Was Web Development my first choice of career?

The short answer to this is no (I wish I believed in myself more at an earlier age), I dreamed of making a difference to the lives of sick children and their families, going back to 2012 I started a degree in Nursing (child branch). I thought I had found my calling and would be doing what I loved for many years (little did I know what was coming next). Towards the end of 2014 I got a back injury (how I got this is a long story, so i will save this for another time). The start of 2015 I made the decision that I could no longer continue nursing because of the need to stand for a long period as the pain was too much even with really strong pain relief.

What I did next

I contemplated what I could do now (still got the back injury so I was limited). I needed to find something that I could do where I was not standing for long periods. This led me to think about a career in technology (at this point I did not know exactly what). Fast forward to July 2016 I attended an open day at University of Wolverhampton (still not 100% on what course I wanted to do). I chatted to a number of lectures from across a number of technology courses; my main question I asked was am I too old to start a career in technology (at this point I was 43), which I was told you're never too old to learn new skills. I signed up on that day to start the next chapter in my life which was a BSc in Computing and Information Technology, I chose this course because the main focus was to give you an overall view of the industry and not targeted towards one area (still unsure what I wanted to focus on).

University as a Mature Student

University can be a daunting place for the younger generation let alone a mature learner. My main concern was that at the age of 43 I felt I had missed my chance, as I thought this is a young person's game (not for a game for a middle aged person). Once I started I found out there were other mature learners on the course and there were even a few others that were of similar age to myself (which settled my nerves). First year topics include logic, problem solving, server management, data manipulation, web development and software design as well as some team based projects. The first six weeks were hard (I even started to think I can’t do this), I felt like I was learning a foreign language. I persevered and although I did not find it easy I found I could get by and complete tasks within the allocated time (even if it meant staying up late to accomplish these tasks). At times I did get help from my younger peers who tried to explain concepts which I found tricky to understand, the help which I got from my younger peers got less and less the more time went on (which was the start of me believing in myself). Fast forward to the end of my first year in which I passed all my modules, some grades better than others (the odd module I scrapped a pass, things could only improve in my opinion at this point). Year two studies extend the experience of web development and introduce networking, and databases as well as optional modules there was also the option of a sandwich year in industry. Year two things started to improve for me academically, I built upon what I learned in year one and I started to produce really good grades which was a turning point for me (originally I would have been happy to just graduate, now I wanted more). I felt if I really knuckle down and spend as much time as possible on my studies I could achieve a “First Class Degree” (at this point it was still a dream). In the final year I had the chance to further my knowledge of networks and cutting edge database technologies, as well as studying mobile application development and the Internet of things. The final year project gave me the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained over the course to a practical problem (the idea of a first class degree was within reaching distance). Final year project was focused on the Arduino (which if you did not know was a micro-board). Arduino is a great tool for developing interactive objects, taking inputs from a variety of switches or sensors and controlling a variety of lights, motors and other outputs (i might do a post just relating to the project at a later date). I created an automated robotic vehicle that had the ability to avoid obstacles that was in the path of the vehicle; this was achieved using ultrasonic sensors on all four corners of the vehicle (with a little more time I would have liked to include memory to store the location of the obstacle).

I graduated in September 2019 Computing and Information Technology BSc with First Class Honours.

Did Having a Degree Help With a Career in Web Development?

I think the answer to this is not a straightforward yes or no, but I would never say don't go to University as this experience brought things out in myself that I never thought I would have ever achieved without going to University. University gave me the building blocks in which to build a career upon, I feel confident in saying that I have learned more about Web Development than I ever did during the three years at University (I don't want to sound negative about University). Since joining the twitter community I have come to realise there are many people that have got into Web Developer roles just from self study (which shows you don't need a degree).

When did I really focus on becoming a Developer

I really started to focus on becoming a web developer in may 2020 doing self study, I knew the basics HTML, CSS and a little JavaScript so the foundations were there already I just needed to build on what I already knew. I used the following resources in my pursuit in getting the developer role; Free code camp, YouTube, Udemy and good old google (even the best developers google problems) don't beat yourself up if you think you are not remembering everything. Practice practice practice is the best advice you can give somebody starting out. November 2020 I landed my first role as a junior Front-End Web Developer at the age of 47 which shows there is no age limit in learning new skills, if you have the skills required age does not matter I am living proof of this.

Thanks for reading :)