I suppose I should begin with a little bit of background about myself. I am an aspiring web developer with my sights set on doing freelance web programming jobs for clients. I have been working with languages such as PHP and JavaScript for roughly 2 years now, and I enjoy it to a great degree. I used to have a web site (one of those free sites you get from your ISP, hah) and write some blog content when I was a youngster. None of that ever got anywhere and it lacked any sort of visual or functional spark that would draw anyone in. I would mostly just go on sites to get free JavaScript snippets and paste them into my site to see what would happen.
Fast forward by a little less than a decade, and I had forgotten I even enjoyed web things. I went into college with no particular direction, knowing only that I didn't want to live the rest of my life on minimum wage. I took a music class my first semester, thinking that I wanted to be a music producer, but ended up not enjoying it at all. Next semester, I took a few classes in the Graphics program, because I thought I wanted to be a 3D Artist. Long story short; I didn't want to be one after all.
However, one of the requirements to become a 3D Artist was a Web Design class, which I soon discovered that I had an actual interest in, and now here I am today. I spend a good part of my spare time learning and expanding my knowledge with these programming languages and techniques, and when I run into a problem, I gravitate toward writing a program to accomplish the task. I consider PHP to be my "language of choice", because that is what I would call the first real programming language I learned; after HTML and CSS of course, but those are required to do anything on the web anyway, so I don't count them in this situation.
But anyway, this has gone on long enough. I hope that this blog can get off the ground, or at least function as a place where I can keep a running log of things that I learn, or technologies I find interesting, and so on.
After writing that out, I am actually quite curious to hear how other folks in the industry found out that they were interested in working with web. Regardless of if it is web programming, or design or UX, or anything else, I would love to hear it.
Even if you are not interested in any of this stuff, and you somehow stumbled upon this by accident, I would love to hear how you got your start in whatever it is that you do!
Robert it is always good to see someone finally finding a interest they can cling onto. I'm in a web development course as we speak and this is my first experience working with blogs period. I wasn't even aware that blog was short for Web Log until 2 months ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am learning is that this type of stuff isn't for me. I enjoy the fact that technologies have grown to a point that personnel can have unimpeded access to other people views, opinions and knowledge into various fields. However, I'm thinking I like doing thing a little older style using search engines or talking with personnel known to me.
If and when I get through this course, I believe it will be the last I see of web development. :)
I'm sorry to hear that you are not enjoying web development as much as you had hoped. I don't enjoy social aspects of the web much myself. I don't even log into my facebook, and I only have a google+ because I have to.
DeleteIf you are truly set on moving onto something else, I full-heartedly support you. However, if you are interested at all, web development is a unique field because you can learn a lot of it by yourself by using online resources. When I was starting into web stuff, I used a handy little site called codecademy.com quite a bit. They are interactive tutorials in the language of your choosing.
But, as I said before, if it really isn't your thing, then I am sure you will soon find out what it is that you really do want to do afterall. No need sticking around doing things you don't like when they are unlimited possibilities in this world of ours. : )
I believe if I had a different job in life there might be an aspect of Web development I might actually could in to. I work for the government and since most the firewalls and access to internet connectivity is limited to government based sites or sites that can be used by the workers for job enhancement, I am limited to what I can do. When I get home the last thing I want to do is spend more time on a computer (except for school) after spending all day on one at work.
DeleteIf I had a position in the computer/IT community I think I would be all on board with learning more about the web and the tools it has for obtaining information. Maybe in the future after retirement its something I can dabble in since I'm getting some experience here.
Hmmm...how I ended up finding out I had any interest in Web stuff, huh? I had my own business and one of the staples for any successful business these days it to have a website. I was already doing everything else on my own and, after two (yes, TWO) companies took over $1000 each, then ran with the money, I decided to just do it myself. So I did. I learned HTML, built a site, then learned a little CSS and built another one.
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed learning how to do things on my own, rather than having to rely on anyone else, so adding this was a lot of fun. I do quite enjoy the whole process and have done a few site for friends, but nothing professional. (Although....they are certainly passable as good looking site.) It helps that I have a very analytical mind and enjoy seeing the puzzles and causes and effects of things. So... This semester of IT classes has been a ton of fun for me, so far. I look forward to more of your posts!
Love your blog and it's nice that you have found what you love to do...........I'm still searching but lately I really like chemistry but don't know how well I'll do in it. Web 2.0
ReplyDeleteWhat better way to find out than to take a class or look up some intro to chemistry videos online? : )
DeleteOften, the best things in life are worth getting good at, even if you are not good at them to begin with.