Hello there,
This is not a regular article because I will share my tech story. I am writing this because I get this question a lot: ' What made you get into tech?' and to be honest I never really had an answer up until I was asked the question again.
My journey into tech
The How
I started my tech journey in 2020 during the pandemic because I didn't have to go to school(i hate school--everyone does). I just stayed at home being bored :( The boredom kept on until my sister started coding(This was when I felt happiness). Whenever my sister codes, I just sit beside her, trying to understand what she was doing(because I was just 11 years at the time).
Then I would see her create landing pages using HTML, CSS, and Javascript, this spiked my interest, and I started asking questions. She explained that she was building a website, and I told her I wanted to learn too. The following day, she gave me her laptop to start learning HTML and CSS. After a few weeks of learning, I was lucky enough to win a Laptop from a giveaway on Twitter. With this, I could focus and learn at my own pace. Within two months of consistency and constant practice, I got the hang of HTML and CSS and was ready to progress to javascript.
With my little knowledge of tech, I got enrolled in a BootCamp(She Code Africa), where I learned how to build projects using Scratch(A block programming language). I was able to learn along with other kids and even built a game with Scratch. This Bootcamp was a great learning experience for me, and I earned a certificate on completion.
After the Bootcamp, I continued with the javascript course and even learned a bit of JQuery before realizing it was considered outdated. When I was learning javascript, I only built frontend applications(because I thought tech was only about frontend) till I heard of the backend. I soon got hold of learning resources on ExpressJs, NodeJs, and MongoDB, and learning suddenly became overwhelming. So I stopped because I was learning too many things at once; I learned to take it one step at a time and focus on one :)
Learning with the community
Asides from the coding phase, my sister introduced me to technical writing and told me it's a way of putting yourself out there. I loved the idea because I wanted people to know that I code. I started writing articles(technical and non-technical). After months of coding and writing, I heard of open source. I found it fun because I fixed issues at some big open source projects and got known a little more :) Later that year, I spoke at an event after all my open source contributions. The topic was ''Getting started in open source'' I gave that talk because I wanted my story to serve as an inspiration to more people who are new to IT like me. 2020 ended well. I got into tech, learned to code, built a few projects, got known by a few people, and helped a few people.
Another Learning Phase
In 2021, I didn't do much. I only learned a few javascript frameworks(ReactJs, NextJs) and started learning typescript, too (I cried a lot). I built a react project and also became a lot active on Twitter. Toward the end of that year, I started hearing of Web3. So many people were talking about web3. I didn't pay that much interest in it then, so I didn't do any research.
It Only Gets Better From Here
2022: This year came with lots of good things for me. One of which is learning web3. So remember, I said I didn't find interest in web3 when I first heard of it, yeah? Well, I did this year. I got interested in web3 when I saw a tweet on Twitter saying 'web3 is the future. When I saw the tweet, I quickly researched what web3 was all about. I didn't understand it at first, but I just loved the idea of decentralization, so I asked a few people to help me out with learning resources.
When I got a few, I started learning and built a project. I gave a talk at the OSCA fest on open source sustainability. After the talk, I became a lot more active on Twitter(gained 2k followers), and ever since, I've been working on more projects and creating more content to educate people about Web3 :)
The Why
When I first started learning to code, my main aim was just to build websites and become cool. But after being in the tech space for a few years, I realized that I am into tech to build websites and help people out. By helping people, I mean by writing beginner-friendly content and giving them a walkthrough on how to get into tech, Web3, and Open Source.
What Next?
I will turn 13 in a few months, and in the next phase of my journey, I am looking to achieve more groundbreaking goals like Building my online presence on Twitter and LinkedIn, and inspiring and educating more people in tech. I hope to make more contributions to open source and keep creating educative content that will impact the global audience. I will keep learning and building exciting projects. I want to leverage all of these experiences and abilities to create a strong résumé and start looking for internships.
Appreciations
Shout out to all those who have helped me:
Thank you all so much!!!!!!!