My Year as a Self-starter Programmer in Review

2022 was the most pivotal year for my personal growth and development to date. In a word, it was all about the "hustle." I made the scary but exciting decision to quit my stable job in finance to pursue my passion for programming full-time. I had saved up enough to cover my living expenses for a few months, but I knew it would be tight. With a clear goal in mind and the drive to succeed, I threw myself into learning to code with every ounce of energy I had.

At first, my days were filled with consuming every online course and tutorial I could get my hands on. I took advantage of free trials on sites like Treehouse and Lynda to access their coding courses without spending money. I worked through modules on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and popular frameworks like React, Node.js and Express.js.

But the real game-changer in my self-teaching process was the day I discovered freeCodeCamp. This incredible community of fellow coding learners working through a comprehensive full-stack development curriculum together was exactly what I needed. Not only did freeCodeCamp provide an ideal roadmap to gain skills efficiently, but it also opened my eyes to how much more there is to being a programmer than just coding ability alone.

Through freeCodeCamp, I worked on real-world projects for nonprofits in collaboration with other developers. I got firsthand experience with agile development, source control, and other industry-standard practices. Perhaps more importantly, I became part of a tight-knit, motivated community that kept me inspired and accountable. We lifted each other up through the inevitable challenges and celebrated each other‘s wins along the way.

Despite my best efforts to budget, my savings dwindled faster than I had anticipated. With my runway shrinking and still no paying development work lined up, I faced some of the toughest months of my life. Rather than admitting defeat and returning to my old career, I swallowed my pride and found part-time work to keep the lights on and food on the table. Every extra minute was still dedicated to coding and sending out applications for developer roles.

Ironically, in my search for part-time work to support my programming education, I ended up being offered several full-time positions instead. As much as I wanted to protect my coding time, I ultimately accepted a full-time role at a local startup to make ends meet. I negotiated a 6-hour workday so I could continue making progress with my technical learning and projects on the side.

Over a period of about 4 months, I applied to dozens of junior developer positions without hearing back. The rejections stung, but they also reinforced how much I still had to learn. Many "junior" roles wanted to see a portfolio of completed projects and a year or more of experience. Rather than getting discouraged, I tried to stay realistic and patient. I knew that if I kept growing my skills and building things, the right opportunity would come along when I was ready for it.

Finally, after months of radio silence, I got the call to interview for a JavaScript developer role. I could hardly believe it at first, but that first interview kicked off a wave of other interviews and coding challenges. With each conversation, my confidence grew. I started to really believe that I could make this self-taught developer thing work.

As I write this, I am in advanced talks with two companies for JavaScript engineering roles. I‘m still putting in my hours at my day job, but I‘m hopeful that I‘ll be able to transition to full-time development work very soon. Looking back, I‘m so grateful I took the leap and believed in myself enough to make this career change.

I‘m also incredibly thankful for the support of my girlfriend, who has been my rock through all the ups and downs of this journey. She was there to comfort me after rejections, to celebrate the small wins along the way, and to remind me of my potential when imposter syndrome crept in. I truly could not have made it this far without her unwavering love and support.

To all the aspiring programmers out there teaching themselves to code, I want to pass along the most important lesson from my experience: never give up. There will be setbacks and moments where you doubt everything, but just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Show up every day and write code, even when it‘s hard. Surround yourself with supportive people who believe in your vision.

The world will always need passionate programmers building new and exciting things. Businesses everywhere are looking for talented, driven developers to join their teams. That developer could very well be you, if you‘re willing to put in the hard work to get there. Based on my journey so far, I know that betting on yourself will be worth it every time.

If you‘d like to follow along with the rest of my coding journey, I‘d love to have you in my corner. Subscribe to my email list for more raw and real tales from the self-taught trenches, and say hi on Twitter anytime. 🙂 Here‘s to more lessons learned and victories earned in the year ahead!