2019 in a blog post

2019 is finally ending!

It has been a great year, to be honest.

I set a lot of goals at the beginning of 2019 some of which I accomplished and this post will be a recap of the what happened this year.

Let's get started!

I finished my final exams!

So this year I wrote the UTME and my final exam (WASSCE). It was a tough period but my mates and I were able to make it to the end. I didn't reach the target scores I set for myself but I was pretty close 😅. I wanted to get a 350/400 and 9A1's but I had a 321 and 8A1's which is pretty close so I still feel fulfilled.

I graduated!

After six long years of pain and joy, I finally graduated from secondary school. It feels good not to wear a school uniform again and I feel I have gained some "life experience" since I finished secondary school. I am not sure what to expect from whatever university I will attend but I'll try to make the time I'll spend there worthwhile.

I became a pro photographer!

After my final exams, I enrolled at Shola Animashaun Photography Academy to learn photography. Before then, I had some experience in photography but my time at SAPA polished my technical and branding skills. I got involved in a lot of professional jobs and I gained hands-on experience working with various photography equipment. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to get mentored by famous people in the industry. I also made some great friends there. I highly recommend SAPA if you are hoping to learn photography. You can check out their website here.

Went on a photography trip to Olumo Rock!

My friends and I went on a photography trip to the famous Olumo Rock courtesy of SAPA. It was a fun trip and I learnt a lot especially about the origins of the rock. The most fun part was climbing the rock. To be honest, I thought I was going to fall off 😂😂😂😂. We reached the top of the rock and took some photos and drone shots😎😎.

Had my first photoshoot!

Using the knowledge and experience I gained at SAPA, I was able to successfully organise my own photoshoot. This was with the great help of my friend. It was an amazing experience with an amazing model! You can check out the model's instagram here in case you want to contact her for bookings.

Started learning JavaScript!

In 2018, I ditched android app development for Front-end web development. This year I started learning JavaScript, and after some months learning it, I had only one thing to say about it - I hated it!

I was coming from a statically-typed background (Java) and so many things about JavaScript felt wrong to me. However, with time, I was able to adapt and my hate for JavaScript partly faded away.

Had my first Internship!

I heard about the HNG Internship from a friend. It sounded like a great opportunity to improve my skills and it was really attractive. Improving my skills, working in teams, getting mentored and getting paid at the same time?! Who wouldn't want that?

The internship started around September. Our preliminary task was to design a page using Figma. I had previous experience with Figma so this wasn't that much of a problem. From then on, we were grouped into teams and given weekly tasks. Failure to accomplish your task meant elimination or "execution". At the beginning of the internship, everything was too fast-paced. Deadlines were always around the corner and I had to work with people I wasn't familiar with.

I think the most difficult part of the internship was working in a team. Everyone had different daily routines so it was difficult to organise team members. About halfway through the internship, the number of people in the Slack channel had reduced so it was not rowdy as it was. I also got to know some people especially those who were active in the random channel which was by far the most fun channel (big shout-out to random guys).

I learnt a lot of things during the internship: how to use Slack, Git and Github, Pivotal Tracker and how to work in teams. I quit during the 8th stage because I was too busy with other things but it was definitely one of my best experiences this year.

Started Using React!

At the beginning of my JavaScript journey, I decided that I would learn React in 2020. This was mainly because I wasn't very confident in my JavaScript skills and partly because a lot of front-end web developers highly suggested that beginners should have a very solid background in JS before learning how to use a framework or library. During the HNG internship, however, I decided to learn a little of React so I would not be short of skills. I started with this very nice course by Chris@scotch.io. You should check it out.

The tutorial was very straightforward and I was convinced I could learn React before 2020 so I downloaded a five-hour crash course by Bob Ziroll on React.

After finishing the course, I read through the React Docs and I was able to build some projects. The first project was an Anime Search app which you can find here.

React is an amazing library and it made me love and get better at JavaScript.

I also used other technologies related to React such as Gatsby.

Built my blog!

Again, I intended to do this in 2020 but after learning React and taking Jason Lengstorf's Gatsby course on Frontend Masters, I was able to build this blog using Gatsby. Now I can share technical knowledge and personal experiences here.

What's the plan for 2020?

In 2020, I hope to gain more experience and work with more technologies like Tailwind CSS, GraphQL and so on. I'm also planning to make a return to the App development field so I'll learn either of React Native or Flutter.

I plan to write more technical articles. Technical articles have been a huge help throughout my learning process so I want to "give back" to the community. It's also a way for me to keep notes on concepts I find difficult.

Personally, I plan to be more positive from 2020 and beyond!

Let's see what 2020 brings! 🔥🚀🔥🚀🔥🚀

We'll go beyond! PLUS ULTRA!