Where do I even begin?
It all started when I was a child introduced to the world of computers or did it genuinely start when my second uncle first introduced World of Warcraft (WoW) to me?
That's a question I don't really have an answer for. What I know is I am still very much into any related to technology. If given a choice to choose something else prior to polytechnic and university, I would have preferred to do computer science as well.
So I hear you, you are probably interested in technology too.
What exactly about IT are you interested in?
If you're like me, I'm super into development, especially in Web and Game Programming. Then read on.
Game Development
Do you start with unity? Do you start with unreal? I think the game engine that you develop your game does not precede your initial game idea. Hell, you could even program from scratch if you wanted to. Your very own game engine. Academically I have picked up:
3D Modelling Animation in Autodesk Maya
Unity Game Engine
Interactive Computer Graphics in OpenGL
Multicore and GPU Programming OpenCL
These few modules that I have completed definitely did provide guidance and understanding of the basic needs/requirements of game development. (Picked these up when I was studying at UOW)
Then it begs this question, right?
Do I need a Bachelor's Degree?
Do you need a Bachelor's Degree? Depends. Some questions that I had were:
Are you looking to eventually do your own thing?
Do you have funds?
Will you be able to cope with uni debt?
Why am I going to university?
What am I going to do after university?
So many questions to consider. Just don't be a fool like me having an early existential crisis when I took a break from my first job haha.
If you can answer these questions above, it'll probably help in your decision of whether or not to pursue a degree.
Web Development
My interest in this dates all the way back to OG google blogger days. Back when everyone was adding cbox, music player and pretty blog themes to their site. Messing around with HTML, CSS and JS way before even knowing what the heck it was. Crazy. I only had a deja vu moment when it hit me while I went for my first web programming module when I was pursuing my diploma.
The 3 major parts of Web Development
Namely, Front end, Back end & Full stack
Front End
Tied to stuff like User Interface/Experience (UI/UX), HTML, CSS, JS, Bootstrap, basically anything that the user interacts with. From design to actual interactive text fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons. Does it look pretty? Does it look functional? Is it user-friendly? These are some concerns frequently tackled by Front End developers
Back End
Database, security, structure. What happens to user data in a form after it is submitted? Does it store somewhere? Well, that somewhere is the database. Some forms of databases are either SQL-based or non-SQL based. For instance, we have MySQL vs Firebase. Personally not a big fan of this area but I would leave to those who are super into this to give you a better explanation, haha.
Full Stack
Wow, what a crazy term ain't it? It's basically all-in-one for web development. You handle user input through UI/UX, and text fields, and send it "behind" to the database. Some frameworks that support these are React.js, Vue.js, and Node.js. Nothing too spectacular but that's what I have been doing for both my personal projects and work, especially from the second role onwards.
New to programming?
I'd suggest picking up either Python or Java
Not great at programming but want to better your skills?
Practice more, go to self-learning portals like udemy, udacity, youtube, etc. Also, check stack overflow/stack exchange, documentation (depending on your programming language) or even utilise https://you.com/ which is a WAY better search than whatever Google is today. Especially for developers.
Never stop learning
As you are aware, technology is always progressing forward. What you know 5 years ago is most likely outdated, so take time to refresh your skills through online courses/workshops. Learn the differences or updates and practice them.
If your logic thinking skill isn't too great, what I'd suggest would be to think about simple practices. For example, if you wake up every day, what do you do? What are the steps that you take to prepare before going out of the house?
For myself, it would be something like:
wake up > wash face + brush teeth > change outfit > comb hair + apply makeup > wear footwear > check all electrical appliances are off > leave home
What is the point? Getting used to steps and procedures is key to helping you think logically. Step by step approach really helps me from day to day and obviously not just for programming.
I think I overloaded this post with lots of text so I'm gonna conclude here.
If something ever comes up again, or that I have an idea for a post I would update the site again.
x Lwazzie out