My 2022 highlights: Tech enlightenment
Tags: yearinreview, 2022, devjournal
Published: 2022-12-31 22:49:16

My journey into tech started when all of a sudden and out of the blue, an uncle of mine signed me up for a coding BootCamp of some sort. Since then, I have climbed HTML mountains, CSS rivers, and Javascript deserts.

It all started when I got ......


## Registered for AltSchool Africa
![I am a certified scholar](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rj3og1et7pcddhz9dql3.jpg)
Had an aunt abroad that knew about AltSchool and decided to enroll my elder brother, my uncle saw I was also seating at home doing nothing and decided to enroll me, at that point what was really on my mind was how I was going to start yahoo.

## I decided to learn ahead of the class

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jsjhr72x6tadkihjjf6n.jpg)
AltSchool provided us with material for getting introduced to tech, finished the material and was still hungry for more, so I decided to do my personal digging, first thing that hit me was the high salary for software developers, and boom I went on to learn my first programming language(HTML) 😂

## Made the mistake of starting with w3schools

![Made a stupid mistake](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/k68keoyzj2j4rvoes87g.jpg)
I tried FreeCodeCamp but was facing some difficulties solving the problems on a mobile device, so I switched to w3schools which was better on my smaller screen. Little did I know that w3schools was more like documentation and definitely not one of the best places to start

## Passed AltSchool exams

![I am victorius](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/lfz9gye9ovazydef618i.jpg)
The entrance exams were really easy, I had already mastered big O notation, hill climbing, and greedy algorithms, but then the questions that came out were like English and some general knowledge questions. I started to feel like coding was easier than I thought it was, (how wrong I was)

## Discovered the evil that is CSS

![Trying to build responsive webpages](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gygrilzodaazbxka6fd1.jpg)
I had seen memes about how CSS was bad and all that, but I had just written hello world in HTML and I felt like I was going to build the next Facebook, but CSS was a really humbling experience, I didn’t know I was just beginning, I had yet to discover JavaScript 😪

## `console.log(“hello world”);`

![copying JavaScript code](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/xsq79yk7l4643167bh4h.jpg)
After printing my first hello world in the console, I instantly felt rejuvenated, all the energy CSS had drained from me was suddenly replenished.

![I don't understand JavaScript anymore](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0i96v5dtcbe2ao8f93ye.jpg)
I was going along with the merriness of JavaScript until I got to concepts like OOP and classes, and I knew I had had enough, decided to try learning in a different way.

## Entered tutorial hell

![welcome to tutorial hell](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/oxzylbgxzsmdvqaoleon.jpeg)
Went straight to YouTube and realized coding was much more fun when you were watching other people do it. I watched so many Traversy media videos that I started hearing his intro in my dreams

## Tried to create projects on my own

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ya2aln6zdnjsgwmlavsz.jpg)
Everyone was always talking about how practice is the best way to get better at programming, so I borrowed my aunt’s laptop, installed VScode on it, and built my first webpage, I instantly felt like a pro programmer again 🌚

## Realized that the real hell was outside of watching tutorials
![never coding on my own again](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/uyypf2gnvj8eg66w2y0x.jpeg)
But then I started to get into more complex projects, and I started getting drained, it felt like all those time I spent watching Brad Traversy, traversing the DOM never happened, I knew how things worked, but I didn’t know how to utilize them

## Lost my will to code

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2rm0auuqlhrc4rwywv2h.jpg)
Gradually I started to lose my will to code, I slowly slipped into the world of anime and other distractions. I only coded occasionally, maybe when I had AltSchool assignments or when I just finished a great series and felt like I needed to do something useful with my life

## Picked up coding again in August

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/i4i0xxai2byd8fjh4xnq.jpg)
Discovered Twitter and from there I received a whole lot of motivation, starting from John Oseni, who was a bit younger than me and was already going to Dubai, I was like “this could be me”. I immediately picked up my dusty laptop and began perfecting my JavaScript

## I was overflowing with new energy

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/pkv9wn020puqkjij49zi.jpg)
After getting good at JavaScript I decided it was time for me to advance and so I entered node.js, discovered net ninja’s YouTube channel and decided I was going to code along, I wasn’t going back to tutorial hell

## Ventured into technical writing

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/w730rsdpijcfogllf3pe.jpeg)
Sapa was in the air and I knew I was months away from being job ready, so I decided to venture into technical writing, started reading blogs and articles to get the feel of technical writing, that's where I discovered Dillion Megida, another source of inspiration

## Things were going so well

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/x3oxh5budpd3riix14mx.jpg)
I had opened about 3 blogs for my technical writing, one on each of DEV.to, Hashnode, and Medium, my GitHub streaks were full of greens as I was being consistent with coding, I was leet coding, hacker ranking, anything, you name it, I was already pretty sure I was on the path to greatness 💪

## ASUU called off the strike

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hy7xm3zcd6eu3n11mg46.jpg)
Boom, all my plans just vanished into thin air, I even fell sick at some point 🤧, and started considering dropping out to follow my tech career, made some research and decided against it, resumed school with tech as my primary objective

## Had trouble adjusting

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/da6ndbvbkthijwo6f0ol.jpg)
I used night plans to do all my tech activities like downloading tutorials, watching videos and other kinds of stuff, it wasn’t much of a problem during the holidays, but I was in school now, where I had classes that started at 8 am in the morning

## Stopped attending lectures

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vms38gkgiewobcvw8dd9.jpg)
Since schooling was my secondary objective at the time, I just went on with coding throughout the night and waking up in the afternoon, I only attended the classes that were convenient for me, or classes where attendance was mandatory.

## Failed some tests

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/p2thlj6i6zgkh7fh7gxi.jpg)
Did really badly in my tests, and I knew I had to do something, I decided to put tech on hold to fully focus on school, it wasn’t easy, I had to rush read a lot of topics, finish projects and meet deadlines, I didn’t even have time to write technical articles anymore

## Took a break on tech to focus more on school

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/p6k0cni61s9t1c9s3dnt.jpg)
Done with tests and decided I was going to pay more attention to schooling, as this was time when there were massive hiring freezes and the tech morale was really low, so tech became more of a thing I did in my free time, as per I had a lot to catch up on in school

## Now the situation is under control

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/5wf3a45xxutp5ge76jg4.jpg)
After a while, everything came to a balance, I am doing well in school, and I still, find time to complete assignments and do personal projects, I barely have enough time to myself anymore, but it will all be worth it in the end, hopefully

## Can’t wait for what 2023 holds for me

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ourrotrogdv82zfc0jvn.jpg)
Ending 2022 on a high note 💪, anxious to see what 2023 has in stock, already preparing for job interviews and scouting out potential job opportunities, come 2023 and I will start applying,

## And that's all folks
2022 was a real eye opener for me, I got to learn a lot of things, and most importantly I learnt about tech and for the first time in my life I actually have a concrete plan for my future.

> PS: I wrote the entirety of this article on my phone as per NEPA is showing us shege.

Hope you enjoyed it, please leave a like and share it with your friends or something, PEACE ✌️