90 Days of Code: My New Beginning in Tech
By: Cam Caldwell
Tags: Tech, JavaScript, Coding, Professional Development, HTML

Photo by Christopher Gower

Okay, okay. This is the 697th time I’m telling myself that I need to get serious about learning to code. I promise that I’m going to follow through with it this time. I have no clue, what job prospects pique my interest, or where I fit in this vast tech space. I just know that I like using my creativity to make things, and the COVID-19 pandemic has pretty much decimated all industries besides technology.

If you’re like me, you see that we’re never really going back to the world we used to have. It will be a very long time before people are permitted to gather in tight spaces again. It will be even longer before people even feel COMFORTABLE enough to take that chance. Many companies have found that they can run more lean businesses by having people work from home. It saves them money on office leases, and there has been a general increase in productivity from people working from home. To deal with this change in social behavior long-term, we have seen companies — and governments — scramble to create an infrastructure that supports people engaging virtually at-scale. All this means is that web interfaces, software services, and virtual environments will continue to be created and perfected to accommodate this new world. I want to be apart of that.

As a creator, I have always had a passion for taking small ideas and bringing them to life. My motto is that I wish to design the culture I want to see. What that looks like, is using my talents and perspective to contribute meaningfully to society. Historically, the mediums used happened to be video and graphic design. Now, I want to have a hand in creating the technology that is going to shape the next 20 years of my life. From sunrise to sundown, I interact with technology in some capacity. I check my phone, use Alexa to play music, get on Zoom to handle work calls, check my favorite social media sites, design things in Photoshop, etc. I even thought about buying a smart refrigerator (They’re really cool). Technology is literally all around me and I can’t help but think that it will only get more integrated into my life — and I had no part in contributing to any of it.

That’s why I’m writing this post.

It’s mostly to help keep me accountable during this undertaking. I’ve read all the ebooks, looked at all the YouTube videos, and reached out to all the techie people on Twitter. The only way I will really get this skill mastered is to sit down and work at it every day. So for the next 90 days, I will be learning to code and posting my progress. Some days I will make great strides, and others I may only knock out 1 line of HTML (I learned that this stands for Hypertext Markup Language 😆). The goal is just 1% better every day.

The path I’ve decided to take is an online course offered on Udemy called The Complete 2020 Web Development Bootcamp. It boasts about how I can Become a full-stack web developer with just one course. HTML, CSS, Javascript, Node, React, MongoDB and more!

I’m looking forward to being able to pick up a skill that is future-proof while allowing me to design the world around me. Feel free to follow along with me on this journey and share any insights you might have. I WILL need them. Alright, that’s enough writing because I know you’re sick of the grammar issues. Time to get to work 💪🏾.