I landed on this challenge in January 2021 on Twitter where you code for at least an hour a day and tweet your progress with the hashtag #100DaysOfCode and decided to take part. I began in January but realistically I fully participated in the challenge in February due to circumstances beyond my control. In January, it was put on hold by my government's decision to ban social media for quite a number of days. Any African youth is able to understand this pain. Of course, I got a solution, using VPN to access social media, however, a day later the ban was promoted to all internet services. Imagine a life without access to google or emails 😠 but anyway regardless we move.
As an introvert, this was a scary decision to make as it required me to learn in public. I went for it anyway. It has been a journey of ups and downs. At first, I thought it would be a straight curve 😄, turns out it isn't. I challenged myself to learn JavaScript in this 100 Days of code challenge.
I have a job that consumes me both mentally and physically, finding time to concentrate while learning software development was too difficult. However, the determination and the zeal to solve real-world problems kept me going. Committing to this challenge would help me consistently build and follow this path despite the time constraints.
I'm currently on day 60. I see what you are thinking 🤔, like why am I still on day 60. Like I said earlier, it has not been a straight path. At some point, I experienced burnout and for the days I was not feeling okay, I took a break and came back to it. I stayed true to myself 🙇♀️. Nevertheless, I have learned new valuable lessons that I am currently holding onto.
Key important lessons learned and benefits gained.
1. Consistency.
The 100 Days of Code challenge is a self-directed commitment by developers to build strong and consistent coding habits. My goal to commit to this challenge was to learn and strengthen my JavaScript knowledge. Because of the commitment to the challenge to code at least an hour every day, I learned consistency ✌️
2. Discipline.
Consistency requires discipline. The challenge requires discipline and not motivation. I decided to wake up one hour earlier before my preparations to go to work. It's one of the best hours I have learned from because my concentration levels are high and the disturbances are minimal. This has really helped me get along with JavaScript and am happy for the confidence I have gained in the language 💪
3. Community.
Yes, the challenge helped me to connect and network with a community of developers 💛 and as a result, I gained so many friends and can't mention all of them who have uplifted and inspired me to continue in this journey even when am in a place of self-doubt. I can't thank TechTwitter enough. Before the challenge, my Twitter account was inactive, so I was a passive user. Participating in the challenge made me an active user and it's through this that I got to know and join communities like She Code Africa a non-profit organization focused on empowering young girls and women in tech across Africa. It has been only 60 days but the benefits are massive 🥰.
4. Technical blogging.
I got to know about technical blogging through the community and hashnode was highly recommended due to its massive support community too. Though I had never written an article in my life, decided to embrace the challenge and start blogging as a developer. Created a blog with hashnode and wrote my very first blog A JavaScript Algorithm solving a two-sum challenge using nested for loops.
😆 My blogging journey began as simple as that. Well, I have so far been selected thrice as one of the winners in a Coffee giveaway by Hashnode 💃. I write and publish an article on a weekly basis. Yes 💃, the challenge paid off, not only have I developed a habit of coding, but I have also developed a habit of writing articles.
On top of that, 2 of my articles were picked up by daily.dev which are:
Visit my blog to read my other articles.
Remember
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." - Henry Ford
Conclusion
So far, sharing what I learn each day on Twitter has become a great way of documenting my learning process ✍️. The 100DaysofCode will serve as a record of what I have learned in that period.
😊 Had planned to write about my journey of 100DaysofCode after its completion but I could not wait to share the amazing experiences and lessons learned so far. Looking forward to building more projects, completing the challenge, contributing to open source, and getting a developer job 🤸♀️
Thanks for reading 🤗