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kaymo
kaymo

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My first 100 days of code

On March 15 2022, with a pocket full of sunshine, a head full of dreams and a Udemy account containing a heavily discounted web dev course, I took my first intentional steps towards learning to code. I say intentional because I have learned a little bit of coding in the past, it’s something I have been drawn to for fun over the years but this is the first time I actually set out to see how far I could take it if I really put the effort in.

I had been doing some soul searching and some self improvement “stuff” and decided that I wanted to approach this process with an “Atomic Habits” mindset. Atomic Habits is a popular book by James Clear that talks about how to build good habits and break bad ones. One of the things I took away from it is that if you do something consistently it can really pay off. That 1% better every day, compounding interest mindset. I figured something like coding is hard and could take a long time. It’s pretty intimidating and there’s a LOT to learn but if I could just do something, anything, towards learning to code every day then in theory I would get somewhere. Certainly I would get further than if I kept following my current ‘strategy’ which was to take no action and think wistfully about what would happen if I did. That heavily discounted Udemy course had been gathering metaphorical dust for nearly 3 months.

Today, June 23 2022 marks 100 days since I wrote my first "Hello World" h1 and I am actually proud to say I have done ‘a something’ every single one of those 100 days. Triple digits, baby! I didn’t know about #100daysofcode when I started so 100 days wasn’t necessarily a goal but it’s a nice, round number and sounds kind of big so I’m choosing day 100 to take a moment to reflect. I’m sure many people could learn a whole bunch more than I have in 100 days but really, when I started I wanted to find out if coding could be a serious thing for me. It was something I was interested in but just kept looking into, skirting around, reading about, thinking over. I decided to take action and to continue to take action every day. I bit the bullet.

The first thing that happened was I started wanting to get out of bed in the morning. I planned to get my coding in before work. I had been working from home due to gestures broadly at the world and am definitely not a morning person. Motivation to be “up and at ‘em” was at an all time low but from day 1, I was setting an earlier alarm and actually getting up when it rang (ok maybe 1 snooze but still a major improvement). About a month in I started having dreams about coding. At around the 7 week mark I had the realisation that I had gone from a “see how it goes” mindset to an “I am a coder” mindset. I was hooked.

I was working through the Udemy course and supplementing it with CodeCademy lessons. I was listening to podcasts, reading blogs and trawling twitter. I had virtual coffee chats with people I didn’t know! I zoomed in to industry info sessions and completed a learn to code taster course. I started a coding twitter account and now I am writing my first blog post.

I genuinely feel that this process of coding every day for 100 days has changed the trajectory of my life. Sure, I could maybe have started sooner but equally I could have never taken that first step at all.

So. What have I learned in 100 days?

  • Some html, some css and some javascript.

  • When you don’t feel like coding but you’re up to day 71 the urge not to break the streak overpowers all.

  • Some days you will feel like a wizard and some days you will feel like a jellyfish and that’s ok.

  • If someone says html is a programming language in a twitter post there will be a pile on.

  • Consistency works.

  • If you are interested in something you can just try it and see how it goes.

  • A lot can change in 100 days.

Here’s to the next 100!

As a post script, I really want to just take a sec to recognise Kate Richardson. I took her course called “Find Your Next” and she guided me through how to identify new possibilities for my future and how to start experimenting with them. What I learned from her is what I needed to know to start this in the first place. Thank you doesn’t feel like enough but it will have to do. Thanks Kate!

Top comments (6)

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dennistobar profile image
Dennis Tobar

Nice post! thanks for sharing with us =)

I learn in my first days as a coder that "1 hour dedicated to learn or improve something, is 1 hour well invested to yourself". If you dedicate 1 hour to reading or creating your network, you could improve your understanding of some things related -or not- to coding, programming, or just some ideas.

And after finishing your 100 Days Challenge, celebrate 🎆 and follow the next steps.

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kaymocodes profile image
kaymo

Thanks so much Dennis!

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katfay profile image
Kat Fay

Love this post! Thanks for all the handy tips, like Atomic habits and Find Your Next - definitely want to check that out. I love the humour in your writing and it's reassuring to hear about your doubts as well as the 7-week-mark realisation (yay you!). Keep up the amazing work, looking forward to the next post Kaymo 🔥

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kaymocodes profile image
kaymo

Thanks so much Kat!

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thewebking profile image
Kingsley Odibendi

Thank you for this post kaymo!

It just strengthened my belief that 1% everyday is better than zero.

Cheers to another 100 and Happy Coding!

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kaymocodes profile image
kaymo

Thanks Kingsley!! I really appreciate the comment and am glad it spoke to you.
Cheers to that!