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My Programming Timeline

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Let’s talk about my timeline from learning how to code to getting a job as a software engineer. I went through a CSE* degree and it served as inspiration for my career but most of the skills I had to learn were done outside of uni.

*CSE is practically the same as CS but we did extra Electrical Engineering courses.

I didn’t know what actual programming was until 2018 January. I did some basic HTML and CSS but I didn’t stick through it, this was probably in 2016. I got my first internship in 2021 September, and my first job in 2022 February.

So, let’s make an outline:

  1. 2016: Only completed a few modules from Codecademy’s HTML/CSS track. I probably got bored when they were explaining how the float property works. I’m so grateful for Flexbox and Grid honestly.
  2. 2017: I didn’t do any programming.
  3. 2018 January: Was introduced to programming for the first time through C. Learnt the basics along with compilers, pointers, recursion, accessing the file system, etc. Didn’t follow through with this course but it was a start I guess.
  4. 2018 September: Again, I didn’t do any programming for about 7 months. The next time I wrote a line of code was in Java at BRACU where I would eventually complete my bachelors. I learnt about OOP in a basic sense and how to debug code. I had fun but didn’t really do anything significant.
  5. 2019 Jan-April: We had to do a residential semester at BRACU. So for 4 months no programming again. Had fun though.
  6. 2019 May - 2021 Feb: Did a lot of random shit to get to know what interests me. Tried competitive programming. Worked as a writer. Did an internship that really helped with my communication skills. Learnt Python, PHP, SQL along the way. Got a job at uni where I helped students with learning Assembly.
  7. 2021: Starting to dive into the world of software development. Applied to an internship and learnt Django to build a URL shortener. I worked my ass off for it but didn’t get the job because I didn’t know Javascript. I probably applied to at least 100 jobs after that and gave close to 30 interviews.
  8. 2021 July-September: Finished half of Colt Steele’s Web Dev course and was first introduced to the world of JavaScript. Did 2 hackathons. Got an internship where I was able to contribute a ton and learn a lot. Learnt React and got better at CSS.

After this point, I was confident enough to identify as a software engineer 😛. I worked at a startup and got way out of my comfort zone. It was painful as hell but doing that enabled me to meet really smart people, learn from them, learn about my shortcomings and get better at every step.

Reflections:

  1. I should’ve started building UIs or games or whatever things that were useful ASAP. That’s the exciting part and could’ve accelerated my learning a lot. I should’ve been patient with guided courses and finish them at a reasonable pace while completing any practice projects they had.

  2. Being impatient meant I didn’t practice and had knowledge gaps. I used to jump from course to course without finishing one properly from start to finish. I even took some time off after my first job to fill the gaps I had by completing Colt Steele’s course.

Don’t make the mistakes I made, be smarter. Hope this timeline gives whoever’s reading some perspective.