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Danny Thompson
Danny Thompson

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Don't worry about HOW long it takes you to become a programmer!

The only journey in tech that matters, is your own. Stop comparing yourself to these developers on social media. Some of them are fast learners, Some had a head start. Also, some lie! Stop using social media as the ruler to which you gauge and measure your life on.

A good friend of mine took 6 years to become a software engineer. It took me a little less than a year. Want to know something interesting? Both of our titles are "Software Engineer". His title isn't "Took 6 years Engineer". No. Same title. Same paycheck. There is no reward for rushing through and there is no punishment for taking longer. The ONLY journey in tech that matters, is your own!

Teaching developers

The only path that matters is your own. So many people get caught up in the idea of "I need to become a developer in 6 months!", "90 days until I make 6 figures!", "6 weeks until I change my life!". This isn't real. Sure there are some cases where someone really did well and got a job quickly, but for each one of those cases there has to be hundreds that took ten times longer to achieve the same.

Stop under valuing yourself! You are amazing and valuable! You are truly great! Bring value to the table and companies will want you. Increase your skill set and they will be drawn to you and your abilities!

I look forward to seeing you grow.

You may be down, but you haven't sung your last song yet. You haven't shown your best talent yet, you haven't tapped into your abilities yet. It is time YOU shock yourself! Show yourself how great you are!

Follow me on Twitter @dthompsondev
Hope I can keep motivating and inspiring you.

Latest comments (38)

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karancs_3 profile image
Karan Gowda

Inspiring Danny!
I'm from India people have 0 knowledge about career transitioning they think once they come out of high school without a degree... education is stopped...
but people in developed countries in like US have this advantage.
I'm a backend developer specializing in Node,MongoDB,MySQL.
trying to grab an intern role before getting into a job...
what is gdg and how can i use GDG? i searched and tried understanding what it is but didn't?

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steve-sinclair

I'm just a hobbyist programmer, and what with the lockdown here in the UK, I'm just going to woodshed HTML5 canvas programming for the foreseeable and build a fully animated BlackJack program for the browser.

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Danny Thompson

That is fantastic Steve!

Keep that up! Keep building and growing your skillset. Never know where it will take you!

Keep doing amazing things Steve!

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Edmon Garcia

Thank you for this kind of blog😊Sometimes when I'm browsing in my social media account I usually saw a lot of post about other learners who make astonishing project in a short period of time that makes me feel sad and started questioning my ability, But now on I'm gonna focus on a learning process and being motivated every day😁

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Danny Thompson

Yes!!! love this!

Focus on YOUR journey! If you need motivation, follow me on Twitter because I post there everyday but I will be posting here as well since I see many people are enjoying this content.

Be the best version of yourself Monmon!

Keep doing amazing things and I am excited to see you grow! 🙏❤️

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Arik

Totally agree. Peter Norvig summed it up perfectly in his post "Teach Yourself Programming in 10 Years": norvig.com/21-days.html

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Danny Thompson

I am not familiar with Peter but that is a pretty interesting read!

Thanks for sharing that. I am going to look him up some more!

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elukoye1 profile image
Elukoye

Thanks for this reminder , sometimes I find myself caught in this rabbit hole.

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Danny Thompson

Thank you for reading this Elukoye!

Do amazing things!

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Ian Peterson

Three years in and still searching for my first role. Guess this post is about me lol.

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Danny Thompson

Doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there.

Just DON'T STOP! No matter how slow, keep moving. That way the possibility of your dream stays alive! You got this Ian!

You are Phenomenal beyond measure!

Time to shock your system and show YOURSELF how great you are!

Push hard and reach a new level!

You got this. Keep doing amazing things and I am excited to see how you grow!

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Joel Godinez

This blog is solid! It took me seven years to finish my undergrad, but it made me more determined than ever. Everyone's journey is different. Thank you for the motivating words.

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Danny Thompson

This is phenomenal Joel!

Took you 7 years but there is no time duration next to that degree! it just says degree! So who cares how long it takes, you finally made it to the big leagues and brought value to the table!

You are amazing and doing amazing things! You have done a great job and I am excited to see you grow!

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mimran1

I haven't read a more concise and to the point blog than this especially the first two paragraphs. Very motivating. Currently struggling to learn Web Technologies (Front-end frameworks, back-end frameworks etc.. etc..)

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Danny Thompson

Thank you for saying that and I try to avoid the "fluff" and bring the value to spark ideas/ inspire motivation.

I want to motivate as many developers as I can to hit their goals.

It is ok to struggle. As long as you keep moving. JUST DON'T STOP! The only guarantee that exists is, if you stop your dream dies. But if you keep moving, no matter how slow, the possibility of your dream still exists. So DON'T STOP!

I am excited to see you grow and reach new levels!

Be persistent, Be diligent, Be phenomenal!

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Corey McCarty

I took a bachelor's in computer engineering and learned lots of circuit stuff along with software development. I did so because I had been in the computer science program and was told that if I enjoyed learning about state diagrams then I should go to engineering. I enjoyed learning lots of things, and once upon a time I fantasized about going to school forever so that I could continue learning different things. I don't use most of what I learned in my work as a developer; however, the problem solving skills that I learned in calculus and engineering help me to be a better developer. That isn't to say that you can't learn those things on the job. Do what interests you and fits your needs.

Great article. Thanks for posting.

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Danny Thompson

Thank you Corey!

I completely agree, you can learn A LOT on the job. As long as we are working hard and heading towards our goal, no matter how slow, it is the path towards building a better version of ourselves and becoming better developers!

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Danny Thompson

Oh wow! thank you so much for those kind words Mara!

I definitely will continue to try to motivate and inspire those that I can. Truly didn't expect everyone to like my first article! lol.

I definitely have plans to keep writing more articles to try and help as many as I can!

You are awesome Mara! Thank you!

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dthompsondev profile image
Danny Thompson

I am really glad it helped you and Thank you!

Trying to motivate and inspire as many developers as I can to reach their goals!

Keep being amazing! If you need more inspiration, you can always find me on twitter @dthompsondev

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Ratul Ramchandani

Great motivation! :)

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Danny Thompson

Thank you!

Truly means a lot! Trying to motivate and inspire as many developers as I can!

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Code_Quinn

Woohoo, this article is amazing

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Danny Thompson

So glad that you like it!

Trying to motivate and inspire as many developers as I can to reach their goals!

Keep being amazing! If you need more inspiration, you can always find me on twitter @dthompsondev

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Heather

I saw your tweet from this post the other day and it was just what I needed to take a breather and get back to the computer with a new perspective. Thanks!

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Danny Thompson

I am so glad I could help motivate you!

I give speeches motivating developers so I figured I would start doing it on Twitter and now here. I am already coming up with some more posts that will be better suited for a blog. I just did this since this is what all of the "cool developers" do lol.

But now I realize SO MANY developers are on here. Very natural for me to want to help them reach their goals and become better developers!

Hoping to be able to leverage this and get more developers jobs as well!

Keep doing amazing things Heather!

I see you are in a bootcamp! Excited to see you grow!

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