Have you ever been presented with a set of choices in your life and had to make a decision on which one to choose, but was not sure which one you should pick, or better yet, if the choice was the right one.
I have. In fact I felt like this was my whole life and I had no sense in what direction I was going. However, today I can speak differently and wanted to share a little of my story of how the choices I made has had a significant difference in my life and I believe can make a difference in yours.
Choices
As I grew of age and started progressing into my adult years in my early 20s I was in college and I simply had no idea where I was going or what I wanted to do in my life. I thought I wanted to be a mechanical engineer, then an animator, to a graphic designer, and then a web designer. I switched so many times it was confusing for myself.
Even through all these paths and skills I have built up in my life and my abilities they were not aligning with the jobs I was working in. I felt as if I was just letting life dictate how it should go. Life was the driver and I was just in the passenger seat.
As a learner though I wanted to figure out how others were able to get to where they were and how they did it. Even more how I can create a better life for myself.
The study began. I started reading many books about development and listening to self-development speakers. I gained many insights from these teachers which lead to some self reflection. I had no problem in developing myself since I was able to do this in whichever area I decided to learn. Yet while listening and reading about the people who went on to be known as great and did extraordinary things in their life there was one similar thing they had in common.
They were focused on ONE thing.
This focus alone on one single thing is what they were known for. Have they ventured off and done other things, yes, but it was because they simply dedicated themselves to their one thing and mastering it is when their life changed.
Now reflecting over my life again I noticed the one thing in everything I did. I never finished what I started. I didn’t see it all the way through. I was consistent with my inconsistency. I was not committed. You get the point.
Now that I knew what my problem was here was the hard part, choosing or making the decision on what basket I wanted to put all my eggs into.
So before making my final decision to commitment I wanted to be sure what was the one thing I was gonna say yes to and forget everything else.
I looked to see what was a recurring them in everything I did, which was building and creating, and thought what have I done that can make a significant difference in my life. It was this world of building websites.
As of February of 2018 I made the decision that I was gonna commit at least one year to front end web development and during this time of commitment and dedication and wanted to transition from a warehouse coordinator to a full-time web developer by my birthday, October 6, 2018.
And as a result July 16, 2018 I now have begun a new career path in the field that I actually wanted to be in. My journey in the tech field is now on its way and it is only the beginning. Yet my life has changed in a matter of months when I decided to fully commit myself to changing my life.
Seriously a year has not even gone by yet.
The Journey
I’m not gonna act like once I made the decision that was it I got a new job, no, far from it. It required work on my behalf. Making the decision was the easy part, well sort of. Let me tell you when giving things up and saying no to many things or people can be very hard or intimidating, but you have to ask yourself what do you really want in life and with the end goal in mind I think it makes it a little easier.
Also making the decision of going all in of your goal helps to push pass the fear of applying to these positions. When you want something really bad you find a way.
So the in between work is critical. Once I made the choice and made my decision, I fully immersed myself just like learning a language–which is ironic since I was learning programming languages lol.
I heard it once said that the seemingly small insignificant choices you make everyday amount to the result of where you are today. For me this was mind blowing because when you think of where you could of been by just a few different choices your life can really be different, but let’s move towards the future and not the past, because you can change your future.
So everyday in every way I was learning how to make myself better in this field of front end web development. I bought books on how to learn the language I was taking courses on team treehouse to learn how to code and when I was not able to physically code I was listening to podcasts or audible books on the subject to continue the immersive process. Listening to podcasts and youtube videos I started learning what skills it took and what I needed to begin preparing myself to getting into the field.
From creating a portfolio to present the projects I was working on, to engaging more on social media with others in the field and building a community. Oh and honestly prior to committing to web development I was looking into creating a personal brand with a previous business I was looking into but rededicated my personal blog site to front end web development. It helped to create a more focused blog site.
One thing that focusing on one thing does is it makes things simple.
I knew what I wanted, so searching for what I needed was much easier. Then with my website and projects I was able to begin learning how to make myself valuable and marketable. The turning point was as I was learning and building myself in this field I knew I was in this for the long term. Meaning if all I did was web development for the rest of my life I believe I would be happy and content in this career. Why, because its ever evolving and as a learner I get to learn new things from time to time.
So from the resources, like the podcast learntocodewith.me with Laurence Bradford and the book “The Complete Software Developer’s Career Guide” by John Sonmez it has helped me, and still helping me, to position myself as an expert in the field.
In fact my goal is to become one of the leading developers in the field of front end web development.
Building your personal brand really is like building a business and when you can see your track record and the progress of where you begun to where you are now it truly is amazing. Not only that, but when you have others, even if it’s just one person, apart from your family lol, who admires your work it really is a great feeling inside.
So trust me, I’m not going anywhere. I’ve committed myself to this field and I want to be great and see where being a front end web developer takes me.
So if I have any advice who may be struggling, like how I was, first make a decision of what you want to do, then commit wholeheartedly to it. Put all your eggs in that basket, water it, nurture it, and connect with others and watch it grow. Create the life you want and go after it. The only limit you have on yourself is you!
Anything is possible if one might believe.