In this blog, I will document my journey from a Receptionist to a Flutter Developer. I want to write about my successes and failures in this process. I want to share everything I am learning and any roadblocks I face. I know that by sharing my journey I will help so many other people.
Why become a Developer?
I have always had a strong desire to create. For most of my life, I have created with my hands. I have crocheted, painted, drawn, and sewed.
A few years ago I wanted to create my own website. I like to do things myself so I didn't want to rely on a drag and drop editor. I wanted to learn about how to create websites from scratch.
So I began learning HTML5 and CSS. I really enjoyed it. But it was a lot of information that I was learning and I wasn't practicing consistently so I lost a lot of the knowledge that I gained.
I never created my website. Instead, I wanted to focus on getting a career and I thought that I wanted to be an Administrative Assistant. The image that I had of them in my mind was people that were super organized and always had their stuff together. People depended on them and they never dropped the ball.
They were like the Stepford wives of the office. I thought that was what I wanted. It's not.
After 2 years in an administrative role, I have learned that Admins are not perfect and the role is actually quite boring.
I have learned that I need a challenge. My brain needs to chew on a problem until I figure out a solution.
I have managed to get some projects that are a challenge for me. I got my certification in Microsoft Excel and learned about Formulas. From there I learned VBA, the programming language for Excel and other Microsoft Office products, and continued to create more and more complex spreadsheets for people in the office.
When I am creating the spreadsheets what I'm really trying to do is create a program. I don't want my spreadsheets to look or act like normal spreadsheets. I create user interfaces that resemble computer programs more than it does your average spreadsheet.
I enjoy working in Excel with VBA but I don't get those projects all the time. I want to have those kinds of mental challenges more often than not in my day to day job. I remember that when I was learning to code I had that challenge.
Why Flutter?
When the coronavirus hit the US and we started to go into a nationwide quarantine I came across an article on Medium that listed free courses that you should take advantage of during quarantine. One of these courses was the App Brewery's Flutter Bootcamp taught by Angela Yu.
I researched what Flutter was all about and I fell in love with the idea of creating a mobile, web, and desktop apps all with one codebase. I love efficiency and I wanted to learn how to create mobile apps.
So I took the free version of the course and I did really well. I enjoyed learning the programing language Dart and seeing the immediate effects of my code. I was actually creating applications that could run on my phone immediately.
About halfway through the course, I learned about the 2020 Flutter Hackathon. I decided that I knew enough to participate and add value to a team. By that point, I had completed the weather app section of the course and learned about APIs. I felt comfortable with creating the layout using Column and Row widgets.
I participated in the Hackathon and had a great time. I was apart of a team of two and we created a Breathing Meditation App. Sadly we did not place in the competition but I learned a LOT from it. I had the perfect partner. He was very patient with me and taught me how to use GitHub.
After the competition, I finished the App Brewery course and decided to buy the complete course on Udemy. I continued to create my own apps while also working on the apps in the course.
By the end, I created 11 applications 9 from the course and 2 on my own (a weather app and a shopping list app). I created a portfolio with Flutter web to display my 2 apps and the app I created in the Flutter Hackathon.
Where am I in my journey?
Right now I am in the middle of perfecting my portfolio. I decided that I wanted to start documenting my learning process and eventual evolution into a full-blown Flutter Developer who makes a living creating applications.
I am still working as a receptionist but I hope to become a developer soon. I know that I can achieve this goal and change my life for the better.
Be sure to follow my blog for updates and tutorials.
Comments
Post a Comment