I was ten years old when I realized I wanted to be an artist. I would sketch on every little book I laid my hands on, and I was pretty good at it. Being raised in an African home, you know you must choose a professional path because how exactly do you want to succeed as an artist?
I went to the university and studied accounting which wasn't my first choice by the way: scratch that, it wasn't my choice at any time. I got the degree but I still struggled with my passion for designing and sketching. Fast forward to 2020, i got an invite to join an HTML class and was torn between learning frontend or going for a design course. I pride myself in finishing whatever I start, therefore I dedicated my time to actively learning HTML for 10 months now. I took a few short courses on UX design in these months of learning.
Starting in tech is confusing as there are a lot of paths to choose from. And, everyone's reason for wanting to be a techie differs.
This morning, in my time of reflection, it occurred to me...I love to design more than I love to code. Now, this is a really hard truth to accept because I have dedicated so much of my time to my coding journey. But the truth has to be told and I had to be brutally honest with myself, if I choose to be a developer, I will only be an average developer whereas I can be a badass designer.
So goodbye frontend, Hello UX!