Episode One - A Developer's Origin Story

Hey there, fellow code wranglers! Christina here, and I'm pumped to kick off this wild ride called The Kollabs Chronicle. It's my little experiment in sharing the highs, lows, and "wait, what just happened?" moments of life as a software engineer.

Oh, and fair warning: I'm a total gif and meme addict. Expect this blog to be sprinkled with plenty of those. You've been warned! 😉

Now, buckle up: I'm about to spill the beans on how I ended up here. If you're itching for hardcore tech talk, hang tight – we'll get there soon, I promise!

From Gears to Code: My Accidental Tech Journey

So, picture this: there I was, a mechanical engineer (spoiler alert: it didn't exactly pan out 😅), when I decided to flip the script on my career. I mean, I knew the basics – if statements, loops, you know, the stuff you need to crunch those engineering equations. But then I got curious: how do people actually build the programs I use?

Web Dev: The Gateway Drug

Fast forward to the COVID era. I'm working as an IT admin at a college, not writing a lick of code. But in my free time? I'm binging web dev videos like they're the latest Netflix hit. HTML, CSS, all that good stuff. Before I knew it, I landed my first job at an e-commerce agency. Talk about zero to sixty!

Agency Life: Sink or Swim (Mostly Sink)

Let me tell you, agency life is no joke. One minute you're learning what a div is, the next you're juggling custom designs, weird integrations, and platform migrations. It was basically me, myself, and I against the world of web development.

But here's the silver lining: I met some real MVPs. You know, those colleagues who'll drop everything to help you debug some bizarre error? Yeah, those folks. They're the real heroes, and I owe them big time.

Burnout City: Population Me

Seven months in, and I'm maintaining projects built with tech that even the seasoned devs hadn't touched. Stressful? You bet. Burnout started creeping in like that one relative who overstays their welcome at family gatherings.

Plot Twist: Finding My Tribe

I knew I needed a change, so I got picky with my job search. And boy, did it pay off! I landed in a team so awesome, it felt like I had cheat codes for career growth.

Get this: they had me working with plain old PHP. After Laravel, I thought it was a step back. Turns out, it was more like taking off the training wheels. I started getting Laravel on a whole new level and writing cleaner code because I understood the 'why' behind it all.

Leveling Up: From Newbie to Decision Maker

Suddenly, I wasn't just following orders. I was in on the decision-making, tackling legacy code like a boss, and actually having my opinions count for something. The seniors and mid-level devs took me under their wing, and before I knew it, I was soaring.

A year flies by, and my team lead drops a proposal that's too good to pass up: "How about you do things for the product without requirements from the product?" Fancy talk for "go wild and make cool stuff happen." I accepted in a heartbeat. We're talking new tech, better developer experience, refactoring old code – the works!

Birth of The Kollabs Chronicle: Sharing the Journey

This new role got me thinking: "Wow, I'm about to learn so much. Why not share this journey with others?" That's when the idea for The Kollabs Chronicle popped into my head like a lightbulb moment.

I figured, why not create a space where we can all share our experiences, bounce ideas off each other, and maybe feel a little less alone in our coding struggles? You know that imposter syndrome that creeps up on you when you're staring at a problem that seems impossible? Yeah, let's tackle that together.

This blog isn't just about me rambling (though there'll be plenty of that). It's about creating a community where every engineer, from the "I just wrote my first Hello World" newbie to the "I dream in code" veteran, can find a bit of themselves. It's a place to share victories, vent about defeats, and realize that we're all in this wild world of coding together.

So whether you're battling bugs, wrestling with legacy code, or just trying to figure out why your perfectly good function is throwing a fit, remember: you're not alone. We're all out here, googling error messages and pretending we totally meant to type that variable name.

What's Cooking in The Kollabs Chronicle?

So, what can you expect from this blog? A bit of everything, really:

• Code conundrums and how to tackle them

• The art of not breaking everything while fixing old code

• How to play nice with your fellow devs

• Why having a coding Yoda (mentor) is crucial

• Juggling shiny new features with fixing the creaky old ones

• And whatever else pops into my caffeinated brain!

I'm stoked to share this rollercoaster with you all. Whether you're a newbie coder or a seasoned developer, I hope The Kollabs Chronicle becomes your go-to spot for real talk about the dev life.

Let's dive into this coding adventure together – it's gonna be one heck of a ride!