1st Year Tech Journey

Hello there, I am Aritra Ray, a 2nd-year student currently pursuing a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering. I have been into tech for the last year. As I was a P.C.M.B (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology) student in class 12th, I did not have much prior knowledge in tech and coding. I actually started coding a bit late after coming to college, where some of my friends were already familiar with it and had been doing it for years or months. After coming to college, my friends and I met some amazing seniors who were in their third year. They started guiding us from the basics on how to learn certain things and all the technical and non-technical stuff required in the industry, what actually works, and what does not from their prior experiences. Thus, I got into coding with a lot of excitement.

The starting :

I started learning the C programming language. I covered the basics (loops, if-else conditions, arrays, strings, pointers, etc.) within a short span of time.

In the initial 2-3 months, I had almost learned the basics of programming. By then, I had an idea of how things work, how to solve a problem, and what approach I should follow to solve a specific problem.

Going Forward :

In the meantime, I had started learning web development. I was learning basic HTML and CSS stuff. As I mentioned earlier, the seniors were guiding us. At this stage, we were introduced to version control systems, Git, and GitHub. We learned how developers connect with each other, how to send pull requests, how to create an issue, and all these basic things. That's where I started my development journey. Initially, I was learning from a popular Udemy course, but it wasn't convenient for me, so I did not continue that course. There is a popular YouTube channel, Code with Harry. I then started learning development from there. I covered almost all of JavaScript from there. I also made a Netflix UI clone with HTML and vanilla CSS at that time.

Afterwards:

In the meantime, I enrolled in the Google Developers Student Club's Gen AI program. There were some swag gifts for those who completed the program. Since I didn't have any prior knowledge about this, I enrolled in the program but didn't learn anything. I just got the t-shirt, a water bottle, and some Google stickers. The funny part is I didn't learn anything from it. Then I got into video editing and learned the basics during this time. But I realized that learning development, solving problems, and managing college was quite hard. So, I decided to leave video editing at that specific time and focus on the other things.

Introduction to DSA:

As I mentioned before, my friends and I were being mentored by the seniors. During that time, we were introduced to DSA. Although I used to solve problems, I was not very familiar with DSA. It was then that I got introduced to LeetCode. I started practicing DSA from that time. So far, I have solved 264 problems on LeetCode and a total of 344 problems. The key to mastering DSA is consistency. If you solve just one problem each day, after a year, you will have solved about 365 problems.

Deeping down Into development :

After learning the basics of designing a webpage with HTML, CSS, and Tailwind CSS, I started learning JavaScript. At first, I faced some difficulty with JavaScript, but after practicing it properly, I almost got the proper idea of JavaScript and how it works. Then I was learning React. I almost covered the basics of React to make an interactive website. I also made a movie streaming and rating platform using React.

Joining Cohort :

During this time, Harkirat Singh launched his cohort for Full Stack Development. As I was learning development, I decided to join it. I am still continuing with it. Throughout this time, I have learned a lot. I almost grasped the concept of real-life projects, how things work, types of databases, NoSQL, MySQL, ORMs, libraries, and testing tools. I have worked with various technologies and tools and made some projects during this time. It was really helpful. Along with these, I have made some npm packages and deployed them on the official npm website.

Exams :

Doing all these things, I almost covered a year. Exams were there, so I could not focus on technical stuff due to mid-semester and end-semester exams. However, I scored a 9.28 SGPA in the 1st semester. Although the end-semester exams are done, the results have not come yet, so I can’t tell the exact CGPA for the year right now.

I also tried to participate in a hackathon with our team, but we didn’t get selected.

Aim :

I have spent a year with tech, and I have an overall idea of how things work, how to do certain things, how to learn a specific technology, how to implement it in projects, and how to make projects, etc.

So, I want to achieve certain things:

1. Making some full stack projects to add to my resume.

2. Engaging more frequently on social media, sharing my work regularly.

3. Getting some internship or freelancing opportunities.

4. Practicing DSA on LeetCode and other platforms, and participating in contests as well.

5. Learning the basics of DevOps.

6. Exploring some Web3 stuff.

Conclusion:

I think I will achieve these things by the end of this year. Thanks for being a part of my journey. I would like to thank Swapnoneel Saha and Arindam Majumder for guiding us throughout the whole year and giving us so much exposure.

If you want to connect with me do check my twitter and LinkedIn.

Logging off for now, happy coding!