! Some members definitely noticed and nudged me. I needed the nudge and that nudge helped me go from slowly talking during the meetings to now participating by helping out by becoming a note taker! The community also helped me with my first Hacktoberfest, which I completed with flying colors, building relationships, making new friendships, and just helped me become a better developer. Of course, I joined other communities like CodeConnector, Collab-Lab, and YearOne. It was like a domino effect. I gained confidence, I ventured out more, meeting new people, and I even surprised myself by putting myself out there in public!

I know in this post I didn't get into details of how I learned how to code. As I typed, I realized it just become more of an overview of how I ended up where I am today. Maybe I needed to this actually do more posts! I needed the push. But this is just a drain dump and word vomit. I'm taking a huge chance by just typing and hitting publish. It's not clean, and it's not polished at all. I'm just typing away my thoughts. Also, I wanted to participate in Virtual Coffee's monthly challenge. Maybe this may motivate me to actually sit down and come up with an improved piece of my journey. There's so much more to say!

In the end, I am happy I made the switch. I found wonderful communities, I made so many friends, I learned more about myself than I did before. Just typing away my thoughts feels good, but I'm not going to lie I am scared to hit that publish button. I guess we'll see where this post may take me. Thank you for reading if you made it this far.