In the previous article that you can find [here](https://dailydev.io/posts/5-tips-to-stay-motivated-while-learning-to-code), we talked about 5 tips that you could follow in order to stay motivated while learning a new skill, like coding.  The very first key point was __"Practice what you have learned"__ as this is the single best way to be able to retain what you have learned to then easily apply it as you move along to more advanced concepts. We even ended the video with a twist to the old saying: __"Practice makes fluent"__.

Now, you may even agree with all that but you still raise a valid question: __"How do I get ideas on what to build with the skills I have just learned?"__. 

Today, we will be introducing 5 different app ideas to challenge you and to hone in your newly gained skills. We will be going from an *easy* level of difficulty to a higher level, in that order, so feel free to skip some of them if you are already comfortable with some more basic concepts.

These app ideas were adapted from a great online list put together by [Florin Pop on GitHub](https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas). In there, you can find a long list of app ideas bundled by the level of knowledge or interest of the developer. On each individual app, you will find a description of the project, applicable constraints for development and user stories to guide you through your development). Some of them also have example apps created by the community. This is incredible and I strongly recommend that you complete as many of them as you can.

I selected 5 specific ideas that I feel are the best to improve your skills, as they provide a good balance of being challenging and with common real-life applications. So let's take a look at them!  

### App Idea #1 - Border-Radius Previewer
In #1 we have a simple and good introduction to the manipulation of a reactive state, with a Border radius preview app. You should be able to listen to several inputs change and render their effect on an HTML element's `border-radius` CCS property. __See the project's specification [here](https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/1-Beginner/Border-Radius-Previewer.md).__

<p class="codepen" data-height="500" data-theme-id="dark" data-default-tab="css,result" data-user="thebabydino" data-slug-hash="zbqPVd" style="height: 500px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; border: 2px solid; margin: 1em 0; padding: 1em;" data-pen-title="CSS gradient border - cover method works well with border-radius">
  <span>See the Pen <a href="https://codepen.io/thebabydino/pen/zbqPVd">
  CSS gradient border - cover method works well with border-radius</a> by Ana Tudor (<a href="https://codepen.io/thebabydino">@thebabydino</a>)
  on <a href="https://codepen.io">CodePen</a>.</span>
</p>
<script async src="https://cpwebassets.codepen.io/assets/embed/ei.js"></script>

### App Idea #2 - Countdown Timer
Next, up, we have a slightly more difficult challenge, but still within the beginner tier, which is a Countdown timer. This challenge will introduce you to some new browser APIs, like setInterval. The goal is to make use of interval functions to manipulate the `DOM`elements containing the number and update them accordingly. __See the project's specification [here](https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/1-Beginner/Countdown-Timer-App.md).__

<p class="codepen" data-height="500" data-theme-id="dark" data-default-tab="js,result" data-user="FlorinPop17" data-slug-hash="YbpwyG" style="height: 500px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; border: 2px solid; margin: 1em 0; padding: 1em;" data-pen-title="#034 - Countdown with ReactJS">
  <span>See the Pen <a href="https://codepen.io/FlorinPop17/pen/YbpwyG">
  #034 - Countdown with ReactJS</a> by Florin Pop (<a href="https://codepen.io/FlorinPop17">@FlorinPop17</a>)
  on <a href="https://codepen.io">CodePen</a>.</span>
</p>
<script async src="https://cpwebassets.codepen.io/assets/embed/ei.js"></script>

### App Idea #3 - Weather App
The last project in our beginner tier will test your skills for external APIs integration. It is a well-known, Weather App. But try to make yours stand out, give it something unique. __See the project's specification [here](https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/1-Beginner/Weather-App.md).__

<p class="codepen" data-height="500" data-theme-id="dark" data-default-tab="css,result" data-user="tutsplus" data-slug-hash="gObLaEP" style="height: 500px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; border: 2px solid; margin: 1em 0; padding: 1em;" data-pen-title="CodePen Home Simple Weather App By Using OpenWeatherMap API &amp;amp; Custom Icons">
  <span>See the Pen <a href="https://codepen.io/tutsplus/pen/gObLaEP">
  CodePen Home Simple Weather App By Using OpenWeatherMap API &amp; Custom Icons</a> by Envato Tuts+ (<a href="https://codepen.io/tutsplus">@tutsplus</a>)
  on <a href="https://codepen.io">CodePen</a>.</span>
</p>
<script async src="https://cpwebassets.codepen.io/assets/embed/ei.js"></script>

### App Idea #4 - Regular Expressions Helper
Now going on to tier 2, Intermediate level. This project is extremely valuable as it will solidify many of the previous project's knowledge but also make you practice a very important aspect of programming, which are regular expressions. __See the project's specification [here](https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/2-Intermediate/RegExp-Helper-App.md).__

![RegExr Website](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1613721365/posts/ezgif.com-gif-maker_10_xrie7l.gif)

### App Idea #5 - Real-Time Chat App
The last project, and the only one on the Advanced tier, is a Realtime Chat App. This is a great project because it will involve many new concepts, like sockets and real-time databases, but it is also one of the most well-documented apps that you can find on the web, so if you get stuck, there is plenty of help out there to reach your final destination.__See the project's specification [here](https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/3-Advanced/Chat-App.md).__

![Real-Time Chat App Demo](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1613721485/posts/DemoT2_ChatAp_peudlq.gif)

## Takeaways

And there you have it, these were the 5 projects that I recommend for you to start practicing your skills and improving yourself to eventually land that dream job! There are many more on that [GitHub list](https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/README.md) and I strongly recommend you to practice by doing as many as you can, whenever you have time. Remember, the best method to improve, is by __consistently applying the skills you have acquired__.

Happy coding!

