When I changed from Web Dev after 10 years of dealing with other peoples crap CSS ...
to mobile dev when I had to figure out the whole app from start to finish.... and UI design.. and Marketing ... myself :)
When I got my first job. After years of struggling to teach myself how to code, build projects that weren't really that good and applying like mad to all kinds of jobs, getting that contract was a really big win for me ๐
When I first started to learn programming, I thought "Once I've completed a lot of large-scale projects, then I'll be a developer!" That whole idea made my have anxiety once I completed a project. I would wonder, "Is this project big enough? Am I a 'developer' now? Do I have enough projects yet?" I've since changed that definition to just anyone who likes to program at all, which I think is a lot better. :)
I was a developer after my first exposure to code, over 31.5 years ago! Unlike most budding coders, I skipped "Hello World" and wrote "Guess the Random Number" as my first program. I even revised it twice: v1.1 added better hints for wrong guesses, and v2.0 added both a special screen for your 1st guess being right, and an Easter egg: Enter 0 as a guess, and the number is revealed. This doesn't increment your guess count either.
I considered myself a developer when I finally got hired. I considered myself a competent developer once I got to the point where I could meaningfully take part in planning/discussions for an application I didn't have lots of experience with, but I could contribute simply on knowledge of how things should be done.
Yes! Definitely paid - but I also worked as a technical writer before my first frontend gig, so that was more blurry. I was writing code as part of my job but didn't feel like a developer yet.
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When I changed from Web Dev after 10 years of dealing with other peoples crap CSS ...
to mobile dev when I had to figure out the whole app from start to finish.... and UI design.. and Marketing ... myself :)
When I got my first job. After years of struggling to teach myself how to code, build projects that weren't really that good and applying like mad to all kinds of jobs, getting that contract was a really big win for me ๐
When I first started to learn programming, I thought "Once I've completed a lot of large-scale projects, then I'll be a developer!" That whole idea made my have anxiety once I completed a project. I would wonder, "Is this project big enough? Am I a 'developer' now? Do I have enough projects yet?" I've since changed that definition to just anyone who likes to program at all, which I think is a lot better. :)
That is how I started out also, thx Ryan.
It's a path not a destination.
When, at age 7, I wrote my first BASIC program on my ZX Spectrum 48K back in 1983
When I built my first game or website. It was many years later when I got paid. But I was โdevelopingโ.
I was a developer after my first exposure to code, over 31.5 years ago! Unlike most budding coders, I skipped "Hello World" and wrote "Guess the Random Number" as my first program. I even revised it twice: v1.1 added better hints for wrong guesses, and v2.0 added both a special screen for your 1st guess being right, and an Easter egg: Enter 0 as a guess, and the number is revealed. This doesn't increment your guess count either.
When I started to write and share code. I could argue that if you can even write code you are a developer.
Still trying to figure that out after 15 years.
I considered myself a developer when I finally got hired. I considered myself a competent developer once I got to the point where I could meaningfully take part in planning/discussions for an application I didn't have lots of experience with, but I could contribute simply on knowledge of how things should be done.
When I wrote a simple `cout << "Hello world"<<endl;
When I got paid for the first time :)
Same! Or when I got my first contract with "Developer" in the title ๐
Hopefully that was also the first time you were paid :D
Yes! Definitely paid - but I also worked as a technical writer before my first frontend gig, so that was more blurry. I was writing code as part of my job but didn't feel like a developer yet.