How I love my career

I did not have a career path until I was at university at the age of 18. Furthermore, I had minor learning difficulties, but that did not stop me from progressing to a successful career.

During secondary school, I did have thoughts about being a veterinary nurse as I love animals or becoming a teaching assistant as I enjoy helping children learn. However, there were consequences with skills and career growth.

On the other hand, I have been successfully working hard in IT and Graphics (GCSEs and A-Levels). In the end, this has made me think about doing a computing course at university.

As soon as I started the Foundation Degree in Computing with Networking at Bournemouth University, I have finally decided that I want to become a web developer. I have received an award for Higher Education Computing Student of the Year 2013 for high achievements. More importantly, I was enjoying it. At the end of the first degree, I received a pass with distinction.

While studying a bachelor's degree in computing (top-up), I produced a dissertation for a new website and booking system application for a beauty salon. I was rewarded 60% for this piece of work, which was equivalent to a 2:1. Overall I received a 2:2 for the bachelor's degree.

English is not my strong language, but learning website code is quite simple to understand. Coding is like a puzzle game - it involves solving them, and it requires time. With coding, you need to solve the errors, and it requires time to build a fantastic website. Some people would probably think I’m weird and a complete web nerd, but explaining how websites work gives me confidence.

It feels great to work in a web agency as I get to work with a variety of clients. I love working as part of the team and supporting other developers with their issues. During the five years of being a web developer, I have learnt a lot by understanding the company process and using a wide range of tools and systems such as GIT, WordPress, Drupal, Craft, Shopify, Adobe Creative Cloud, Mailchimp and Eloqua.

I was nervous, but at the same time, I was excited to work for clients. During my first job, my first task was to build a web page for Sony, which felt amazing. It also felt amazing when I meet with the client to talk about a new project, including visiting Thomson Reuters in London and visiting NATs in Whiteley.

There will always be challenging times with the clients, however, keeping my communication skills and my professionalism high will keep the clients happy.

I always have a positive feeling when most clients are pleased with their website I have produced with high quality.

I will never know what will happen in five years. I could end up being a senior developer, but there is no rush. I am still young, and there is still a lot to learn with web development. Furthermore, I will always continue to follow my career path and grow more.