Why I started writing code

It's been roughly 10 months since I started teaching myself to code. Funny enough, I recall a conversation I had with a friend around the time I set out on this journey. I had just been exposed to some HTML and was explaining to him how excited I was about it. His response to my elation was - "don't worry, that's how it starts". He was absolutely right! That was just the beginning of what has been my dive into front end development.

So what really got me going?

Simply, the realisation that I was falling out of love with what I had been doing. I had reached a plateau. I had reached a place in my role as a graphic designer where everything just felt flat. I realised I had lost a bit of passion and on most days, I dragged myself through work. I had lost the zeal and excitement I once had. More troubling was the fact that I couldn't place a finger on why this was the case. This went on for a few months until I was randomly asked to complete a task by a colleague. I was asked to fill in a destination link for an <a> tag on a landing page. I recall doing a quick search and learning about the href attribute in the process. I remember feeling anxious while figuring it out but also super excited when I got it done. I felt alive again and somehow, solving that "big problem" got me all fired up.

That was when it hit me!

I stopped learning

At last, I could finally place it! It became clear why I was losing enthusiasm. I had stopped learning new things. I was no longer playing to my strengths or taking on projects requiring new skills. This was the reason I was slowly getting into a rot.

Incidentally, around the same time, I stumbled upon this video from Harvard Business Review's instagram page. In the video, Whitney Johnson explains the concept of the S curve of learning and how it can be used to understand people's change processes. At this point I was convinced the universe was trying to tell me something. The S curve of learning looks like this and is categorised into three parts.

1. The Inexperience phase -> characterised by slow growth, occasional frustration.
2. The Engagement phase -> characterised by exhilaration, learning and confidence.
3. The Mastery phase -> characterised by dissatisfaction, boredom and the longing to do something new.

I realised I was in the third phase of this curve as my growth and enthusiasm had started to dwindle. I needed to move onto the next S curve of learning where I would tackle different types of problems and feel the excitement of learning new things again. I needed to disrupt myself.

The last few months have been exciting and often frustrating. Learning more about front end development has exposed me to a universe I didn't even know existed. I know a lot more now, but somehow the more I know, the more I know I don't know.

I am glad I started writing code.