Redis x Dev Hackathon 2022 - A newbie's journey 🌱
Tags: beginners, devjournal, writing, community
Published: 2022-09-27 10:09:47

On 23rd July 2022, I published my portfolio website [1] :sparkles: I felt a sense of pride. It was my declaration to the world - "I am now a web developer" :sunglasses:

Now that I had something to show for my skills as a developer, I felt sure about landing a job and reached out to my network seeking new opportunities.

Days gone, I had no word back. Nothing. I felt down - that's when negative self-talk starts creeping into your head. But at that point in time, I had a thought of clarity.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ovsqnfdnlhl0ilz9hqcd.jpg)

> _focus on the things that are in your control and under your area of influence._

And that's exactly what I did.

I was looking into ways to improve my portfolio; either I -

- contribute to open-source projects on GitHub using my current skills. (or)

- learn a new skill that can complement my existing skill set.

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### 😮 Stumbling into Redis X Dev Hackathon 2022 

In the first week of August 2022, I was browsing about making open-source contributions on GitHub via _firsttimersonly.com_ [2] :sparkles:, a website dedicated to helping newbies enter the world of open-source contributions. Down the rabbit hole, we go... I came to _CodeNewbie_ [3] :sparkles: and then to _Dev Community_. I was already part of the Dev Community but I wasn't into visiting it every day. 

On Dev Community is where I found the article for the Redis X Dev Hackathon 2022. I tend to shy away from hackathons because they felt very intimidating.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/su3mxvjbzpy8mc469e70.jpg)

> _this translates as my mindset being - ‘the only way I gain something from hackathons is when I win it’._
 

Still, I decided to read the entire article about the hackathon simply out of curiosity. And yes, I was intimidated. I was reading through an article containing a lot of stuff that I do not know or have not even heard of.

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### ❗I decided to participate; but why? 

I have never come across Redis Database until I read the article about the hackathon. I am a newbie as a Backend Web2 Developer. My skills, at the time, were Python, Flask & MongoDB.

In the article for the hackathon, I was impressed with their section - 

> “**Why Participate? What's so interesting about Redis beyond caching?”** 

Talk about a cachy <_pun intended_> introduction. That’s what it was. I was sold on the idea of using Redis. Considering I was just starting as a backend developer, I figured it would be advantageous to have Redis as a skill under my arsenal.

#### One line caught my eye

I was reading through the project categories and came across 

> **MEAN/MERN Mavericks:** Build a new (or port an existing OSS) MEAN/MERN stack app and use Redis in one of the following three ways.
> - Use Redis along side MongoDB as a frontend database (“Write-behind” or “Write-Through”) in front of MongoDB (i.e. do all the CRUD operations directly with Redis and asynchronously send the updates back to Mongo for storage).

Believe me, I was no MEAN/MERN Maverick by any means. I had to look up MERN/MEAN. 
But one of the ways of implementing this idea had me intrigued :bulb: I was like ‘I can do that or at least teach myself how to do that’. I had already worked with MongoDB while creating a Flask server for my portfolio website. Also, they were practically walking us through the idea. They were pointing us to helpful resources on how one might achieve this. 

My mind was set, 

:thought_balloon: _Let’s do this. This would make a very good project. I have a whole month to work on this._

I always have this saying for myself “I am doing it, I might as well do it right”

While I was contemplating this hackathon, lots of ideas were born inside my head, some being new possibilities for the project. The more I thought about this, the more it seemed doable. 

And one thing became very clear. From the time I started to read the post about the hackathon and by the I had finished reading it, I had cultivated a new mindset to approach hackathons. 

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### 👍 Seeing hackathons in a new light 

A hackathon is similar to a **limited-time event** in a video game. 

In the game, during the limited-time event, if you complete all the objectives; you are awarded in-game goodies such as - 

* experience points towards your level-up, 
* in-game currency, 
* in-game items, 
* in-game customizations,  

And if you do really well and get a high score; you are awarded a special item. 

A hackathon’s in-game item equivalents are 

1. you get to explore new technology (_in-game items_), learn about it and discover new ways of complementing your existing skill set.
2. as you progress through the hackathon; networking with people or simply sharing your experiences, you increase your visibility as a developer (_in-game customizations_)

Needless to say, the entire process of participating in the hackathon is gaining _experience points_ towards your level-up.

Also because of the **time pressure** (yes, that’s a game design pattern as well), procrastination gets kicked to the curb. 

So, with this shift in perspective and having gained a new mindset, I decided to participate in Redis X Dev hackathon during the month of August 2022.

#### _Do I still feel the same way after learning and working with Redis? Well... that’s a story for another time._
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### 🔗 Spreading the good word

> I find hyperlinks in the middle of the article distracting, hence I choose to highlight them in a separate section.

1. [my personal website] (https://asifiqbal.dev/) ✨ 
2. [First Timers Only] (https://www.firsttimersonly.com/) ✨ for all things related to open-source contributions
3. [CodeNewbie] (https://www.codenewbie.org/) ✨ a great site to check out for a budding developer

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_PS. If you have found this story share-worthy, kindly consider sharing it amongst your social circles. Thank you._

#### **I hope I have earned the privilege of your time.** 😄