<p>In the previous article that you can find <a href="https://dailydev.io/posts/5-tips-to-stay-motivated-while-learning-to-code">here</a>, we talked about 5 tips that you could follow in order to stay motivated while learning a new skill, like coding.  The very first key point was <strong>"Practice what you have learned"</strong> as this is the single best way to be able to retain what you have learned to then easily apply it as you move along to more advanced concepts. We even ended the video with a twist to the old saying: <strong>"Practice makes fluent"</strong>.</p>
<p>Now, you may even agree with all that but you still raise a valid question: <strong>"How do I get ideas on what to build with the skills I have just learned?"</strong>. </p>
<p>Today, we will be introducing 5 different app ideas to challenge you and to hone in your newly gained skills. We will be going from an <em>easy</em> level of difficulty to a higher level, in that order, so feel free to skip some of them if you are already comfortable with some more basic concepts.</p>
<p>These app ideas were adapted from a great online list put together by <a href="https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas">Florin Pop on GitHub</a>. In there, you can find a long list of app ideas bundled by the level of knowledge or interest of the developer. On each individual app, you will find a description of the project, applicable constraints for development and user stories to guide you through your development). Some of them also have example apps created by the community. This is incredible and I strongly recommend that you complete as many of them as you can.</p>
<p>I selected 5 specific ideas that I feel are the best to improve your skills, as they provide a good balance of being challenging and with common real-life applications. So let's take a look at them!  </p>
<h3>App Idea #1 - Border-Radius Previewer</h3>
<p>In #1 we have a simple and good introduction to the manipulation of a reactive state, with a Border radius preview app. You should be able to listen to several inputs change and render their effect on an HTML element's <code>border-radius</code> CCS property. <strong>See the project's specification <a href="https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/1-Beginner/Border-Radius-Previewer.md">here</a>.</strong></p>
<p class="codepen" data-height="500" data-theme-id="dark" data-default-tab="css,result" data-user="thebabydino" data-slug-hash="zbqPVd" style="height: 500px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; border: 2px solid; margin: 1em 0; padding: 1em;" data-pen-title="CSS gradient border - cover method works well with border-radius">
  <span>See the Pen <a href="https://codepen.io/thebabydino/pen/zbqPVd">
  CSS gradient border - cover method works well with border-radius</a> by Ana Tudor (<a href="https://codepen.io/thebabydino">@thebabydino</a>)
  on <a href="https://codepen.io">CodePen</a>.</span>
</p>
<script async src="https://cpwebassets.codepen.io/assets/embed/ei.js"></script>
<h3>App Idea #2 - Countdown Timer</h3>
<p>Next, up, we have a slightly more difficult challenge, but still within the beginner tier, which is a Countdown timer. This challenge will introduce you to some new browser APIs, like setInterval. The goal is to make use of interval functions to manipulate the <code>DOM</code>elements containing the number and update them accordingly. <strong>See the project's specification <a href="https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/1-Beginner/Countdown-Timer-App.md">here</a>.</strong></p>
<p class="codepen" data-height="500" data-theme-id="dark" data-default-tab="js,result" data-user="FlorinPop17" data-slug-hash="YbpwyG" style="height: 500px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; border: 2px solid; margin: 1em 0; padding: 1em;" data-pen-title="#034 - Countdown with ReactJS">
  <span>See the Pen <a href="https://codepen.io/FlorinPop17/pen/YbpwyG">
  #034 - Countdown with ReactJS</a> by Florin Pop (<a href="https://codepen.io/FlorinPop17">@FlorinPop17</a>)
  on <a href="https://codepen.io">CodePen</a>.</span>
</p>
<script async src="https://cpwebassets.codepen.io/assets/embed/ei.js"></script>
<h3>App Idea #3 - Weather App</h3>
<p>The last project in our beginner tier will test your skills for external APIs integration. It is a well-known, Weather App. But try to make yours stand out, give it something unique. <strong>See the project's specification <a href="https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/1-Beginner/Weather-App.md">here</a>.</strong></p>
<p class="codepen" data-height="500" data-theme-id="dark" data-default-tab="css,result" data-user="tutsplus" data-slug-hash="gObLaEP" style="height: 500px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; border: 2px solid; margin: 1em 0; padding: 1em;" data-pen-title="CodePen Home Simple Weather App By Using OpenWeatherMap API &amp;amp; Custom Icons">
  <span>See the Pen <a href="https://codepen.io/tutsplus/pen/gObLaEP">
  CodePen Home Simple Weather App By Using OpenWeatherMap API &amp; Custom Icons</a> by Envato Tuts+ (<a href="https://codepen.io/tutsplus">@tutsplus</a>)
  on <a href="https://codepen.io">CodePen</a>.</span>
</p>
<script async src="https://cpwebassets.codepen.io/assets/embed/ei.js"></script>
<h3>App Idea #4 - Regular Expressions Helper</h3>
<p>Now going on to tier 2, Intermediate level. This project is extremely valuable as it will solidify many of the previous project's knowledge but also make you practice a very important aspect of programming, which are regular expressions. <strong>See the project's specification <a href="https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/2-Intermediate/RegExp-Helper-App.md">here</a>.</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1613721365/posts/ezgif.com-gif-maker_10_xrie7l.gif" alt="RegExr Website"></p>
<h3>App Idea #5 - Real-Time Chat App</h3>
<p>The last project, and the only one on the Advanced tier, is a Realtime Chat App. This is a great project because it will involve many new concepts, like sockets and real-time databases, but it is also one of the most well-documented apps that you can find on the web, so if you get stuck, there is plenty of help out there to reach your final destination.<strong>See the project's specification <a href="https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/Projects/3-Advanced/Chat-App.md">here</a>.</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1613721485/posts/DemoT2_ChatAp_peudlq.gif" alt="Real-Time Chat App Demo"></p>
<h2>Takeaways</h2>
<p>And there you have it, these were the 5 projects that I recommend for you to start practicing your skills and improving yourself to eventually land that dream job! There are many more on that <a href="https://github.com/florinpop17/app-ideas/blob/master/README.md">GitHub list</a> and I strongly recommend you to practice by doing as many as you can, whenever you have time. Remember, the best method to improve, is by <strong>consistently applying the skills you have acquired</strong>.</p>
<p>Happy coding!</p>


You want to become better at coding, you've taken all the tutorials but you still feel lost. These 5 app ideas will help you improve both your skills AND your portfolio of projects to get that dream job.

