“I am a Web Developer….BE a Web Developer”
Itʻs July and we are officially halfway through 2022 and my lord has it been one hell of an incredible year of growth for me. But one thing in particular happened to me in May. A change like Iʻve never experienced before in my life that would bring me back into the world of Web Development A world I walked away from and closed the door on, one of the hardest decisions of my life.
Travel pose atop Haleakalā National Park, Maui
People on Instagram and Youtube often ask me, “How the hell do you afford to travel so often?” and my answer if often disappointing. “I donʻt do anything special, other than work hard, discover a place, focus, and eventually go”. That hard work is 100% of the time your average low paying 9-5 job, be it in a doctors office or retail job.
Itʻs sad because from 2007 – 2011, I dedicated those years of my young ambitious life in college to become a Web Developer, eventually getting a degree in Digital Media. And once I was set free into the world, I was ready to embark into my dream career that would allow me to travel the world.
Wrapping up 3 weeks of Greek Islands travel in Santorini, Greece (2016)
But those ambitions would come crashing down hard, as a year into that career saw me in an out of jobs to the point of unemployment before giving up and walking away.
Itʻs been a very difficult ten years barely even taking a glance at Web Development through random job offer emails and the mere mention as I would say or think out loud, “I canʻt do that” because “it didnʻt work out”.
…This was all until…. May 2022.
I realized, that it had nothing to do with the excuse of the career continuously evolving and it being hard to keep up with or whatever excuses I had. It had everything to do with me and I was at that time. I was ambitious and ready but truth is, I was depressed and overall in dark place. And sadly, depended so much on my career for that better place that it hindered my ability to focus on what was most important to get there. That was learning what I needed in order to grow day by day and be successful.
New Zealand (2017)
“Champions are made when no one is watching”
..and that is what this beginning half of 2022 has been like. My lack of presence in social media meant that I was working hard on learning on the back end of things important to my growth, from learning my camera to becoming drone pilot certified and learning just how fu**ing capable I am of doing…anything. And then there is my literal 10 years of travel, which has been my initial proof of just how capable I am of following through on what I want.
Living a dream (literally) – Motorbiking New Zealand (2017)
The Breaking Point
May always is a time of reflection as a travel month and also the month I graduated college. But this year was dramatically different because, I felt utterly and completely lost in the world. I mean, I love to travel and will keep traveling. But “what is my plan”? Am I going to do retail everywhere I go, burn myself out before I make it to India or South Africa. NO, and I definitely hit a breaking point!
I remember coming home one day and just stared off into the wall sitting on my bed. Those images of graduates I saw all over social media earlier that day, “I am officially a social worker”, “”Your new engineer”, “Graduate in Nursing”
I just remember telling myself out loud,
“Why am I trying to learn new industries to sustain myself?
I went to school…
I graduated too!..
In Web Development…
I KNOW Web Development…
I AM a Web Developer…
BE A WEB DEVELOPER!!
HTML & CSS code used to design and structure webpages.
alert(“Welcome Back Anthony”);
I balled so hard because I finally understood why I walked away from my career. Because I connected it with pain, disappointment, and loss I experienced at the time. Not long after that, I ran to the store, bought study materials, researched courses and materials online, and got back into my career. I COMMITTED!
(Note: The code in the title is basic Javascript I am learning 😉 )
Sometimes A Divergence in Our Path is Everything We Need!
Iʻm not hard on myself ten years ago for “failing”. No not at all. I just was a different person going through a lot at the time and needed to take a different path. Even if it may have taken me ten years to see and realize my greatest potential, I actually owe it to all I have done in that time.
Maybe I needed to explore the world, island hop Greece and the Pacific Islands. Motorbike New Zealand & become a storytelling content creator in ten years to truly ground myself as a confident and capable human being.
Enough to efficiently become the web developer Iʻve always wanted to become.
What Now?
I am still in the core of my learning curriculum with a long journey ahead and recognize that there is always something new to learn. I not only know what I need to relearn and catch up on, but opposite of ten years ago, I have a goal to become a Front End Developer by years end. And onward to explore Backend development to become a Full Stack Developer down the line. Yes, I will make note, itʻs good money learning all this.
But. on a light note, I am the happiest person alive knowing I truly have one vital element in my life… DIRECTION. Now I can finally dust off that degree and put it to work.
After all, Web Development has always been my passion and my dream job to travel the world.
