I was Inspired by James to choose reactjs as a frontend tool because of the application he created that was generating revenue for him, as at the time I just get started with angular, haven’t done much with it and to be sincere there were quite a lot to learn because it requires a lot of tools to build an app, unlike React that’s a component based library which gives you just a piece and then you add things later on. So I googled on how to get started with reactjs and the first link I saw was the react official documentation. I usually enjoy learning things through videos, but I must commend the maintainers of reactjs because they made things quite easy and well explanatory with code examples to try out.
As a beginner
What works for me when I took this journey 3 years ago was engaging myself in a personal 30DaysOfReact exercise, this is where I learn a particular concept in react using their documentation everyday. My intention doing this was to get a job in tech as I was a recent graduate and come to think of it James built an interesting and sophisticated product that people were using, then there is a future here. To work in alliance with my plan of getting a job I started creating something to show that I have actually understood what I am currently learning. I made used of online code editor called stackblitz because of the experience I got from codepen, you put something there and you will be amazed at the number of views it can get, even when you feel the app is Irrelevant or will people actually see this. but I did anyway.
My First React Application
My first react app was a todo list on stackblitz, that received user input and add them to a list (todo) then listen for an event on each item to indicate that the todo items are done. this app was small but it was great for me because of the love I got from it, It has about 425 views and still weren’t making the money James was getting 😂
The Job hunting Process
The process was very exhausting because I keep applying to jobs even when I know I didn’t meet the requirement, I just wanted an opportunity to explore and grow. Due to the little projects I have at Stackblitz I developed some thought of confident because there was something to show during the interview.. lol, yes I got quite a lot of rejections, some recruiter didn’t even bother to replied back while others offered me an opportunity to be interviewed. And this was how my very first employer Swipemax Limited risk having me in their team as an Intern hence I am forever grateful to Dami Jegede for the opportunity to learn and impact at Swipemax.
Today
I am a Frontend Engineer at KPMG Nigeria where I build new products or features targeted at improving staff experiences and clients’ requirements across platforms, helping them to mitigate risks and graps opportunities. I now have a career in tech and looking forward to excel and grow, because we learn everyday.
So Keep doing the work and putting it out there, People are noticing.
with ❤ Chisom.