Boring History#
Skip to Lessons if you want. This part is boring and might be a bit technical if you don’t understand coding-related terms at all.
In the late 2010s, I used to tinker around with Blogger themes. That’s the only option I had back then, as I didn’t have the chance to host my first site yet. So, I used to sit there and look at all the PHP code. Back then, I didn’t even know PHP as a language, but the code was understandable enough.
With a few Google searches, I could make changes and understand sections I needed to change. In 2017, I hosted my first ever WordPress site. It was a product site that I had created. But WordPress had too many options that you didn’t really need to learn to code. You could get almost everything done by just installing plugins or using the options WordPress provided by default.
In late 2022, I still remember the first time I tried to make something in HTML seriously. I was free one night and thought to myself, “I can try to replicate this code.” It was a step-by-step tutorial on creating a colorful box grid with some HTML & CSS.
I remember having to download VS Code for being able to write code. I eventually spent 30 or so minutes to create what was shown in the tutorial. I wouldn’t say that I was hooked, but I was interested in learning more. So, in the next few days, I spent some time learning HTML from a YouTube series. It was 15 to 20 lessons from basics to advanced. I would spend learning 1 lesson each day. I did the same for CSS.
After learning both HTML and CSS, I spent a month just trying out the things I’d learnt. I created many pages, used different styles, experimented a lot.
I started to learn JavaScript. I was struggling a bit with it, as it was the first time I was actually coding something. But I kept trying, eventually understanding enough to register myself on Fiverr. I was not trying to make any money from it, but I got an order that paid me $80 even when my asking price was $10, which did make me happy. But I knew there was a lot to learn.
So, I learned React.js. I spent a lot of time trying to learn it, as it felt so much different than normal JavaScript, but the effort was worth it. Then, learning Next.js or other frameworks, as I like to call them, isn’t that hard. That’s my journey to becoming a Web Developer.
Lessons#
Understand the Fundamentals#
I understood a few things through this journey: that I shouldn’t focus too much on the language itself. The language can be anything. What matters is having the fundamental understanding of how the code works.
I used to think, “How can anyone remember all this code?” You don’t need to. You just need to understand the fundamentals. Once you know them, even if you forget what syntax to use, you can always search for it easily because you understand how the code works.
Use Your Logic#
We all have logic given to us by God; use it. If things are breaking, they can be explained by logic. If you have gaps in your logic, then spend time searching for the missing pieces. Because once you collect them, you’ll have foolproof logic that’ll be hard to break.
In life, it’s the same. People think that having faith is all that matters, but they are wrong. God is logical. The universe God has created is logical. All the things that happen in this universe can be logically explained, and the things that can’t be explained is because we are missing some pieces that create gaps in our understanding.
A.I Is Stupid#
Here’s more on A.I. if you want to dive deeper into this topic.
A.I. can’t think. LLMs are fundamentally flawed by design. They are good at predicting the next token. It can be the next pixel in the image or the next word in the sentence. But that doesn’t mean they are smart.
LLMs are nothing more than a Chinese room experiment. Don’t give them too much credit or control of your life.
Use it as a tool. They are good at doing certain repeatable things over and over again, but that’s it. Don’t think you’re not smart enough to figure out the solution to problems you deem are too complex in life. It might take time, but you’d always surprise yourself with what you can do with deliberate practice over a long period of time.
Takeaways#
There are more lessons in there, but I want to keep this short so you get the gist of things. As I said before, you’re smarter than you think; don’t underestimate yourself.
Take steps to live the life you want, but first think properly about what kind of life you desire. Take steps. Learn more; that will change your perspective. When your perspectives change, you can change your course in living the kind of life you want and keep moving in the right direction.
In the end, the post was not about coding. It’s just a story of how things evolve slowly over time. You might not have a strong passion for something, but that thing can become an important part of your life and give you many lessons in the process.
