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Doyen Àlùkò
Doyen Àlùkò

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My journey into tech.....

This is just a brief summary of what I have been doing in the web development course
I have had it in mind to start something new in tech ever since last year but a number of things did not materialize last year, which left me literally incapacitated you know.
This new year started out and it was almost headed in the same direction as that of last year, but a change eventually took place when I got my Dell E7480 on February 01, 2023.
The Dell E7480 is a pretty decent laptop for tech you know. I forgot to mention that I wanted to go into data analytics initially.
But I contacted the tech school, Malhub and they said that the data analytics class for the year has kicked off already and that I could not enrol anymore.
I was then left with a number of options, and I ended up opting for the full-stack web development course. I took wise counsel from a dear brother.
He told me not to start any tech course immediately, but rather, to get myself well acquainted with my new device. You have to master your weapon before taking it to battle yes?
And of course, I started by tweaking my laptop to suit my taste, I upgraded my SSD from 128 GB to 512 GB, and I turned the 128 GB SSD into an external storage device, my SSK.
I decided to make the exterior of the laptop more appealing to my eyes anyway, I got to put up a wallpaper in the matrix code, with the map of the world on it. Cool right?
By now, I mistakenly damaged the fingerprint scanner of my Dell E7480 but this will be sorted out later on anyway.
Oh wait, I forgot to mention that I am typing this on the 14th day of the month of March!
So yes, it was time for me to resume tech school, but a policy had taken over my country by the third week of February! The CBN flooded the new naira notes into the economy.
The idea is a good one quite all right but the implementation process is rather painful. The banking system literally shut down and was strained in operations.
But helloooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CBN Gov. Godwin Emefiele? How do I get cash to pay for tuition if I cannot access the bank from which I am expecting money?
It was clear to me that the policy wasnt going to fade soon, and that my tech course would be affected. I wasnt going to sit idle as well you know.
And neither did I get my laptop for watching movies or doing random stuff on it. I got it for tech, and the tech was it going to do!
I went on Youtube to download a number of courses on full-stack web development, and I reached out to my tech sister Esther on materials as well. I had to start somewhere right?
I still wasnt able to make the most of the materials I got. I decided to talk to Ope, the alumnus of Malhub tech institute that told me about the tech school anyway.
He shared his complete web developer course with me on Udemy, and I started out on the 23rd day of February 2023! I began to follow Andrei in his timeless teachings.
I came across the introduction to web development, and its history generally. I learnt things that I never paid attention to before. Learning is great you know.
A whole lot of things that I used to take for granted before began to make sense to me in web development. I saw deeper applications of PC web browsers!
And then, I delved into the HTML session of the course. In a matter of hours, I was able to use the Sublime text editor just well and build simple sites.
I learnt about the tags and the several ways of doing things in HTML! Did you ever know the meaning of HTML? I bet you did not! Who would have paid attention to this earlier?
But it does mean "Hyper-text mark-up language". If web development were to be a building structure, HTML is simply your building in building blocks alone without plastering or finishing.
And of course, who builds a house without adding plastering, finishing, roofs, and electricity? Absolutely no one! There comes the baby called CSS! I have to explain this too right?
CSS is simply known as the "cascading style sheets". Right from the name, you ought to know that style stands for design or style as it literally implies.
The CSS makes our HTML site look more beautiful and attractive, and at the same better to interact with. The toughest part of this CSS for me was Flexbox initially.
I had to do my extra digging outside of the course content on w3schools before I was able to get the full hang of Flexbox! So yes, I was done with CSS and it was time to progress.
Bootstrap was the next thing for me to start, which I did anyway. But it was a tough nut to crack. I simply told myself that I was going to revise my journey for two weeks before going into Bootstrap.
On Saturday, a friend came visiting at my workplace and her friend has the web development course by Dr Angela Yu right on his phone in file format!
I was shocked all at once because I kept trying to purchase this course on the Udemy site but the CBN placed a number of restrictions on our cards as well.
I was unable to purchase the course prior to the moment. I read somewhere that the course by Angela Yu was elaborate to follow and good for new folks in the course.
Oh wait, did I forget to mention that Dr Angela Yu is the top-rated web development instructor on Udemy? Andrei is the second-rated instructor.
Without wasting any bit of time, I brought out my laptop and I got the 17 GB web development course by Dr Angela Yu from this guy.
I began to follow the course on that same day. It was challenging as well and has more exercises than Andrei
s course. I have been able to follow through easily.
Of course, I have a good foundation in Andreis course. Being able to look into web development through the eyes of two distinct instructors has been beneficial to me.
I am still learning all over again. Call it my way of revising my web development course so far before delving into Bootstrap.
The final session of the HTML course in Dr Angela
s material brought about the motivation to write this anyway. Ive had it in my mind to document my journey into tech but I didnt know how.
I believe Ill do this more frequently now, whenever I need to unwind and get a break from coding. This feels so refreshing!
Oh! I also forgot to mention that I woke to see messages from a dear OAP sister and a pal in the banking sector telling me the same thing. Cash flow can go back to normal!
I was so excited when I saw the messages because this implies that I can finally resume my physical class at the tech school, just as soon as I can use the bank.
Can anyone imagine what would have happened if I did not take any step back in February? Between February and now, I have learnt to use both HTML and CSS!
Life is like a bomb that is ticking at times. I am just so glad that I took the bull by the horns in this full-stack web development.
The journey has been great so far. I started the Dr Angela Yu
s course with the VS code editor. I was using the Sublime text editor in Andreis course.
I have learnt to use two text editors as well within this period, and I will like to give a very brief contrast of their modes of operation.
Sublime text editor can be likened to learning driving with a manual car while the VS text editor can be likened to driving an automated transmission vehicle.
Talk about boilerplates or closing of tags which VS code does for you automatically, I had to learn to input them manually with Sublime text.
I will forever cherish those moments with sublime text because I learnt a lot. In fact, I will recommend it to starters ahead of the VS code editor.
This is just my personal preference though. The VS Code text editor definitely makes coding easier, but trust me when I say that you will learn the basics better with the sublime text editor.
A good summary of all that I have learnt by following Dr Angela Yu
s course, coupled with my prior knowledge from the web development course by Andrei can be found in the GitHub page I made, and I will put that right here;

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