The Journey (So Far)

— 2 minute read

My adventure into coding started two years ago. I was working as a janitor at my local hospital, where I was able to listen to podcasts while I worked. I came across The Code Newbie Podcast. This podcast told the stories of many people like myself who were ready for a change. This got me thinking, I can’t quit my job but I can teach myself to code in my limited free time. I started learning, using the free resources out there. I spent about 6 months using those, then I got stuck. I could not code without a video or somebodies code next to me to hold my hand. I felt like an imposter stuck in tutorial hell.

Flashback (2015)

I was working with a guy who was planning to go back to school for Computer Science. He mentioned TeamTreehouse.Com (He is now a software engineer at a company in Burlington, VT).

June 20, 2017

I started learning on my own for free. I started bringing my laptop to work for my lunch breaks, working on tutorials and learning as much as I could. I got stuck in tutorial hell. I needed my hand held to work through some projects, by using code along videos. I almost gave up on coding in November of 2017.

December 19, 2017

I signed up for Treehouse! I started getting more involved in the Dev Community via Twitter. Shortly after this my family got some amazing news! We would be welcoming our second child in September 2018. I would have to work extra hard and try and maintain some daily discipline with a new baby on the way. I became more active on twitter and listening to 6–7 hours of podcasts a day.

May 30, 2018

I get an email, from somebody I respect. I remember not being able to sleep that night because of how excited I was about the opportunity. We set up a monthly call.

July 2018

I started Treehouse’s Full Stack JavaScript Tech Degree. September was coming quick, I knew I would have to work hard. I finished the first three projects before my son was born.

March 2019

I have started my first day shift job! I have started getting up at 4:30am (Ryan Carson is the inspiration behind this) to get work done. Still working hard to get my first developer job by building my portfolio.