My Development Background
Why and how can I can teach people to code?
Just so you know who you’re dealing with, here’s my development background. Mah cred. Mah skills. Or lack of—depending who you’re comparing me to.
- I was taught basic ActionScript 2 in 2006—remember Flash? I then taught myself ActionScript 3 in 2008 because apparently it was better.
- I learned how to make websites in 2008—ones that consisted mostly of HTML and CSS. And ones that I didn’t make in Dreamweaver. And I’ve been making them ever since.
- I got into jQuery and JavaScript in 2009. Since Steve Jobs didn’t allow Flash to work on iOS devices 😭 JavaScript was a lot like ActionScript.
- I developed 2 Objective-C iOS apps in 2013 👨💻
- I’ve been involved on the front-end side of countless Cordova app builds from 2015–2018. Cordova allows developers to build web apps that work inside of native apps. That means leveraging your web skills to make nativeish apps. I’m not a fan at all.
- I hate Wordpress. It’s a strong word, but I much prefer hand-coding things. I do work with developers who love it. We still get along.
- I’ve used Statamic and Craft to build websites before.
- I currently use Jekyll to build this website.
- I’ve tried a bunch of other languages, frameworks and CMS products too. Things like Shopify, Tumblr, CodeIgnitor, Node, Express.
- I’m busy having a look at Python.
- I’ve been making React websites since 2015. I really like React. And so do a bunch of clever people. As a designer, it makes a lot of sense.
- I do not consider myself a developer. Coding is cool because of what it can do, but I don’t like coding. The reason I code is to be in control of the experience. That’s important to me. Also, I’m not into scaling, security and the different types of databases and how to query them. That stuff bores me to death.
- I introduce myself as a product designer, but I’m really a generalist. I’m intuitive and prefer doing everything myself. My way. That’s why I code.
- I don’t have much love for the command line, and only venture there when I need to. Things update so quickly here, and there are always issues. Maybe it’s because I don’t use it that much. And maybe it’s because I forget the commands. I like user interfaces filled with buttons and options. I’m a visual person.
- I spend a lot of time Googling how to do stuff—stuff I either don’t know, or am too lazy to write myself. Or stuff I used to know, or did once upon a time—that happens a lot.
