The Untold Story of a Self-Taught Developer

This article was first published on Sep 18, 2016.

According to this survey, 2 out of 3 developers are actually self taught. Thats a lot considering the amount of "schools" we have and all. But there is something that hasn't really been shared… The untold story!

Once upon a time, a vibrant homo sapien shows interest in these new and fascinating technologies. Most of which he can't explain. He sees people - friends, strangers and enemies alike tapping away on their computers writing things and symbols he cant comprehend.

What is this and will you teach me? What do you get as a response? Gibberish.

You finally realize this is a journey you have to take yourself… little help here and there of course… and then you begin!

You move around… one language to another… one platform to another… till you find one that excites you and you manage to wrap you head around it.

Then you hit a roadblock. And more roadblocks.

You find online communities and summon the courage to ask for help… What do you ask? A foolish question!

You realize life is not a bed of roses.

You make a very stupid move… Like creating 82 tables to store 82 categories in the database…

Over time you gain experience and things are looking better.

Then the nightmare begins… You see code everywhere… you debug in your sleep… you - just name it…

A new technology comes along that makes A = 11. The F**k is going on here.

I should build an API? Oh my, what is an API? You mean like those big Google guys build? Shii… Where do i begin?? Oh JSON too? I have no idea whats going on here…

Oh… So thats API and JSON… hahaha…

You start having to work with other people. Somebody mentions Git. Please what is git biko? It is an example of a Distributed Version Control System that allows multiple people work on the same project from different places and having different… Somebody shoot me!

Story continues... What is your story?

PS: Pictures are not mine :)