Why I Struggled with Creating an Account Here and Why I Did It
Tags: writing, beginners, career, meta
Published: 2019-02-07 23:08:37

---
title: Why I Struggled with Creating an Account Here and Why I Did It
published: true
description: My story of creating an account on dev.to and how I struggled.
tags: writing, beginners, career, meta
cover_image: https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/brdo3e4ynxb7zhcp69js.png
---

Today I'll be telling you the story of my struggles with creating an account here. 'What struggles', you ask? Well... let me tell you.

# The technical struggle
## Chapter 1: Commuting
When I found out a friend posted some pretty cool posts on this site I thought; 'Wow! I want to like those posts to support them!'.

I was on my mobile device at the time, commuting home. So I went to 'dev.to' on my mobile device and pressed the 'Log in via GitHub' button.

And..!

Nothing happened.
I was unable to log in via GitHub.

The 'Log in via Twitter' button did work, by the way. But at the time I didn't know you could log in using both methods. Since I don't use Twitter often I'd rather log in with GitHub.

'It must be because of my mobile browser', I thought, 'let's try again at home'.

## Chapter 2: At home
So at home, I tried again. With multiple browsers. Without any success.

I was lost.
I wasn't sure what to do.
And I just wanted to like some posts. ❤

Without any motivation left, I went to bed.

![Sunrise](https://unsplash.com/photos/xg8z_KhSorQ/download?force=true)

The following day I was still kinda bummed out I couldn't create an account. But I was determined again. I was gonna like those posts!

So I logged in using Twitter.
And it worked!

And I was happy. On the other hand, I was still kind of frustrated the GitHub login button didn't work. _At all._

Satisfied after liking those posts I wanted to like, I went and explored the site some more.

This is when I saw it.
I saw **the solution**.

## Chapter 3: The solution (kind of)
In the settings screen, I saw that you could link your GitHub account as well. And... this button actually worked!

I was happy. This way, I could log in using both methods!

To this day I still wonder why the 'Log in using GitHub' button is broken for signing up. Am I the only one facing this problem?

# The personal struggle
I had a personal struggle with creating an account as well.

## Committing
No, not the [git](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit) kind. I was scared that if I made an account here, I'd have to commit to commenting and writing all the time. And that can be quite scary! It's not always easy either, with English being my second language. Then again, the best way to practice is just to get out there and get feedback. So, I did. And now we're here.

# But I made it
In the end, I did create a profile! And if everything goes well, this will be my first post. I hope I can share some of my knowledge with you all, or at least entertain you with my posts. 😃

## Being part of a community
One of the big reasons I went through all that trouble to create an account is that I don't feel like I'm part of the 'developer community' at times. This is not true of course, but perhaps if I partake more in the community it will feel less alien to me. Being a lurker is fine, but I hope this helps to ground me.

## A friend inspired me
A friend of mine has an account here as well. I saw that they posted some awesome articles! I wondered if I could share some of my experiences as well.
I realised the only way I'd find out is by just diving straight in and trying it out myself.

# My story
That's my story so far. What's yours? I'd love to know your reasons for signing up. Did you have any struggles as well? Or did you find it easy to start? Let me know!

Anyways, [here's a song you might like](https://open.spotify.com/track/4GDhkAg959r5AL0hn1a7Zt).

See you soon, and take care ✌
~ Sven

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### Attribution
Cactus picture by [Scott Webb](https://unsplash.com/photos/C6oPXOatFD8) on Unsplash
Sunrise picture by [OC Gonzalez](https://unsplash.com/photos/xg8z_KhSorQ) on Unsplash
Shout out to [@maniflames](https://dev.to/maniflames) for being awesome.

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Thanks for reading! Leave a like ❤ or a comment 🖊 if you want to. And most importantly; don't give up if creating an account doesn't work!