Learning to be a front-end developer and web designer was not easy for me, and creating awesome websites was even harder. In fact, I had assumed I was not the creative genius and decided to learn Django to be a back-end developer, but I really wanted to code awesome-looking sites.
A few months ago, I joined Fiverr, a freelancing site, because I needed some cash. So I registered as a Django guy, then a Dutch buyer contacted me and said he had some Figma designs that he would love me to convert to code.
I should have rejected the job because I was not experienced yet but I needed a 5-star rating, and so, with a short deadline (7 days) and 13 pages of design to convert, I accepted the offer.
Once I started, I quickly got lost at the header of the page. The designs were just so weird that CSS Tricks and stack overflow became my friend. And I was so close to canceling the order at some point where it got too complex, but I still don’t know why I didn’t (Spoiler: I eventually lost the Job). I managed to persist till day 7 with only 6 out of 13 pages completed. The client got angry and I had to cancel the job as a result, and for some other reasons.
Interestingly, I was not sad; I was happy because I JUST CONVERTED AN AWESOME UI INTO CODE!!!
Ever since, I have been constantly improving and getting more comfortable with designs.
Now, my advice to beginners wanting to be the next Chris Coyier or Sarah Drasner:
1)Register on Dribbble.com or Behance.com, get awesome designs and try converting to code.
2)Sign up on frontendmentor.io, as there are some awesome challenges there.
3)Check out codepen.io and try to reverse engineer awesome stuff.
Hahahaha. Thank You
cc - proofreader
Samuel 0'Daniels
Top comments (1)
Wow! I proofread this post? Damn! I had totally forgotten 😆.
Man, I'm glad you're back to writing again. Our experiences must be shared.