...as an aspiring software developer!

I am slowly letting myself warm up to identifying myself as a developer. I couldn't tell you how many times I've dreamed and imagined about becoming a software developer.

I had my first taste at experimenting with codes when I was in my teens. At the time, blogging was all the rage and I decided to hop on too.

The templates were all pretty basic but there's a site where we can get templates of our preferred themes. I used to spend more time looking for custom templates and when I figured out that the codes can help me further customize it, I went crazy.

I changed this and that and the instantaneous result basically makes it... addictive, for lack of a better word.

While my other friends settled for the templates that they've chosen, I decided to be extra and go a little further.

Of course that was in the early 2000s and it was basically just html and css but it ignited my curiosity and love for web development.

I took on Informations Technology for my diploma but did not pursue any jobs upon graduation as I didn't believe I would be hired.

Everything went well for the first 2 years of my diploma education, but in the 3rd year, when I had to develop a website for my final year project, I was devastated that after long hours of programming and trying my best to get my website to fulfill all the requirements, I was given a Fail.

It wasn't only 1 project, there were 2. And it really messed with my self esteem and I just thought, maybe this is not for me.

So for the next 8 years, I went from job to job, feeling increasingly unfulfilled and still dreaming and reminiscing about my time playing around with codes. How exhilarating the feeling of frustration when the codes are showing error after error and then of sheer excitement when it all comes together.

Over the course of that 8 years I got married, got pregnant with my firstborn and carried on with my low wage jobs.

Something happened that made me quit my job abruptly this year in May 2021 and then I spent the next few months trying to relearn programming.

I then came across a government initiative program for mid career switchers into tech.

I'm currently 8 weeks into this 3 months bootcamp. It's crazy stressful and given my age, I thought I wouldn't be able to stay up late anymore to finish up my codes. Turns out I was wrong. And so far this journey is progressing along like I've dreamed of.

We will be embarking on our apprenticeships after these 3 months and that's for a whole other blog post !

I'm psyched 🤩