Hey there
If you have read my previous blogs, you already know about me. But, let's start the introduction once again. My name is Sagar, I am passionate about web development. I study computer science at College ( barely surviving there lol ).
Childhood
In my family, no one was involved in tech before me. Neither my relatives nor my siblings. I didn't have much experience with tech growing up. So naturally, I was scared of computers, If my younger version would see me doing all the stuff on my laptop now, he would freak out lol. My friends in school used to play games on PC at home. They were comfortable with computers in labs in school. I have never played PC games (Even Counter-Strike).
I always considered it my weakness. Typing on computers was also difficult for me when all the other students were typing quickly. I was the only slow guy at that time.
12th
It all started in my final year in school. Our batch had a subject named C++. It sounded very interesting to me because I had only studied maths, English-like subjects since childhood. Our computer's subject was also theoretical. So, I opted for it, it was an optional subject.
my first "Hello world" moment
Reading from the title you already know what I am talking about 😂
In our lab class, first, we installed all the setup and environment for coding. I legit thought I was hacking or something lol because we have to install different files and whatnot software to set up the environment for C++. I got stuck sometimes and solved it with help of Google [ there I met stackoverflow for the first time :) ]. It was all new to me because as I told you before I didn't play games on PC so never had to install anything.
Then, I did complete all the steps and It felt like a big achievement. Then, our teacher taught us how to print "Hello World". I still remember that day clearly. The first time, I GOT AN ERROR!
I did everything correctly, typed the correct syntax, and installed the correct files. I was feeling hopeless and called my teacher. Clearly, I didn't write some line of code that was necessary when coding in Turbo C++. She fixed it and it printed Hello World. I was so joyful and satisfied.
I thought of all the possibilities one can do with the power of coding. Things started making sense to me how games are developed and how the game shows messages on screen. ( yeah, sounds too far fetched )
C++
Things were moving at a fast pace from that moment. I learned a lot of syntaxes and made notes. I tried to remember all the syntax and programs. I felt disheartened when I couldn't recall the syntax. I faced a lot of errors but luckily we had a genius student in our class. Our savior in a world full of errors. Everyone called him when something didn't work in their code. He was exceptionally good in maths and logic so he learned faster than any of us and then helped us.
I learned a lot in C++ and even went through some of the advanced concepts of DSA ( I didn't understand anything after for loops : ) Our teacher was not passionate at all and didn't explain things efficiently. But, I developed an interest in coding
Pre-College
The time after giving board exams in 12th and before admission to a college is the freest time a student could ever have in their lives. Except for jee/neet students. I had studied a ton of chemistry, physics, and maths in high school that I couldn't bear any more of it in my college. And due to a lack of awareness, I couldn't prepare for JEE Mains ( Engineering Entrance Exams ). I didn't come from a rich family that I could study in an expensive private college for Engineering. But, I made up my mind to study for a computer science degree. I liked coding in school and wanted to explore this domain. I opted for Bachelors of Computers application (BCA).
My First Laptop 💻
I had enough free time on my hand before starting of my college. I picked up a YouTube course on Web Development. Sort of giving it a try. I didn't have a laptop at that time so my uncle gifted me one. As I told you earlier, there was no one involved in tech in our family so nobody had any knowledge of what laptop to buy. Even, though I didn't have any knowledge. I just knew it should be fast lol.
I was never into gaming on PC since childhood so I didn't look for graphic card, expensive gaming PC, studying storage space, or whatever. I told my uncle to buy anything on which I can do coding and learn stuff. We purchased a hp laptop which was just 25k in 2021. All my friends asked me to increase my budget up to at least 40k but I was satisfied with my simple laptop.
The fun fact is: Even after three years I still use it. It is still working smoothly. I just added SSD in it 6 months ago and its works just like any expensive laptop. I am currently typing on that only 😄
Skills
Web Dev
I started learning web development from Youtube.
I was very confused about where to learn. I started learning and made notes daily of HTML, and CSS :'( Later I understood that while learning to code, you don't need to make notes in a notebook because most of what we learn we will forget easily and have to google a lot of stuff up. Most Senior developers do too!