5 Projects to Learn Coding in 2021

Tips

Web Dev

*Hello, my name is Igor and if by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on [my Twitter profile](https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira), come and say 'Hi! 👋'.*

You can see the live demo [here](https://peaceful-sammet-5cbbf9.netlify.app/) and check out the source code at [GitHub](https://github.com/igorasilveira/blog-examples/tree/main/subscription-form).

Every journey has a starting point, for the visitors on your freshly built website, it all starts at subscription form. You may be selling a product online or simply creating and sharing content on your custom blog. Either way, it is always a good idea to give your visitors a chance to show that they are interested in your product or content and that they want to come back for more. The easier way is to present them with a simple form to close that gap and create a bridge between you and their mail inbox.

Before, you had to create an entire workflow that would enable a form on a page to be submitted to your server, which would then save the data into a database of subscribed users which you could later query and contact. It has, since then become a lot easier, with many new solutions now available as a service that **you can integrate into ANY website and framework**, thankfully!

## Introducing ConvertKit

One of the most seamless integrations that I was able to achieve and with incredible results, was using ConvertKit's service.

[ConvertKit](https://convertkit.com) is a complete suite of tools for audience building and retention. Within their list of features you are able to build automated email funnels for your subscribers, design incredible email templates from within their editor, and, of course, embed email sign-up forms on your website.

![ConvertKit Presentation](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605733728/posts/ezgif.com-video-to-gif-2_ajtzpl.gif)

ConvertKit is free to use most of its features up to 1,000 subscribers on their free plan which is a great amount for those starting out! Probably by the time you reach that threshold you should be on your way to unlocking more. Until then, you can collect subscribers and managed them through the incredible dashboard from within your account, not losing track of how your landing page is performing!

## Step-by-step tutorial (5 min)

Enough talk, it is time to get our hands dirty (in code).  Now I'll show you how you can integrate a ConvertKit sign-up form within your app or website in just a matter of minutes!

### Step #1 - Create a Sign-Up form

On your own dashboard, on the **Landing Pages & Forms** page, click on **"Create New"**.

![Create a new form](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605734948/posts/Untitled_design_odbidk.png)

On the following pages, choose **Form**, and then we are going to be implementing an **Inline** form. On the next page, you can select any theme of your liking to use as a template for the form (you can edit it later). I'm choosing **"Clare"** for this example.

On the form editor, everything is customizable from the buttons text, and colors to adding more fields and inserting your own custom CSS onto it.

### Step #2 - Copy your Creation

Once you are happy with the result, click on **Embed** at the top and then select the **HTML** tab and copy all the content inside.

![Select the Embed tab](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605735451/posts/Untitled_design-2_ln8tzq.png)

![Select the HTML tab](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605735451/posts/Untitled_design-3_hhqjqw.png)

### Step #3 - Add the Form to your Website

Now, this step is divided into two parts. First, you need to add the `<script>` tag and its content to the body of HTML file where this form will be placed, right at the bottom. It should look something like the image below:

![Adding the script to the document](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605735923/posts/code_ae7wmy.png)

Now that the script was added, the form will be able to communicate back to ConvertKit and submit the subscribers' data correctly.

All that's left now is to add the `<form>` tag and all its contents to that page's body and you are ready to go! To add some styling you can write CSS as normal using the right selectors for the resultant HTML.

***Note:*** if you are using React, you have to adapt the HTML to JSX syntax where, for example, `<input>` tags must always be closed with an *'/'.*

### Final Results

Hopefully, by the end of reading this, you should have a simple little page just like this. If not, feel free to reach out to me!

![Final result page](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605736951/posts/Screenshot_2020-11-18_at_22.02.03_czubjn.png)

