I know, I know. Isn’t this challenge for people learning to code or indiepreneurs? And wait, don’t I have a full-time office job?Well, yes.
However, the tech industry is one of those fields where if you aren’t pushing yourself to be ahead, you’ll inevitably fall behind. Tech layoffs are becoming increasingly common (Spotify just laid off 1500 workers!), and if the worst happens and you haven’t stayed relevant in the tech industry… Well, let’s just say good luck getting back into it. The market has been really tough lately.
I’ve been feeling a little too comfortable in my work role, doing the same thing and working with the same technology. I decided to embark on this challenge to rekindle my love for coding. That, and the FOMO seeing everyone else doing it finally got to me.
As I reflect on my first full week of the challenge, documented diligently on Notion and shared daily on X (if you haven’t joined the family, take a sec to do that here), I’m eager to share what I’ve learned and accomplished.
Note: All project lessons can be found on freeCodeCamp.org as part of the Responsive Web Design Course.
Day 1: Completed the CSS Flexbox project, delving into fantastic properties such as display-flex, flex-direction, flex-wrap, justify-content, align-items, and gap, alongside HTML tags <meta> and <header>. The project? A responsive cat photo gallery. Spoiler alert: it’s my favorite project of the week!
Day 2: Finished the CSS Typography project, constructing a realistic digital nutrition label. Explored CSS properties like font-family, font-size, letter-spacing, font-weight, and text-indent. The lesson also led me to create a visible divider using a styled <div> instead of <hr>.
Day 3: Tackled half of the Quiz with Accessibility project, immersing myself in the crucial topic of accessibility in tech. Explored the role attribute, the importance of labels over placeholders in inputs, and using styled text inside a <span> tag for screen-reader only visibility.
Day 4-5: Completed the Accessibility project, delving into typefaces, semantic tags, minimum text-to-background contrast ratio (4.5:1), scroll-behavior style property, and the accesskey attribute.
Day 6: A short day of coding as I relaxed with friends at a lake house. Still, I made progress on the CSS Pseudo-selectors project, completing about 20%.
Day 7: Continued the Pseudo-selectors project, a balance sheet with hidden gems. Completed the HTML scaffolding and setup, a time-consuming task familiar to freeCodeCamp users. I also delved into GraphQL, as suggested by one of my X followers. (Yes, you can suggest #100DoC topics for me to tackle!)
Wow, I can’t remember the last time I consistently coded in small chunks for more than a couple days outside of work! My style is usually no code, no code, no code, all-night on a project, code, no code, no code… I have procrastinating on college projects to thank for that habit.
Anyway, I’m loving how this challenge is going so far and I’m excited to continue it! There were definitely a couple days when I really just wanted to go to bed, but I hauled myself up for a few FCC lessons and I have no regrets!
Embarking on the #100daysofcode challenge has been a refreshing journey so far, pushing me out of my coding comfort zone and reigniting my passion for learning. It’s incredible how consistent, small efforts can accumulate into significant progress. I encourage you to follow my coding escapades on X and join the family. Let me know below if you’ve ever tackled this challenge! Whether you’re a seasoned developer or a coding novice, let’s navigate the tech wave together and stay ahead in this ever-evolving industry!
Source: hashnode.com