Touch Typing
I always wanted to type super fast but didn't know how. I learn about touch typing and It looked and sounded impossible to me. How can one type without looking at his laptop? I gave it a try and my fingers felt awkward. This position was not comfortable for me but I did practice 20 minutes daily. At first, my speed decreased and I wanted to go back to my original typing method. But, I didn't give up and after 1 month I was back to my original speed. And after 3 months, my speed increased drastically. First, 30 wpm, then 40 wpm, then 50 wpm then again 45 wpm then 60 wpm. Now, I can confidently type at 70wpm with my eyes closed 😎
Here are some resources to learn and practice:
Photoshop
When I was in School, I participated in a digital poster-making competition with my friend. We both didn't know how to use Photoshop. It was quite embarrassing when I couldn't even combined two images in Photoshop. From that day, I decided that I will remove this weakness also. I started learning Photoshop too from Udemy.
College
Once college started, I got very busy and had to give time to college assignments, tests, exams, and presentations. I learned DSA in my second sem. This time I understood the concepts.
Tech Club
Since I already knew web dev a little, I joined the web dev club in my department. I am now the president of the club. We organized workshops, I myself taught students some basics of web dev. Some interesting events and invited speakers.
Hackathon
I always wanted to experience a hackathon, and what its like as a participant. But I didn't have a coding environment in my batch. I was searching for teammates but didn't find them until my 4th sem.
Each one of them had its strengths and we qualified in the internal hackathon of the university. Currently, we are still waiting for the results of the next round which is national level.
Open source
I didn't know what was open source till the last three months. I just studied it when I first learned about Linux. I just knew that Linux was open-source software. But Thanks to
Kunal kushwaha I was introduced to Open source. It's a great opportunity for developers to contribute to projects, and codebases worldwide all while sitting in their comfort place. There are so many benefits to contributing to open source:
Anyone can contribute regardless of age, background, skills, knowledge
It helps to build skills and experience by working on real-time projects with great developers
It also improves your communication skills
Building your portfolio, there's a lot of cool stuff to which you are contributing that you can add to your portfolio
I guess that's it 😂 This blog is not about open source but my journey. Tbh , I haven't made much progress in open source due to all the other workloads that college gifts you but I learned how to contribute. I learned it and GitHub from an amazing video of Kunal. I made some beginner-level contributions and it was fun.
Beginner's guide to git and github
Communities I joined
I must say, a community gives you a sense of belonging and boosts your morale. As there was no coding environment in my college, I had to look outwards. And I joined a global community
EddieHub Community It's excellent to start as a beginner.
I always thought a tech community would be full of nerds and It will be boring and serious.
I WAS WRONG
The people in the tech community are so cool. Much cooler than I ever expected. It's a great place to ask questions about tech and career guidance. Also, you can do much cool stuff like hang out on Discord servers and place games.
Blogging
Okay, so never in 3000 years I had ever imagined that I would write blogs. I was always on the consumer side of the table in the content world. I was not active on different social platforms. But, writing attracted me. I still can't come in front of the camera and speak about my journey. But, when I was learning to code. I learned about "documenting your journey" and had one of those moments 'Ok. Let's do it. what bad can happen?
I insist you read my first blog on hashcode in which I talked about why I started blogging.
Lessons I learned
These are just my learning along the journey that I wish I knew some years back.
Trust the process - I know sometimes you will feel like giving up and not seeing any results but trust me, every tiny thing will connect in the end.
Do not break the consistency - It's hard but it can be possible if you just keep doing something every day. You have to learn to give at least 1 hr a day to your tech journey along with college and other things. It will be easier in the long run and better than starting from zero.
Don't compare with others - Another cliche advice but it's underrated. When you go to college or any other place. We meet tons of people. Some are involved in coding some are not. It's best to just see YOUR path and don't give in to peer pressure. Comparison is not worth it dude
Have a Hobby - I strongly believe you should have a hobby along with the coding. Something, like sports or art. It's a great way to refresh your mind.
Start Early - This is a different opinion of mine than others. Everybody says it's okay, you can start anytime. Sure, if you keep consistent you will reach the same goal BUT... starting early gives you an edge. I wish i had one extra year. A lot could be learned in one year and you could master many things. I see my juniors doing internships in the first year only. It's because they started early in school.
Conclusion
That's it guys, I am aware that my journey is still in the middle. I haven't got any real-world experience yet. It's still a blank slate. But I am still in the second year of my college. I am still excited about all that is to come. The things I have achieved our the past years are some things that I never thought I would. It was a roller coaster ride. I had my ups and downs. Still, I have just started and there's a lot more to achieve.
If you have read till here, that's awesome man! You are awesome
See you in next blog, keep coding :)