What made me think I can be a developer? #GDSAugust #MyDevStory

9 August, 2022

Contributors

Kunal Gupta

@kunal-gupta

Hi👋 My name is Kunal. I am a self taught programmer and a front end developer so far. I am pursuing my undergraduate course from the University of Lucknow and this is my story of what made me think I can be a developer.

My developer story

My story starts when I was in my High School. I had friends but because of my shy and introvert personality I was never in the spotlight of my class so not many teachers knew my existence. This one day when we were having our computer science class, Ma'am Shefali was teaching us some code for a program I don't remember but that's not the concern here. While everyone was cluelessly following her code, I on the other hand easily understood the problem and as usual I just wrote it in my notebook. My code was totally different than what she was teaching and the rest were copying. Now she started to roam around to look what the students are writing and I for some reason started to hide my code. But she noticed and she asked me to show her my code. She looked at my code then looked at me then the code again and finally asked my name. And she said, "This is how you all should code and just not blindly depend on my solution. Brilliant Kunal. Learn from him everyone." For the first time I found my self in the spotlight.

After this incident many things happened which made me take programming a bit more seriously than anything else. I became the most favorite student of ma'am Shefali. I was now acknowledged by not only my classmates but also students of other sections. I even started pointing out error in my teacher's code and she would appreciate me more for it. Ma'am Shefali started asking me to help others with their problems and soon I became the most popular guy when it came to programming. I remember the day when my examination answer sheet was circulated among the students to check out my programs and how I did it. I almost felt like a celebrity back then.

Me in my highschool

You can very much guess now what boosted my confidence to opt for computer science as a career. After this I joined math and computer club and met Prakhar. Prakhar was my senior in 11th grade who was doing android development. He was teaching android development in the club to the folks who were interested. I happened to be one of them. I learnt a lot from him but android development didn't interested me much. So with his guidance I started exploring web development and how the web works. It all made sense to me and I found it really interesting. I also started to explore things happening in tech like open source, hackathons, events, programs and communities. I joined my first community which was Community Classroom by Kunal Kushwaha and started learning DSA in Java. I had already learnt some basic Data structure in java so I assigned myself a DSA mentor role in the Discord server of Community Classroom and helped others with their problems while learning DSA. I made some friends too and teaching others also sharped my own knowledge.

In my first year of college I started with web development. It was this time I came to know about Showwcase from Kunal Kushwaha. I am so glad I joined this platform. A platform like this helped me broaden my field of knowledge and get introduced to so many opportunities happening in tech. I also received tees as swags from Showwcase for which I was so happy.

I started realizing how I was learning and growing like a tree. Every time I tackled a new term/tech, I was introduced to 3 more when learning it. And each one of those three introduced me to 3 more. I guess this is how we learn and expand our knowledge. I created my first project which was my portfolio website. I participated in some online hackathons being LHD: build from MLH(Major League Hacking) the first one. After this learning never stopped.

I am still learning and growing and I love what I do. I believe the seed for this passion for development and programming was sown back in high school by my computer science teacher. If she wouldn't have praised my efforts and talent then I think I would just cluelessly be opting for Computer science without any interest but with the aim to set my career. I am really grateful for her for bringing me out on the stage💖.

A message from my story

In my case, I was a shy student who happens to be good at studies but never made the efforts to come up to the stage and show his real skills. It was the high school incident that made me change my personality and brought me up to the stage. If it hadn't been for that incident I might still be a shy and introvert person I used to be just doing my college. It was my teacher's appreciation that encouraged me to dive deep into computer science. It really made me happy when people used to approach me seeking for help. And their appreciation really motivated me.

A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected.

Appreciation can really help someone bring up their talent. A little appreciation for their good work encourages them and makes them feel more confident in what they are doing. Even if they are not too good at it but some appreciation for their efforts can motivate them to work hard for it. So try to acknowledge the efforts of people and appreciate the good work they do so that they feel more confident in doing it.