So for the past 1 year I took a break from designing (not really) and started to teach myself how to code. Why the sudden change, one wonders? Well, apart from the classic increasing demand argument, I felt the need to upskill myself and take on a challenge to learn something new.
And yeah, you bet, it was a hell lot of fun. I started without even knowing what HTML is. It's like one of those moments where you just go, "Yeah! HTML, CSS, I've heard of that somewhere". But not entirely sure of what it does or worse, what it is.
The days were tough when I first started visiting the codeacademy page for the first time in April 2014. Thankfully the awesome team over there gamified the whole learning experience by chipping it into small bits. It's nice you know, to be awarded virtually meaningless badge of honor whenever you complete something trivial (like adding a line of comment or clicking the submit button). But the psychology behind the reward and recognition system keeps you going, and I haven't stopped since then.
Now I am at best in my embryonic stage when it comes to coding (major self-awareness) - afterall I only do front-end web development anyway. But knowing a few css-tricks, jquery animations and javascript frameworks has earned my bowl of noodles for the past few months designing small websites for various clients. So even though I am considered as a "pseudo" developer in the whole community of tech geniuses, all I can offer is just a burning desire to learn. The pocket money from small gigs here and there is of course nice to have, but the joy of creating graphics and animation out of a Notepad (I remember being utterly shocked when one of my childhood friend told me it was possible) gives me an immense sense of delight.
So going back to this tribute of the massive tech companies of our times. I think it is only when I finally get my hands dirty in reading and writing codes where I realised the extent of complexity, impact and creativity these guys generate to do things that matter in the world. Here's a start of a non-exhaustive list, but these are the first 4 that instantly cross my mind: Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple. It is by far one of the most (if not the most) powerful tool to create. And that's why if you are bored and stuck in Netflix or busy torrenting all day, consider Ctrl+T-ing and start learning how to code.
