FAF's homepage, where my whole coding adventure started]

How it all started

Lets start from the beginning, I originally was just a player of FAF, a strategy video-game from 2007. Since FAF is an non-profit organization, they allowed volunteers for smaller issues. I was part of the marketing/promotions team originally, creating logos, banners and trailers for tournaments and game patches. I brought in a more fresh/modern coat of paint to our previous media which was stuck in the past. Doing so, I realized our website had some really old images and text. I asked the development team how would I be able to modify those images and they told me I'd need to learn HTML, CSS and Javascript. What at first seemed like me just trying to change some images in a 7-year-old website would have life-changing repercussions.

The very beginning

So first I learn some basic HTML and CSS, I made some very basic drafts, nothing too crazy. I remember showing my husband my first HTML only page, remember showing an image, some links and some text on a white background, black text only page. I wish I could have saved those very first websites, they represent how far I've gone. Anyways, I remember struggling so much with basic css stuff like grid and flexbox, to the point that I quit for a good month or so. Then came back to it, got in a css grid course and slowly but surely was able to finally play around css grid well enough. I was able now to change images and some styles here and there on the website.

My initial webpage draft of what the unit database page would look like, my first time using css grid correctly!

The current unit database at the time

 

My first wall

So now I had changed some images and styles, but I wanted to change more! This is when the idea of rather than just tweaking the old website, I'd be re-doing it all. So I ventured into the world of Javascript to be able to change everything! However, I quickly hit some walls, the first one was a simple gallery filter. I wanted to create a filter to only show relevant media of a certain type. I vividly remember this involved a for loop and an array with DOM elements, nothing too complex right? Well, for someone that had never programmed, I was absolutely lost on what was going on. I tried asking the people on the dev team but nobody took me seriously. Nobody replied to my pleas of help about what did this code mean, I even asked on reddit and the replies I got were just cryptic or thinking I was trolling. I assume everyone else learned these things on their first intro class but I felt so challenged, I gave up AGAIN! but this time I didnt code for a good 2-3 months. I just felt so lost and dumb, it seemed everyone else knew what was going on and I was the only dumbass who couldn't figure it out. This programming thing was some unfair bullshit and I was done with it. I went back to focusing hard on logos and trailers for our biggest yearly tournament. After that, I decided to give it another shot, lets see how long it would take me to remember this time around.

Starting to actually change things

So, I finally started getting the jibe of javascript, I was feeling so proud being able to loop through an array, kinda like a wizard. So I decided to take on my first real challenge, re-doing the website's leaderboards. Now this involved a bit more than just variables and loops, it involved making calls to our REST API, receiving JSON and using data to display it adequately in the website. This was my biggest challenge, I remember being proud from learning AJAX, HTTP requests, express.js and node.js, I felt like an even bigger wizard once I finally was able to get the data trickling in and displaying on the leaderboards. After that, I still struggle and hit some walls, but I just kept mowing down all these issues, using them as stepping stones to keep learning more and more!

Being taken seriously (finally!)

So, while I was working on these new webpages and showing them to the community, the more senior staff at FAF finally began to notice my work. Since to them it seemed I finally knew enough (and had done enough), I was granted access to our test server. This involved learning about SSH keys, Docker, Linux and how to move around a virtual box. From there, I started working locally on new features and testing them on the test server! It honestly felt so great being able to work closely with the senior devs, they are wonderful people to work with, they were so knowledgable and friendly once they saw I was ready to put in the effort and time necessary to make this project a reality.

Dream come true!

So, after like give or take, 7-9 months working on the website, it was finally time for a release! I had finally worked around login and registration features and my baby was ready to go! The amount of positive feedback from users, friends and community members I got was absolutely insane, I felt like I made such a significant and positive change in the community. Plus, I could show to all my family and real-life friends the website! I made this website! Look at it in your phone, computer, whatever it is you have, I MADE IT! It felt so crazy going from silly pages to a whole website used by hundreds of users! I felt like I overcame so many challenges and to this day I'm still so proud of myself for how far I've come. We all start somewhere.