How Programming Found Me: The 7-year Journey of a 21 Year Old Developer

My name is Aditya Singh, and this is the story of how programming found me. It‘s a tale filled with curiosity, exploration, struggle, and ultimately, following my passions wherever they led me. Before we dive into the details, let me briefly introduce myself.

I‘m a 21 year old full-stack developer originally from New Delhi, India. I‘m currently completing my undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering, but my programming journey started long before setting foot on campus. In fact, my college education has played a relatively small role compared to the skills and experience I‘ve gained on my own.

These days, I dedicate most of my time to working on my YouTube channel and an ambitious e-learning platform I created called BitLearn. But we‘re getting ahead of ourselves – let‘s jump back to the beginning.

Where It All Began

I firmly believe that I discovered programming purely by accident. It was the year 2010 and I was an excited 11 year old kid who had just been promoted to 6th grade. Along with a new class came a brand new school building, unfamiliar teachers, and the general nervousness of change.

But the real excitement for me was that my parents bought our first home computer that year, complete with Internet access. For a curious child, it was like being handed the keys to an infinite universe. I could spend hours just messing around with software and settings, often stretching (or outright breaking) the 30 minute computer time limit imposed by my mother.

I became fascinated with how applications worked under-the-hood. Why did Windows XP take so long to boot up? Could I change the logo on the splash screen? What would happen if I deleted system32? These types of questions constantly swirled in my head.

My First Foray Into Hacking

Around 2011, I stumbled upon Blogger, Google‘s free blog hosting platform. I was amazed that I could create my own website and share it with the world in just a few clicks. I started writing articles with tips about using software, simple hacks and tricks I had discovered.

To spice up the blog, I wanted to add custom elements and widgets beyond the default options provided by Blogger. This led me down the rabbit hole of learning bits of HTML, CSS and JavaScript – all in the name of tweaking my blog‘s appearance and functionality.

I even found a community of other Blogger users sharing templates and code snippets. We would "hack" the templates to inject our own scripts and styles. It was all harmless fun, but little did I know it was preparing me for a future in web development.

Then in 2013, disaster struck. I logged into my Blogger dashboard one day to find that my entire blog had been deleted by Google for "spam content." I was devastated. I tried everything to recover the blog – submitting appeals, posting on Google‘s help forums, even directly emailing Blogger staff. But it was no use, the content was gone forever.

This painful experience taught me a vital lesson about the importance of controlling your creations. I realized Blogger could pull the rug out from under me at any moment. If I wanted true ownership of my work, I needed to "graduate" to a self-hosted setup.

So at 14 years old, I convinced my father to purchase web hosting and a domain name for me. I dove headfirst into learning to set up WordPress, configure databases, and use cPanel. It was a lot for a teenager to wrap his head around, but I was determined to rebuild what I had lost. Countless nights were spent scouring Google and StackOverflow to resolve issues with my WordPress installation.

Turning Passion Into Profit

With my own corner of the web up and running again, I started thinking about the future. Web hosting wasn‘t free like Blogger. I was costing my parents real money to keep my blog online now. As much as I enjoyed tinkering with my site, I felt an obligation to at least cover my expenses, if not turn a profit.

I began freelancing on sites like Fiverr, picking up small gigs helping people customize their WordPress themes. I barely knew what I was doing, but I figured it out as I went along, Googling my way through problems.

I distinctly remember one of my first jobs was installing a commercial WordPress theme for a client. In my naivety, I had never used FTP before and ended up overwriting core WordPress files on the client‘s server, completely breaking their site. I scrambled to fix the damage, but the client understandably canceled the order. It was a hard lesson in the importance of being careful and admitting when you‘re in over your head.

Despite a few bumps, the more projects I completed, the more I was forced to learn. Within a couple years, I went from building basic HTML sites to deploying full PHP applications. I had become a bonafide, paid web developer purely through self-education and a stubborn passion for the craft.

Transitioning To Teaching

As my knowledge grew, I felt a calling to share what I had learned with others. I launched a YouTube channel called Codedamn in 2015, with the goal of explaining web development concepts in simple terms.

I had no delusions of grandeur about becoming a YouTube star. I didn‘t concern myself with keyword optimization, clickbait titles, or chasing the algorithm. I simply wanted a public record of concepts for my own reference and for anyone else who might find them useful.

For two years, I studied religiously for the Joint Entrance Examination, the rigorous test used for admission into India‘s top engineering colleges. At the same time, I continued pouring my heart into Codedamn, often burning the midnight oil to keep all my commitments.

My JEE results were good enough to land me a spot at a prestigious university, but not in their Computer Science program. I was crushed. Would I really spend the next four years studying a subject I had no passion for? I turned down the offer and ended up at a college that, while less prestigious, allowed me to pursue my love for computers. It felt like I was accepting an enormous risk at the time.

Meanwhile, Codedamn chugged along slowly gaining subscribers purely through the usefulness of my tutorials. With every new technology I wanted to learn, I created a full video series, forcing myself to learn it inside and out in order to teach it. In this way, the channel became just as much of a resource for me as for my viewers.

Codedamn: The Web Platform

Approaching 100,000 YouTube subscribers, I had an epiphany. I loved using my channel to introduce people to programming, but I was limited by the video format. I couldn‘t provide the hands-on interactivity and practice that‘s so crucial when learning to code.

So in 2020, I launched the Codedamn web platform, an interactive environment for not just watching tutorials, but writing real code right in the browser. It‘s the ultimate realization of my goal to make programming education accessible and engaging.

Today, over half a million people use the platform to learn languages like Python, JavaScript, C++, and more. Hearing their success stories and knowing I played a role in kickstarting their programming journeys is what keeps me motivated.

Lessons Learned

Looking back, a few key lessons stand out from my unconventional path into programming:

Failure is inevitable – embrace it: I‘ve failed countless times, from bombed freelance gigs to rejected internships. What matters is picking yourself up and treating failure as a master class in what to do better next time.

Consistency beats talent: When I started my YouTube channel and blog, I was far from the most skilled developer. But I kept showing up and putting in the reps. 7 years later, I‘ve built an audience larger than people who seemed lightyears ahead of me.

Follow your curiosities: I never could have predicted my childhood interest in computers would blossom into a career. But by doggedly pursuing what excited me, even when it meant going against the grain, I ended up aligning my passion and profession.

Teaching is the best way to learn: The crispness of thinking required to explain a concept to others is unmatched for internalizing knowledge. Anytime I find my understanding of a topic is shaky, I challenge myself to teach it. The gaps quickly reveal themselves.

Beyond launching Codedamn, I‘ve had the fortune of writing two programming books, winning an Apple WWDC scholarship, and most importantly, using my skills to build projects that solve real problems for people.

I‘m still just 21 but my programming journey to this point has been nothing short of life-defining. And in many ways, I feel like I‘m only getting started. No matter where your passions take you, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Compound interest applies to skills too – small investments made daily pay huge dividends down the line. Happy coding!