<p><em>Hello, my name is Igor and if by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira">my Twitter profile</a>, come and say 'Hi! 👋'.</em></p>
<p>You can see the live demo <a href="https://peaceful-sammet-5cbbf9.netlify.app/">here</a> and check out the source code at <a href="https://github.com/igorasilveira/blog-examples/tree/main/subscription-form">GitHub</a>.</p>
<p>Every journey has a starting point, for the visitors on your freshly built website, it all starts at subscription form. You may be selling a product online or simply creating and sharing content on your custom blog. Either way, it is always a good idea to give your visitors a chance to show that they are interested in your product or content and that they want to come back for more. The easier way is to present them with a simple form to close that gap and create a bridge between you and their mail inbox.</p>
<p>Before, you had to create an entire workflow that would enable a form on a page to be submitted to your server, which would then save the data into a database of subscribed users which you could later query and contact. It has, since then become a lot easier, with many new solutions now available as a service that <strong>you can integrate into ANY website and framework</strong>, thankfully!</p>
<h2>Introducing ConvertKit</h2>
<p>One of the most seamless integrations that I was able to achieve and with incredible results, was using ConvertKit's service.</p>
<p><a href="https://convertkit.com">ConvertKit</a> is a complete suite of tools for audience building and retention. Within their list of features you are able to build automated email funnels for your subscribers, design incredible email templates from within their editor, and, of course, embed email sign-up forms on your website.</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605733728/posts/ezgif.com-video-to-gif-2_ajtzpl.gif" alt="ConvertKit Presentation"></p>
<p>ConvertKit is free to use most of its features up to 1,000 subscribers on their free plan which is a great amount for those starting out! Probably by the time you reach that threshold you should be on your way to unlocking more. Until then, you can collect subscribers and managed them through the incredible dashboard from within your account, not losing track of how your landing page is performing!</p>
<h2>Step-by-step tutorial (5 min)</h2>
<p>Enough talk, it is time to get our hands dirty (in code).  Now I'll show you how you can integrate a ConvertKit sign-up form within your app or website in just a matter of minutes!</p>
<h3>Step #1 - Create a Sign-Up form</h3>
<p>On your own dashboard, on the <strong>Landing Pages &#x26; Forms</strong> page, click on <strong>"Create New"</strong>.</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605734948/posts/Untitled_design_odbidk.png" alt="Create a new form"></p>
<p>On the following pages, choose <strong>Form</strong>, and then we are going to be implementing an <strong>Inline</strong> form. On the next page, you can select any theme of your liking to use as a template for the form (you can edit it later). I'm choosing <strong>"Clare"</strong> for this example.</p>
<p>On the form editor, everything is customizable from the buttons text, and colors to adding more fields and inserting your own custom CSS onto it.</p>
<h3>Step #2 - Copy your Creation</h3>
<p>Once you are happy with the result, click on <strong>Embed</strong> at the top and then select the <strong>HTML</strong> tab and copy all the content inside.</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605735451/posts/Untitled_design-2_ln8tzq.png" alt="Select the Embed tab"></p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605735451/posts/Untitled_design-3_hhqjqw.png" alt="Select the HTML tab"></p>
<h3>Step #3 - Add the Form to your Website</h3>
<p>Now, this step is divided into two parts. First, you need to add the <code>&#x3C;script></code> tag and its content to the body of HTML file where this form will be placed, right at the bottom. It should look something like the image below:</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605735923/posts/code_ae7wmy.png" alt="Adding the script to the document"></p>
<p>Now that the script was added, the form will be able to communicate back to ConvertKit and submit the subscribers' data correctly.</p>
<p>All that's left now is to add the <code>&#x3C;form></code> tag and all its contents to that page's body and you are ready to go! To add some styling you can write CSS as normal using the right selectors for the resultant HTML.</p>
<p><strong><em>Note:</em></strong> if you are using React, you have to adapt the HTML to JSX syntax where, for example, <code>&#x3C;input></code> tags must always be closed with an <em>'/'.</em></p>
<h3>Final Results</h3>
<p>Hopefully, by the end of reading this, you should have a simple little page just like this. If not, feel free to reach out to me!</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605736951/posts/Screenshot_2020-11-18_at_22.02.03_czubjn.png" alt="Final result page"></p>


Every journey has a starting point, for the visitors on your freshly built website, it all starts at subscription form. It is always a good idea to give your visitors a chance to show that they are interested in your product or content, and that they want to come back for more. The easier way is to present them with a simple form to close that gap and create a bridge between you and their mail inbox.

Add a Subscription Form to ANY Website in 3 Simple Steps

Tools

*Hello, my name is Igor and if by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on [my Twitter profile]([https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira](https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira)), come and say 'Hi! 👋'.*

### Contents

- Clean Freak
- One-man Band vs. Enterprise
- The Tips

## Clean Freak

You may have been coding for a while now, but would you consider your code to be clean? When you are coding, do you take cleanliness into account (not relating to your surrounding btw, that's for another time)?

"Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand." - Martin Fowler

It may be tempting to forget about doing a cleaning round once your code is up and running as expected (I know it is). It can happen often that we forget *how* we have written things and just call it a day. You may have also already taken into consideration some of the most common tips while developing your masterpiece, but chances are that if you go about the code with a pair of judgmental eyes, you'll find several *missing spots* (pun intended).

## One-man Band vs. Enterprise

When you are working on your side projects there is no implicit obligation of always committing the most impeccable code. You are there to have fun and learn a thing or two on your own time. You may have watched an awesome tutorial online and you couldn't wait to fire up your editor and create your own version of it.

**That is fine!** Coding on your own is mostly about having fun and loving what you do, but it may also be important that a couple of those online tutorials that you watch be about coding practices. Even on your own written projects, you will probably have a hard time figuring out what was done when you look back at it down the road.

Once you're in a work environment and the team is no longer comprised of you alone, things get a bit more serious. Several people are working on the same codebase, meaning that the code someone writes today may be in front of someone else tomorrow to add a new feature of some sort. This is when eyes will be directed at you and you'll most certainly be prompted to aid in understanding the *what* and the *why* of the code you have written.

Most clean code practices can be enforced at the time of code review before merging your changes into the project's main branch or even before it leaves the code editor, but, as I have experienced several times, many things can slip under the radar, only to be dug out later down the road.

## The Tips

With all the context already given, let's jump right into some important tips for writing your clean code.

### Tip \#1 - Write meaningful names

This first tip is often memed about around the internet, with my favorite being the *Narcos* meme. It is joked that a developer may spend more time on deciding how to name functions and variables, than actually coding a given feature. Although somewhat exaggerated, naming is an extremely important aspect of writing clean code. It helps to enable the code to be *self-documenting*, meaning that if at some point down the future you look back at old code, it should be like reading plain English.

![Meaningful variable and function names example](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605452165/posts/meaningfulNames_t7eenc.png)

### Tip \#2 - Make the code readable

As with anything written, you will struggle to read it if it is all cluttered and doesn't follow any pre-existing formatting or agreed-upon structure. For example, you wouldn't be able to read code with ease if all of it was on the same line and had no spacing in between (this is an extreme example, but most parts of it are true).

