How I Started My Journey As A Software Developer

I started on March 15, 2020 when the pandemic had begun, I was studying Mechatronics Engineering at UNEXPO in Guarenas, Venezuela. After we entered in quarantine, for some reason I knew that it was going to last a very long time so I decided to learn how to code as a self-taught, I took a Python free course from Fernando Herrera at that moment, I liked but I had seen an introduction of a JavaScript course from Mosh Hamedani few days after, so I preferred that one, I finished that course and did the tasks, and after that, I was hungry for more, so I decided to take the free Basic Programming Course of Platzi and it had exploded my mind, I bought a membership on that platform and I started the Web Developer learning route, after so many courses, I realized that Front end Development was my angular stone because I like how an interface looks, how we can interact with them and the logic part of writing reusable and scalable code.

Two laptops and a small netbook switched on, on a white table in a dim room, with a water bottle in front — My first try of setup on March 13, 2020

After preparing myself for eight months I got my first job as a Front end developer, I was developing using Next JS, it was a challenge but I learnt a lot on that job. After three months, the startup wasn’t able to continue with the project so I had to find a new job, after one month of preparation I got another job in LinkedIn, it was an incredible startup that needed a Front end Developer, certainly I met very good people on that startup, it was an amazing experience, I understood the User Centered Design, how to work together as a team and how far we can get having a strong communication.

After eight months, I left that startup to join to a more established company here in Caracas, Venezuela. It has been a completely different experience, it’s my first job working with a hybrid scheme, working with a team in person is very pleasant, being able to communicate ideas together. One of the biggest challenges that I faced was to work for a client that only spoke English, it was an important experience for me, in that moment I was challenged as never before, but, I grew up a lot as a professional, I gained confidence over time.

Despite that I gained a lot of experience through my journey, I know that the learning path is infinite, there are so many things that I need to learn, I understood that the framework or technology is not as important as your ability to solve problems, that’s the core of our duty as a Software Developers.

A desk at night with a large monitor, a laptop on each side, and a backlit keyboard and mouse — Actual setup August 28, 2022

It doesn’t matter how much experience you have, there is always something new to learn every day, keep yourself with a beginner mindset to take advantage of all the knowledge scattered out there. — Yosef Blandin

Thank you for reading this, if you’d like to read more content coming from me, you can follow me on LinkedIn.