Self Taught Developer Journey 2023
Tags: webdev, programming
Published: 2023-03-05 05:40:25

## The start of my Journey

In late 2011 I remember glancing over at my TV and a movie was playing called _**The Social Network**_. During this time, **Facebook** was at the top as the most used and beloved social network on the market. But sadly for me, I had been a _**MySpace**_ user. After watching a piece of the,

> The Social Network 
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/t2pigg9wxiyh25p44u1i.gif)

I've decided why not try to create the next myspace social network version.? With this idea in mind I decide to ask my tech knowledgeable brother on how to go about this new project idea I had. He soon explain I needed to learn how to write programming code and it would take a long time but it was possible!.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gynzx12tceq3vb4xh750.gif)


## The learning challenge

Now if you are new to this coding/programming world. Well then you don't know how lucky you are, back then if you wanted to learn how to program/code you kinda had to figure it out on your own. Yes you could go to **stack-overflow** or some coding forum but the people in there weren't so nice and would tell you to find your own learning resources. Years after knowing how long and difficult it was for me to scatter the web and piece together resources. I understood the tough love I receive from these programmers online. Learning how to program/code is not easy, it takes time and dedication.



![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/7hthv3sppbjr3hizpqbx.gif)

## Following my dreams...

Since 2012, I have wrote code for a small time **MMORPG** in **_C#_** and converter their **XHTML** to **HTML5**. This gave me some serious insight into what it takes to learn and create projects. Soon after in 2016 I launch my first **Android** application written in **Java**

(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rottenkittenstudio.com.buddhatheawakenedone&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1. 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3zw8vpixy1ob0evfviu5.png)

Well thanks again to brother who taught and help me learn some Java code. My brother who wrote and created his first android application in 2014 that got over 100k downloads and made a hefty $5K a month. 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/7afeir5viejegichtoab.gif)

Though seeing the success of my brother's application downloads and hefty cash deposits. I was not in it for the money, to me creating something bigger was my goal. I still had the itch for creating a social network and platforms where people can interact and connect. Not to say that money was not needed!. But it was not the driving force for my learning and coding journey.

## Early struggles and current situation 

Though I don't like to share much of my personal life with strangers. From 2010 to about 2015, me and my brother did not have a place to call home and experience homelessness. Coding from broken down computers and stealing wifi from neighbors, we eventually use some of the earnings my brother made to help our living situation. I only share this story cause it prevent me from having a steady learning process in my journey to **self taught developer**, but also taught me to be humble patient and resilient. 


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gtb4o7nthael77oib8n7.gif)

I am now currently enroll in **Flatiron School - Online Bootcamp** to complete and receive a certification for **full-stack engineer.** I would love to work and help companies grow and create good meaningful software, while still investing and creating personal projects in my free time to achieve my dream of launching a tech startup in _**Chicago IL**_ and putting a dent in the universe. 


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vgv8b035gby70lfxj0ue.jpeg)