Today, it is easy to fit your project with a *linter* that will automatically take care of that for you and check for inconsistencies. A linter operates on top of a set of rules that tell it how the code should be formatted and what syntax should be enforced. This is very common on larger teams where the code is verified before going to the main repository.

![Readable code example](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605452165/posts/readableCode_pxmvhq.png)

### Tip \#3 - Classes and functions are concise and follow the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP)

I believe everyone would agree that a small and concise block of code would be easier to read than its counterpart. Apart from that, segmenting your code in each of its individual pieces would ease unit testing since you are testing small bits at a time, so you know exactly the source of the bug, and the debugging process is accelerated.

Of course, there will always be a handful of functions that you simply can't keep on a lower line count. However, that's when following SRP will reap its benefits by enabling the ability to pinpoint the source of a bug since it would be the only class or function with the responsibility to commit that change. Also, by following this principle, you would have an easier time naming the class or function because it only has one clear, simple job (instead of 4 or 5 mashed together).

### Tip \#4 - Remove duplicates

Duplicate code is the recipe for disaster. if at any point in the future you need to go back and edit it, you are extremely likely to not know that the same logic is replicated somewhere else, and thus, this is how many bugs are introduced into your system.

Once you are done coding your awesomely new feature, be sure to go back and re-read what you've coded and look for duplicates. These can be hiding in different forms of implementation, so keep your eyes wide open looking for these. Once spotted, extract that piece of duplicated code into a new method, mostly likely a helper. In the future, when something needs changing, you can refer simply to that extracted helper method, making the changes cheaper to conduct.

### Tip \#5 - Review other's code

It is easy to fall in love with your own code and, as they say, love is sometimes blind.

Reviewing other people's code, the same as reading someone's book, helps you open your mind to new realities. It is easier to be judgmental of other people's property instead of your own, so you can gain some insights from your own evaluation of their code. Keep in mind that can be both on the positive side and on the negative, the idea is that you will slowly but surely pick up a more refined sense of what is clean code and therefore, begin implementing it in your own work.

Of course that if you are working alone and have no other co-workers code to look at, you can always wander around some random GitHub accounts and see what they are up to. There is even a subreddit where people review each other's work, [check it out](https://www.reddit.com/r/reviewmycode/)!

Now get out there and start coding a bit cleaner and don't worry that with time everything gets easier, just keep going strong!

<p><em>Hello, my name is Igor and if by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on <a href="%5Bhttps://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira%5D(https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira)">my Twitter profile</a>, come and say 'Hi! 👋'.</em></p>
<h3>Contents</h3>
<ul>
<li>Clean Freak</li>
<li>One-man Band vs. Enterprise</li>
<li>The Tips</li>
</ul>
<h2>Clean Freak</h2>
<p>You may have been coding for a while now, but would you consider your code to be clean? When you are coding, do you take cleanliness into account (not relating to your surrounding btw, that's for another time)?</p>
<p>"Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand." - Martin Fowler</p>
<p>It may be tempting to forget about doing a cleaning round once your code is up and running as expected (I know it is). It can happen often that we forget <em>how</em> we have written things and just call it a day. You may have also already taken into consideration some of the most common tips while developing your masterpiece, but chances are that if you go about the code with a pair of judgmental eyes, you'll find several <em>missing spots</em> (pun intended).</p>
<h2>One-man Band vs. Enterprise</h2>
<p>When you are working on your side projects there is no implicit obligation of always committing the most impeccable code. You are there to have fun and learn a thing or two on your own time. You may have watched an awesome tutorial online and you couldn't wait to fire up your editor and create your own version of it.</p>
<p><strong>That is fine!</strong> Coding on your own is mostly about having fun and loving what you do, but it may also be important that a couple of those online tutorials that you watch be about coding practices. Even on your own written projects, you will probably have a hard time figuring out what was done when you look back at it down the road.</p>
<p>Once you're in a work environment and the team is no longer comprised of you alone, things get a bit more serious. Several people are working on the same codebase, meaning that the code someone writes today may be in front of someone else tomorrow to add a new feature of some sort. This is when eyes will be directed at you and you'll most certainly be prompted to aid in understanding the <em>what</em> and the <em>why</em> of the code you have written.</p>
<p>Most clean code practices can be enforced at the time of code review before merging your changes into the project's main branch or even before it leaves the code editor, but, as I have experienced several times, many things can slip under the radar, only to be dug out later down the road.</p>
<h2>The Tips</h2>
<p>With all the context already given, let's jump right into some important tips for writing your clean code.</p>
<h3>Tip #1 - Write meaningful names</h3>
<p>This first tip is often memed about around the internet, with my favorite being the <em>Narcos</em> meme. It is joked that a developer may spend more time on deciding how to name functions and variables, than actually coding a given feature. Although somewhat exaggerated, naming is an extremely important aspect of writing clean code. It helps to enable the code to be <em>self-documenting</em>, meaning that if at some point down the future you look back at old code, it should be like reading plain English.</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605452165/posts/meaningfulNames_t7eenc.png" alt="Meaningful variable and function names example"></p>
<h3>Tip #2 - Make the code readable</h3>
<p>As with anything written, you will struggle to read it if it is all cluttered and doesn't follow any pre-existing formatting or agreed-upon structure. For example, you wouldn't be able to read code with ease if all of it was on the same line and had no spacing in between (this is an extreme example, but most parts of it are true).</p>
<p>Today, it is easy to fit your project with a <em>linter</em> that will automatically take care of that for you and check for inconsistencies. A linter operates on top of a set of rules that tell it how the code should be formatted and what syntax should be enforced. This is very common on larger teams where the code is verified before going to the main repository.</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1605452165/posts/readableCode_pxmvhq.png" alt="Readable code example"></p>
<h3>Tip #3 - Classes and functions are concise and follow the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP)</h3>
<p>I believe everyone would agree that a small and concise block of code would be easier to read than its counterpart. Apart from that, segmenting your code in each of its individual pieces would ease unit testing since you are testing small bits at a time, so you know exactly the source of the bug, and the debugging process is accelerated.</p>
<p>Of course, there will always be a handful of functions that you simply can't keep on a lower line count. However, that's when following SRP will reap its benefits by enabling the ability to pinpoint the source of a bug since it would be the only class or function with the responsibility to commit that change. Also, by following this principle, you would have an easier time naming the class or function because it only has one clear, simple job (instead of 4 or 5 mashed together).</p>
<h3>Tip #4 - Remove duplicates</h3>
<p>Duplicate code is the recipe for disaster. if at any point in the future you need to go back and edit it, you are extremely likely to not know that the same logic is replicated somewhere else, and thus, this is how many bugs are introduced into your system.</p>
<p>Once you are done coding your awesomely new feature, be sure to go back and re-read what you've coded and look for duplicates. These can be hiding in different forms of implementation, so keep your eyes wide open looking for these. Once spotted, extract that piece of duplicated code into a new method, mostly likely a helper. In the future, when something needs changing, you can refer simply to that extracted helper method, making the changes cheaper to conduct.</p>
<h3>Tip #5 - Review other's code</h3>
<p>It is easy to fall in love with your own code and, as they say, love is sometimes blind.</p>
<p>Reviewing other people's code, the same as reading someone's book, helps you open your mind to new realities. It is easier to be judgmental of other people's property instead of your own, so you can gain some insights from your own evaluation of their code. Keep in mind that can be both on the positive side and on the negative, the idea is that you will slowly but surely pick up a more refined sense of what is clean code and therefore, begin implementing it in your own work.</p>
<p>Of course that if you are working alone and have no other co-workers code to look at, you can always wander around some random GitHub accounts and see what they are up to. There is even a subreddit where people review each other's work, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/reviewmycode/">check it out</a>!</p>
<p>Now get out there and start coding a bit cleaner and don't worry that with time everything gets easier, just keep going strong!</p>


