For about 2 years, I toyed with the idea of becoming a software developer.
On the 14th of July 2021, I wrote my first ‘Hello World’.
You see, I have always been intrigued by technology and how it makes life more viable. And so, even though I have no prior background in STEM, I typically introduce myself as someone at the intersection of businesses and tech.
Why?
You will always find me advocating for tech products and their undeniable impact in simplifying and automating several aspects of our lives,
Before I got into web development, I saw web and mobile UI (User Interface) as just drag and drops of pictures and shapes. Nothing that should be hard at all.
Na normal thing naa, e no suppose hard.
Now, for every single interface I encounter, my brain automatically starts trying to decipher the particular strings of code and code languages that brought it into reality.
I now see EVERYTHING (UI) as what it is. Countless lines of code. Carefully written and meticulously implemented to create a feel the user will love and enjoy. Hours of back-breaking stringing of codes to make sense.
These days, I find myself tracking the user journey and number of interfaces I encounter to use all my favourite tech products. This way, I find myself counting the different pages of code it took to create every single product, and what the web/mobile designer went through to push it to live.
These days, when I experience some glitch while using products, I do not get offended so quickly. My first reaction is usually to imagine the lines of code it took and what might have caused the glitch.
Why?
Because in writing my own code, I too cook beans. 😩
So now, I am more understanding and less of a critique.
Just recently, I tweeted how I have this new-found respect for mobile developers.
That tweet stemmed from my frustration at having to write several media queries for several screen sizes, such that my code can be responsive on all devices. I had spent two days working on it and still hadn't gotten the perfect display on all the screens I was targeting. 😂
However, I must admit that irrespective of how frustrating writing code can get, the exhilarating joy I experience when I see my code come to life is one of the best feelings ever.
Sometimes, when I code and it works seamlessly, I stand up and dance around my room in joy, then call a friend or two to share/boast of my victory. 😂
Before now, I saw developers as geeks who just enjoy sitting with their PCs, having standups, and series of long meetings with PMs. Now, I see every single developer as a god.
Yes, they/we are!
Because it is indeed a miracle to key these 👇🏾 strings of code into a terminal,
<form action="url" required><label>Peter Obi</label><input type="radio" id="Peter Obi" class="candidate"><label>Bola Ahmed Tinubu</label><input type="radio" id="Bola Ahmed Tinubu" class="candidate2"><label>Atiku Abubakar</label><input type="radio" id="Atiku Abubakar" class="candidate3"><label>Rabiu Kwankwanso</label><input type="radio" id="Rabiu Kwankwanso" class="candidate4"></form>And the result is a set of options requiring you to choose one of the listed candidates by clicking the radio button beside their name.
Yes. Developers are gods, and I’m glad to be part of the gods that get to create products that makes life more viable for us all.
So, this particular newsletter is me sharing how learning a new skill (coding) has changed my entire perspective about life and User Experience (UX) particularly.
It’s still day one over here and I am super excited about what the future holds. ✌🏾
PS: Subsatck finally gave me the option of including videos in my newsletters, so I am testing it out by attaching a video snippet of the recent project I worked on. It is a personal website that has a landing page, user registration page, login page, and a contact me page.
PSS: This is one of those newsletters I wrote its first draft when I couldn’t sleep at night.
It is becoming a thing for me now, and the last time it happened, I wrote about it here.
On Transitioning.