How it led me here.
In this email, I want to tell you a story I’ve never shared anywhere else.
With anyone.
Ever.
When I was 13, my father told me:
"Hey, stop playing PlayStation for a bit... Do you want to help me make a website?"
The first thing I thuoght was:
"No way, dad. I'd rather keep playing PlayStation like there's no tomorrow."
But then my dad started making a website for his teaching business.
I saw him every afternoon, glued to the computer.
And I got curious
I said,
"Hey Dad, I like what you're doing, can I help?"
He said yes.
(Would he think I was sick this time??)
I started learning with him.
At first, I thought we had messed up somehow and instead of making a website, we were learning Chinese, or Hebrew, or... some alien language. It was all so weird.
But little by little, I started to love it.
I actually liked it more than playing PlayStation.
Strange, to say the least.
I felt something special every time we worked together, the hours just flew by...
Even while I was at school, I kept thinking about it.
How to place this icon on this part of the website, how to drag that image to the right.
I got obsessed with it, and I liked that. In the end, we finised the website.
Well, not just that one. Later, we made about 9 or 10 more, some just for fun. Movie reviews, video portals, etc.
Back then, it was all pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Those were the good old days!
After all that happened, life moved on. Damn! I wish time had stopped there for 10-20 years!
I kept going with school, then university and I started studying telecommunications engineering.
Well, if you've been following my emails or LinkedIn, you probably know how it went...
To keep it short.
I finished the degree. However, I failed software classes several times. But the ones about front-end development were different. Those brought back memories of being with my dad. I got great grades in some of them. I was good at it.
I started working at a company as a full-stack developer, but soon realized front-end was my thing.
That's when I focused on it completely.
Non-stop. Studying and practicing all the time.
I was lucky to get promoted to team lead, and later to front-end tech lead and senior front-end developer.
For the last 2 years, I’ve shared my knowledge and experiences. I've done it on LinkedIn and here. with over 60,000 people between both.
Thanks to that experience with my dad.
That passion for front-end development comes from there.
I know it.
Not from anything else.
Nothing more.
It’s from that moment, I’m smiling as I write this, even shaking with emotion. That changed my life.
I didn’t know it at the time, but later I realized.
That’s why I do what I do. I want to share that energy…
If it weren’t for this passion, I would have quit a long time ago.
Those afternoons keep coming back to me and remind me of what really matters.
Technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.
Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Steve Jobs
So, that’s what I wanted to share with you today.
Before I go, here’s the course I put out a few days ago on React and TypeScript.
2 of the most popular technologies in the industry that I’ve been working with for the last 6 years.
If you know React and want to grow in your career, TypeScript is the way to go. Learning how to use it well in your projects can really help you out.
PS: Special price until Wednesday at 11:59 PM. After that, the price goes up for sure.