You may have been coding for a while now, but would you consider your code to be clean? When you are coding, do you take cleanliness into account (not relating to your surrounding btw, that's for another time)?

5 Tips That Will Enable You to Write Cleaner Code

Hello, my name is Igor and if by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on [my Twitter profile](https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira).

### Contents

- The Idea 💡
- The Flawed Creator 🧠
- Feeling Lost 😩
- The Indie Developer Journey 💻
- The Masterplan 🗒
- Takeaways ✅

## The Idea 💡

Let me paint you a picture:

You are in the middle of taking the most relaxing shower you had taken in a long time. Amidst massaging your head to evenly apply the shampoo, all your neurons fired at once and you were hit with the most amazing idea ever! You rush to finish the cleansing, dry yourself, and start working on it ASAP.

"This is going to be the best product ever!" - you say.

## The Flawed Creator 🧠

Our brain is an incredible piece of organic machinery and it is creative by default, ideas come to individuals naturally, from the most simple to the most complex, and some have a bit too many probably.

What our brain is not so good at, is storing those ideas efficiently and for easy access. How many times haven't I had an incredible idea to forget it afterward nothing short of 5 minutes. Many productivity masters realize this incapability of our center of operations and recommend to always have on hand some note-taking apparatus - digital or not.

I couldn't agree more (remember the 5-minute memory loss?).

## Feeling Lost 😩

It isn't long before you start realizing how much there needs to be done that you don't even know how to quantify it yet. What was once a sweet little nifty idea is now starting to get overly complicated (at least inside your head) and you are starting to feel overwhelmed. If all goes wrong, within a couple of weeks, you give up on the project because you don't know where to turn next.

This process may have already happened to you once or on repeat. You have by now either learned how to control this inner affluence of information, or you are still lost in your thoughts. For the latter case, I hope this will help.

## The Indie Developer Journey 💻

I believe many of us would consider ourselves to be some kind of an indie developer. After all, we do have our own side projects that we mainly work on alone. All projects are different, but they all follow the same journey from idea to conception. A list of steps can be roughly summarized by:

1. Features - what does it do or allow others to?
2. Design - how does it look? (good probably)
3. Architecture - how does it function on the inside and out?

We certainly are not strong in all of the above steps, but we can still craft something on each level and come out with a working product.

> The biggest mistake that the brave indie developer can do is to be all over the place.

The eagerness to be all hands on coding the new idea right out of the shower is understandable, you are extremely excited to get it going, but that approach normally leads to a black-hole of a lifetime of discarded projects.

Remember, our brain can't easily store all those great ideas and manage them efficiently. It gets them all mixed up and tangled, leaving you with nothing but a bowl of idea noodles when you try to process them all at once.

## The Masterplan 🗒

The solution to being able to sail that ship home (I mean the new project to its final host) successfully is to plan ahead. Simple as that. 

Splitting your tasks helps to keep you from feeling overwhelmed.

If you spend a couple of side-project working days with the sole goal of organizing the development journey ahead, you will be able to lift 2 metric tons out of your shoulders.

The plan should still follow the aforementioned order. Start with defining your desired implemented features. The design phase follows next since you now know exactly WHAT you want to build. The architectural part can be last now that you know what information is required to store and access, and at what points in time.

The best way I found to organize my projects' requirements, is to use a drag-and-drop board that could either contemplate all the 3 stages at once or even have a board for each (probably depends on the overall application size). The most known tool for this is probably [Trello](https://trello.com/), but my best heartfelt recommendation goes to [Notion](https://www.notion.so/). At first glance, Notion might seem daunting to use, but once you get around to know it you will realize just how powerful it can be.

