The Dev-Warriors Road
As you all know. I tend to write more about my personal experiences as a student/up-and-coming junior developer than just the typical informative topics that you would basically read about. I feel as though not only is it important to speak on subject matters such as definitions or tutorials on how to get things from rails to rails API to operate. But to also speak on the trials that come with becoming a dev in its self. Now I will be explaining very minor things but the road to becoming a dev goes beyond just knowing. It involves such an introspective look at how you view the world of development and what I'm basically learning at this point.
As someone who is 100% new to development and the ins and outs of it all, it's been a road that I've had to tackle that comes with many answers you can't actually look up on google or a class web page. The biggest part of becoming a dev lies in the hardships, which I've become quite accustomed to over time. In this phase of the course, we've been learning about basic JS which although seems like it would be easy to pick up, that being basic. You come to realize it’s a lot harder and a lot deeper than you would actually think. Javascript is such a bizarre coding language that it's a wonder people even thought it up to begin with. The thing about JS is that it moves asynchronously. Basically, it means as opposed to rails or a bunch of other languages that can happen all at once. JS reads down the line and can only perform actions one after another. This means that in rails I can somewhat place things in a non-particular order and you would still end up with a result that would benefit you somehow. In JS, if something doesn't work it just won't work until that other thing is working. Now, this may seem simple but when it comes to writing JS it really feels like there are things that need to happen as they happen to make it happen if that makes any sense at all 😅. If your answer is no then you understand where I'm coming from at times when it comes to JS as a whole.
JS has so many different ways of communicating that it can almost seem intimidating. This intimidation, not only one from my rookie mind but can still be a daunting task for many experienced devs. There are so many different types of functions and terms that come into play. Const, variables, and lets as well as things like async, awaits, and a slew of other terms that go a long way in allowing your program to even operate as it should. Finding things out on how to actually make buttons without using the HTML but utilizing functions such as createElement to actually manifest buttons and give those buttons actions such as an innerHTML. These concepts are so out o the box than just the kind of cookie-cutter way of how rails and other languages were presented to us. You can see how it could be confusing to almost retrain your mind to think and problem solve in such a non-literal way. Me being a very literal person I at times find a lot of things concepts harder to grasp due to just how I operate.
So now here is my actual issue as we come full circle. From talking to a friend that has been a dev for a long while he has basically been telling me that he's almost proud to see what I'm dealing with and going through as someone who is on their way to finding and building a completely different life for himself. The sleepless nights, the hours of searching for answers with sometimes no results, the process of trial and error, the practice of not knowing shit. This thing are rough for someone who has never really had to deal with thing like this even in my time I was in school. To have something challenge you to the point where I become a sleepless zombie is not something that I will say I love because that's a lie for anyone to say. But its the fact that I'm learning shit, growing, breaking and crying. These are things that are going to help you grow as a developer. These trials are good for the greater good and for anyone looking to become a dev working to become a dev, or just curious about the life of a dev, look no further cause I'm your guy😆.
But in all seriousness the life of a dev is hard. DONT and I mean “DO NOT” compare yourself to others. When you see projects from your classmates or people who have gone through the passes just know that a lot of these people have either had these concepts with them from an outside learning source or they are the unicorns. But if you are a student and have struggled and made their way to this point by just trying and pushing. Just know you've made it this far and that it only gets harder but a lot easier from here. Keep pushing! Don't give up! and fuck it if you don't have a fully completed project. They want to see that you tried and took the effort to actually put a foot forward. Don't just give up. The trick to being a potential dev is trial and error. If your error is that you have a half-complete project. The trial is if you can turn that half-completed project into something that you've polished and are proud of at the end of the day. Be proud of where you are and how far you have come, you are blessed and have the affinity to grow and learn more from this.
