Hiya, I’m Joely. Quick note: I write my articles in story form, sometimes with almost fantastical elements (because honestly, life is weird!)
If you’re the kind of person who just wants the meat of it — no worries, scoot down to the bottom of the page and you’ll find a list of all the key points in bullets.
If you’re chill with enjoying a fun little story along the way — fabulous! Get comfy, folks this is (actually not really) gonna be a long one.
Coding is BORING, Right?
It’s the start of the school year. I sit by the computer, staring at the black page of code, trying to decipher what my tutorial guide is saying I should do.
I’m bored out of my mind.
After five minutes, I give up. I’m unable to even run the project without errors. This sucks so bad.
I recall Ali Abdaal’s tip about doing what energises you in life, and groan inwardly. This surely isn’t energising me. I feel like a carrot that sat in the sun too long. Crikey — why’d I get into this in the first place?
There are so many other things I’d rather do, right?
Right?
So Doing Coding Anyway is Obviously a Bad Idea, Right?
It’s last Thursday. I’m coding, again, sitting in class munching on bits of yellow pepper.
Should I quit? I think.
Sigh. I’m scared of what people would say. But I also know that you should never do anything because of what people will say. I should do what energises me …
The teacher — a large, impressive man in his fifties, who may or may not be an ex-billionair — calls me up. After looking at my project for a while, he sounds quite angry.
“Why did you tell me you only did a little?” he grunts.
“Because I didn’t do much …” I mumble. I still haven’t gotten the basic stuff I’ve done to run.
“You didn’t do anything!” he cries out. “Nothing. Now here’s a question for you: why didn’t you do anything? Do you actually want to do this, or not?”
I look around nervously. The truth is, I don’t. But I know he’d be disappointed. I used to be one of his favourites, when he taught me regular Computer Science.
“Listen up,” he tells everyone. “There’s some people here who think this is a summer camp, who aren’t being serious. So for your information I won’t be having anyone messing around. Either your serious, or your out. Got it?”
The class all nod from beside their computers, and the teacher turns back to me.
“Now,” he says, looking me straight in the eye. “Are you going to be serious, or not?”
And, against every instinct in my body, I feel myself nod, and hear these words leave my mouth:
“I’ll be serious now. I’ll do this.”
Well, Here’s the Thing
Now it’s a few days ago. I’m coding again. The app’s running, now. I’ve already created a menu, and now I’m fitting icons to it.
I work hard. I get stuff done. I find beautiful icons for my menu.
Before I know it, an hour has passed.
Then another.
What’s going on?
When I finally stop working, it’s only because I have to — and my brain stays behind, the electric signals inside it going wild with ideas related to my slowly developing app.
I feel good. Satisfied.
Is this possible? Am I actually energised by coding?
You Don’t Have to Agree, But Give Me a Chance
It’s today. Now. As I’m writing this.
I’m energised, all thanks to another session of coding.
And I realise this:
You can’t know if you’ll enjoy something until you try.
We think about this only in context of social events and stuff, but the truth is it applies for everything.
Even coding.
So next time there’s something you need to do, but you really don’t want to — don’t rule it out so quickly. You never know — it might be fun.
Try it.
Cheers, that’s the end. Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to contact me through the comment section here — I’d love to chat!
Bullet List Points:
- I used to think coding is boring, but the truth is I wasn’t really trying it out properly
- When I actually tried it, I found out it’s great fun for me and really energised me!
- So, always try things before giving up! You never know!