![Notion GIF Example](https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1599300538/posts/Screenshot_2020-09-05_at_11.06.12_rylkay.png)

Don't forget that a nice pen and paper will also suffice!

## Takeaways ✅

- Our brain is great at coming up with ideas but terrible at storing them for easy access later.
- The biggest mistake that the brave indie developer can do is to be all over the place.
- Splitting your tasks helps to keep you from feeling overwhelmed.
- Using some kind of drag-and-drop board to organize your tasks.

As always, if you enjoyed reading this and want to reach out to me, let's connect! [@igorasilveira](https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira).

<p>Hello, my name is Igor and if by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira">my Twitter profile</a>.</p>
<h3>Contents</h3>
<ul>
<li>The Idea 💡</li>
<li>The Flawed Creator 🧠</li>
<li>Feeling Lost 😩</li>
<li>The Indie Developer Journey 💻</li>
<li>The Masterplan 🗒</li>
<li>Takeaways ✅</li>
</ul>
<h2>The Idea 💡</h2>
<p>Let me paint you a picture:</p>
<p>You are in the middle of taking the most relaxing shower you had taken in a long time. Amidst massaging your head to evenly apply the shampoo, all your neurons fired at once and you were hit with the most amazing idea ever! You rush to finish the cleansing, dry yourself, and start working on it ASAP.</p>
<p>"This is going to be the best product ever!" - you say.</p>
<h2>The Flawed Creator 🧠</h2>
<p>Our brain is an incredible piece of organic machinery and it is creative by default, ideas come to individuals naturally, from the most simple to the most complex, and some have a bit too many probably.</p>
<p>What our brain is not so good at, is storing those ideas efficiently and for easy access. How many times haven't I had an incredible idea to forget it afterward nothing short of 5 minutes. Many productivity masters realize this incapability of our center of operations and recommend to always have on hand some note-taking apparatus - digital or not.</p>
<p>I couldn't agree more (remember the 5-minute memory loss?).</p>
<h2>Feeling Lost 😩</h2>
<p>It isn't long before you start realizing how much there needs to be done that you don't even know how to quantify it yet. What was once a sweet little nifty idea is now starting to get overly complicated (at least inside your head) and you are starting to feel overwhelmed. If all goes wrong, within a couple of weeks, you give up on the project because you don't know where to turn next.</p>
<p>This process may have already happened to you once or on repeat. You have by now either learned how to control this inner affluence of information, or you are still lost in your thoughts. For the latter case, I hope this will help.</p>
<h2>The Indie Developer Journey 💻</h2>
<p>I believe many of us would consider ourselves to be some kind of an indie developer. After all, we do have our own side projects that we mainly work on alone. All projects are different, but they all follow the same journey from idea to conception. A list of steps can be roughly summarized by:</p>
<ol>
<li>Features - what does it do or allow others to?</li>
<li>Design - how does it look? (good probably)</li>
<li>Architecture - how does it function on the inside and out?</li>
</ol>
<p>We certainly are not strong in all of the above steps, but we can still craft something on each level and come out with a working product.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The biggest mistake that the brave indie developer can do is to be all over the place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The eagerness to be all hands on coding the new idea right out of the shower is understandable, you are extremely excited to get it going, but that approach normally leads to a black-hole of a lifetime of discarded projects.</p>
<p>Remember, our brain can't easily store all those great ideas and manage them efficiently. It gets them all mixed up and tangled, leaving you with nothing but a bowl of idea noodles when you try to process them all at once.</p>
<h2>The Masterplan 🗒</h2>
<p>The solution to being able to sail that ship home (I mean the new project to its final host) successfully is to plan ahead. Simple as that. </p>
<p>Splitting your tasks helps to keep you from feeling overwhelmed.</p>
<p>If you spend a couple of side-project working days with the sole goal of organizing the development journey ahead, you will be able to lift 2 metric tons out of your shoulders.</p>
<p>The plan should still follow the aforementioned order. Start with defining your desired implemented features. The design phase follows next since you now know exactly WHAT you want to build. The architectural part can be last now that you know what information is required to store and access, and at what points in time.</p>
<p>The best way I found to organize my projects' requirements, is to use a drag-and-drop board that could either contemplate all the 3 stages at once or even have a board for each (probably depends on the overall application size). The most known tool for this is probably <a href="https://trello.com/">Trello</a>, but my best heartfelt recommendation goes to <a href="https://www.notion.so/">Notion</a>. At first glance, Notion might seem daunting to use, but once you get around to know it you will realize just how powerful it can be.</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dydevwhyk/image/upload/q_auto/v1599300538/posts/Screenshot_2020-09-05_at_11.06.12_rylkay.png" alt="Notion GIF Example"></p>
<p>Don't forget that a nice pen and paper will also suffice!</p>
<h2>Takeaways ✅</h2>
<ul>
<li>Our brain is great at coming up with ideas but terrible at storing them for easy access later.</li>
<li>The biggest mistake that the brave indie developer can do is to be all over the place.</li>
<li>Splitting your tasks helps to keep you from feeling overwhelmed.</li>
<li>Using some kind of drag-and-drop board to organize your tasks.</li>
</ul>
<p>As always, if you enjoyed reading this and want to reach out to me, let's connect! <a href="https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira">@igorasilveira</a>.</p>


Our brain is great at coming up with ideas but terrible at storing them for easy access later. The biggest mistake that the brave indie developer can do is to be all over the place.

The Indie Developer's Masterplan

Productivity

Hello, my name is Igor and if, by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on [my Twitter profile](https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira).


