Note: This blog post is still unfinished.
I’ve existed on this planet for almost 16 years now, and there’s one question that I’ve never either fully answered or given the full backstory to: “How did I become a web developer?” In this post I’ll talk about my history and experiences with web development.
It all started when I was just a mere kid…
Flashback to 2019. I was a young kid with no idea what career I wanted to go into when I became older. When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher, but then I found out they were severely underpaid (and under respected), so then I pivoted to writing, but I wasn’t 100% sure that would fully pan out well either. My dad was working in IT & cybersecurity at the time (still is to this day!) and introduced me to this website called scratch.mit.edu.
If you took a computer science class in elementary/middle school, you may have heard of this website before. If you have never heard of Scratch before, essentially it’s a beginner coding language where you can create cool stuff using pre-made drag-and-drop blocks. It’s a really great website to learn coding. My dad also got me a book to help me learn how to use Scratch, and I immediately got hooked onto it. I was on Scratch all the time, creating projects and meeting new people online. From 2018 until early 2021, I was essentially a god on that platform. I wouldn’t even do my schoolwork during online school JUST so I could be on Scratch. I was on Scratch DURING online lessons. It was so fun, and it was a great introduction to the world of computer science.
Until I got banned.
The dark ages
Now, I’m not gonna delve too deep into why I got banned (mainly because it’s super embarassing), but here’s a bit of CSS:
/* sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I didn't get banned... */
#wildvoltaireian {
--ban-formula: calc(var(--10-years-old) + var(--didnt-read-the-rules));
}
I never went back to Scratch either that, mainly because it was an IP ban which meant I couldn’t access it at home. (insert 99+ sob and skull emojis here for the TikTokers.) Since I couldn’t access Scratch, I didn’t really code from early 2021 to ~late 2022.
What did I do during this time? Absolutely nothing. Like genuinely, I can’t remember a single meaningful thing I did during this time. Kind of embarassing, actually. Eventually this would all change. My dad noticed that I hadn’t been coding or doing anything interesting in computer science, even though I had stated multiple times by then that I “wanted to go into computer science to make some MOOLAH 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑”.
What he did next would define the next 4 years of my life and set me on a course of wonder, misery, pain, excitement, and hurs of debugging CSS: he bought me a Udemy course on web development.
Reincarnation
WIP