First Post - The picture means nothing
Err, Hi.
So, err, yeah, hi, happy you've made it here tonight, or today, I don't actually know what time it is... ah screw it, whenever it is for you! Thanks for showing up.
So I've been thinking for a while, yes I know, bad idea probably, but I've been doing it, and now you're (hopefully) here to read about what I've been thinking.
First things first, this is my blog, well this is post one of my blog. Hopefully, I'll get around to constantly writing for it, but for now it may be staggered.
Why did I start writing a blog I hear you asking. Good question, you. I decided to start writing a blog because I felt like it would be a good way to get out ideas and thoughts that I have been having. I'm not really sure, I'm kind of making it up as I go.
So, without further ado, here is my first post.
PS, possible use of bad language... not so much in this one, but maybe further down the line, but I'll try not to.
Here it is, I'm writing it, after I've written it (get it, lame dev joke about writing code to ... make the... website... I thought it was cool!). By the lame joke, I mean I have written a new face for my website. It has been through some horrible looking iterations (First Cut, Second Cut, Third Cut and the Final Cut before this one). Even looking at this site, I will probably change it at some point, you'll come back one day and BAM! New site. Man, looking back, it makes me think about how I have grown as a developer.
Should we talk about that? Sure, why not I hear, oh alright if you insist... side note, as you can tell, I am not the best with transitional work, or writing, so bare with me.
My life as a developer has been somewhat short at the moment. I've been developing as a career for about 2 and a half years now. I have worked in two different agencies, and spent many an hour writing front and backend code. I don't know where I sit on the spectrum of front or backend, but I think it is somewhere in the middle.
I started out studying to become a software dev. I traded that in for the shine of Web Development after two and a half years of C#, JAVA and C++. After studying Software dev, I then moved my profession to, as mentioned earlier, the Shine of the HTML Tags, the jQuery plugins, the PHP frameworks like SilverStripe, and the torturous hell that is CSS, oh god the memories, but I'll keep those stories for another time.
After doing a Diploma in Web Development and finding what I would hope would be my calling in Web Development I started building websites. For my friends, my family, my friend at the time's family, cat's, dog's, whoever wanted one, they got a website (some even who didn't want one).
Once I had a couple of websites under my belt, I started to really think that I could do this, yes, me, the guy who had spent 10 or so years in retail, could make it as a web developer. So, naturally, I started applying for jobs, and man, it was HARD! I mean, there were plenty of jobs out there, but you run into the annoying issue of needing experience, but having been a student working in retail, it was hard to get IT experience as a developer, especially when they were asking for a couple of years of experience.
Fortunately for me, I started looking about June, and was employed by September, which was great! Here we go! First real job as a developer! I was heading out to conquer the industry! And you know what, it sucked!
I don't mean the job that I had been given sucked, I was loving it, new things were being learned, new things were being discovered. What I mean when I say it sucked is it was hard! Like, really hard. I'd come straight out of uni and the most I'd built was a small PHP site and a few WordPress sites. I was not prepared for SilverStripe, I was not prepared for Drupal, I didn't even know what Version control was, let alone heard of GIT. There was so much I was not prepared for when I started out, and I look back now and wonder how I ever survived.
For that, I have to look at the people surrounding me, the other Junior Dev that started when I did, the Senior Dev I had to answer all my insane and mind numbingly noob questions I would ask. It was good having people to work so close with that knew, had been and or were still in the same position as I.
I spent a year and a bit at my first job, where I learnt many things, was pushed to a role that probably was too high for someone who had just come out of Uni, but it was a massive learning experience for me, especially for my first Agency job and it started sucking less.
Then I moved on to DNA where I am today, and have been for the last 7months. Upon joining DNA, I stepped back from the role I last had, and jumped in to the middle of a well established dev team, which for me was awesome! I went back to learning. I've become confident with Grunt, working with Less, BEM standards, Capistrano, all things that would of just ruined the mind of myself a few years ago.
At the moment, I am happy with my involvement in the industry, I look back to where it sucked, and think about how all that sucking has lead me to being the developer that I am today.
In short (I think), that was pretty much how I began as a developer. It's had many ups, many downs, but they've all kind of led to now where I am still succeeding in Web Development, much to my surprise.
Well, I think I've rambled enough about myself for this first blog post. It's a bit long, probably a bit shit, but hopefully in time, it will get better.
Check back from time to time, I may have written something new, probably something dev related, or ranty. The rants will hopefully mostly be about tech and dev things, but who knows. It's my blog, I'll decide
Ciao
~ Jacob