Why I switched to JavaScript

Before now, I designed beautiful websites for clients using WordPress and my favourite page builder, Elementor. Honestly, I felt very comfortable making those websites and it was really easy. Although, WordPress has it's downside, it is a really great Content Management System and you can build almost any kind of website with it. For three years I worked with WordPress and built a whole lot of websites. Some jobs required me to touch some codes while some was just drag and drop.

So, when I was faced with some WordPress jobs that needed me to get my hands dirty with code, I would feel really inferior and tell myself that I can't do it, but then I had to do it to get paid. Google saved me all the time… hahaha.

There was need to learn HTML and CSS. I downloaded some courses from YouTube and I was really glad that I could code basic site with HTML and CSS. But then it was really easier to build same site with WordPress. All I had to do was to get a template, edit it and deliver to client… eazy pizy… hahaha. Guess what!!! I went back to WordPress and never thought about using my new HTML and CSS skills, except maybe using it to add little touches to my WordPress websites.

In 2020, my company got a big project that required custom coding. The client needed a website that is secure, fast, able to work with third party APIs, handle asset management and financial investment, e.t.c… whooo. After some days of research, to know if I can achieve what the client wants with WordPress, I realized that WordPress has a lot of downside and honestly, if you have a really big project, WordPress is a no no.

Some downsides of using WordPress

1. You Need Lots of Plugins For Additional Features
2. Slow Page Speed
3. Website Vulnerability
4. Website Can Go Down Without Notice
5. Poor SEO Ranking
6. Frequent Theme and Plugin Updates
7. Can be expensive
8. Customization needs Coding

After long deliberations between I and my boss, we decided to get a MERN stack developer to do job. But unfortunately, we lost the project due to delay from our end.

At that point, I realized that I needed to grow beyond designing websites with WordPress. First thing that came to my mind was to learn PHP since I love WordPress, but I whenever I research the internet on the best stack to use in web development, JavaScript is just always on my face like five fingers, haha. I must confess, I was afraid of JavaScript, in fact, I was afraid of coding. But coding is inevitable if you really want to be a tech guy.

Then I met my mentor, Odinaka Joy. I have a lot to say about this incredible lady, but I will cut the long story short… She shaped me to be a developer.

How did I start?

At first, I wanted to do it on my own. So, I got a web development course by Dr. Angela Yu - The Complete 2022 Web Development Bootcamp. Really nice course. I completed the course in 3 months. Wait a minute, did I just become a full stack developer in three months?… the answer is NO. I became more confused. The tech stack was overwhelming. I learnt HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery, Unix Command Line, Node.js, Express.js, APIs, GitHub and Versions control, EJS, Databases, Authentication and Security, Deployment, and finally, React.js.

Ooooboy…. wheeew

I must confess, my biggest challenge was "connecting the dots", and believe me, there are so many dots in Frontend development alone, talk more of combining frontend and backend all at once. I spent more than a month trying to connect the dots and build my own full stack web app from scratch without copying anyone's code. The more I tried, the more I got confused. then YouTube came in. I started watching videos on how to clone big websites like Amazon, YouTube, Twitter, Airbnb etc… using React.js.

The first app I cloned was Tinder, done by Clever Programmers. Next I cloned TikTok , done by Clever Programmers too. Wow, finally I can code my own app from scratch. I was so excited… Really? Its not your code you dumbass. You just watched and copied code that you don't even understand… haha… funny but true. The next few days I tried to understand the whole code I wrote from watching YouTube videos and I couldn't understand a lot of the codes, especially hooks. OMG!!! If you are just starting out coding, please don't go this path.

It was clear I needed to go back and really understand JavaScript before jumping to React or other JavaScript Library. That was when my mentor stepped in.

Are you new to coding or you are struggling like I did in the first 6 months of coding, please take these few advice;

• Learn the basics - HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Understand the basics
• Build apps with the basics from scratch… few apps
• Read Documentations, as a matter of fact, read the documentation of any library or language before you start developing with them
• Don't start any project without planning/Architecture; at least, have a wireframe
• Make Google, Stack Overflow, GitHub and YouTube your friends
• Break your project into small parts and tackle them bit by bit according to priority; so instead of searching for how to clone Tinder app, you will search for how to make Tinder swipe animation and use the knowledge in your own code.
• Get a mentor online or offline

The story is still long, let's stop here for now. I hope this will help new developers to be more focused. And talking about being focused; you must not learn full stack or MERNstack etc. You can focus on Frontend and be good at it, fetch data from third party APIs, use headless CMS (like Strapi, Contentful) to serve your backend and build your cool web apps. Or you can focus on Backend and be really good at it. Either ways you will still have experience of both, but focus on one.

I hope you enjoyed my story. Please don't forget to share this post and follow me on socials, let's connect and grow together…