__DISCLAIMER:__ This article was written specifically for the tech field and may not apply for all areas of expertise.


## Contents

- Why listen to me? 👂
- Well, everyone is getting one so... 🤷‍♂️
- My story  📖
- Construction Supplier to Bread Distributor/Guitar Player/Part-time Student 🥖
- The next level 🎓
- Job applications 👨‍💻 (no degree)
- Working environment 💼
- Takeaways ✅

## A debut 🎊

Hurray! This is the first ever article that I am writing to publish online! Any feedback is well appreciated, and please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or any other way you can find.

It is sort of a long one, but I had so much to put out there all at once.

## Why listen to me? 👂

Being straight to the point, I myself have in my possession a 5 year degree in Software Engineering making me a Master on the subject (whatever that's worth). That is why, after all the hard work I had to output in order to obtain it, I'm here to tell you:

You probably DON'T need a degree.

Sure it can open many doors for you, and each college is itself and will teach you differently. But, in my experience, it is not what kind of paper you have under your belt with a seal of trust, but the sort of work you put out on a given subject.

## Well, everyone is getting one so...  🤷‍♂️

This is very hard to understand by those coming straight out of high-school (like it was for me) since all they are taught during those formative years is:

"Stay in school, get good grades, land a nice job and that's it".

The fear of failure in life settles in and they feel pressured to achieve what they have been told, at all costs, some paving their way to stress and anxiety.

I'll tell you my story to put everything into context when I give you the final conclusions.

## My story  📖

I come from a small group of 9 islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean which I can call a small paradise on Earth, but not exactly the land of opportunity, the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago.

The normal flow of education is to complete the 12 mandatory years of basic education and then apply for colleges abroad (one of the two islands that have faculties or mainland Portugal) and so I did, or at least tried to.

I was an average student and managed to finish the final year (or graduate high-school, in more American terms) with a score of 15/20. All that was left now was to take the admission exams and apply to universities.

I failed. 

With 6/20 in the Math exam I could not apply to any degree that would interest me. I could have taken the 2nd phase exam and join uni a month later, but instead I made the dreadful choice of calling it quits (go figure). This was around summer time, and when the summer holidays were over, I had no more school to go to and had to find a job and start living the adult life.

## Construction Supplier to Bread Distributor/Guitar Player/Part-time Student 🥖

My adult life began with working at a construction materials supplier during the hot sun of summer. It was a straight underpaid 9-to-5 job that consisted in carrying heavy loads pretty much all day long. I started to re-think my life choices and it was easy to conclude:

"I need to finish my studies, retake the admission exam (Math) and go to university."

With the help of a relative, I was able to find a physically less demanding job as a bread distributor. I would get up between 4AM and 5AM and drive a van full of bread around the island delivering to customers. I'd wrap it up around 1PM, get some lunch and head up to my cousin's place to have band practice.

I've always loved to play the guitar 🎸 

We were not the greatest showmen in town but we did have a lot of fun! We managed to book some summer gigs getting some extra cash in that would be much needed once I took off to uni.

The rest of the afternoon/evening I would go to my room and study as much as I could in preparation for the exam.

This was my routine for a few months until the day arrived. I woke up, headed to school and took the exam. The grades would take a couple of weeks to be given so I kept on working and playing music.

I did it.

I score 16/20 in the individual Math's admission exam and was qualified to apply for colleges! I already knew I wanted to pursue Software Engineering so I applied to the same degree in several different places. I ended up being accepted into my first choice, which was a five-year integrated Masters at a top engineering college in the country (through a special island-guy program, but still). I packed my bags, got on the plane, thought "the hardest part is done".

## The next level 🎓

Oh boy, was I in for a treat. I knew uni wouldn't be easy, but it was actually extremely hard! Countless sleepless nights, unfinished projects and stressful weeks. Nevertheless, I was plowing through the adversities.

When it came my fifth and final year, I started applying for jobs. The semesters were starting to ease in work and the last of them all was dedicated to writing the dissertation. I felt that I could managed a full-time job along with these tasks.

I was neither wrong nor right 😅

## Job applications 👨‍💻 (no degree)

I did a few interviews for several companies looking for fullstack developers. At this point I was still a student with no degree just randomly applying to jump-start my career.

The credentials did not matter.

I know I still hadn't finished the 5-year course but I thought the other 4 would at least raise some importance discussion points. 

I was wrong.

All that was asked in reference to the degree I was obtaining was mainly what I had learned in terms of team work and deadline management. There was some talk regarding used technologies, but most came from my own personal projects that were created with tech I chose to learn outside school hours!  It didn't matter which classes I took, it didn't matter what score was I averaging at the moment! I took some code challenges in-person and after a couple of weeks I was in 😎

## Working environment 💼

We developers have a very interesting field of business. All the fancy offices, tasty snacks and ice cold beer at our disposal. I was lucky to have landed a job in such a place that was so heavily fantasied. I couldn't be happier, but also hit by the all-famous imposter syndrome.

"What am I doing here, am I even qualified? I don't have a degree!"

The days were passing, I was managing the balance the final stage of my degree with my full-time job. The more I spoke to my fellow coworkers, the more I realized an unexpected truth:

Most of them had no degree whatsoever. Self-taught!

Many of those incredible professionals surrounding me, filled with knowledge and eager to share it, had not gone to school to obtain a specific degree in order to execute the functions (pun intended!) they were at that moment. They got to were they were by having an incredible passion for programming and building their ideas and nothing else. Sure they had a lot of hours of coding and tutorial hell under their belt, but:

Those who do it with passion do it effortlessly.

## Takeaways ✅

- There might be special cases where the pursue of a degree is the only way out (like me), but every day is released more and more free content online that can get you to where you really want to be. The only thing between the present you and your ideal you is yourself (there was a lot of 'you' referencing on this sentence).
- I am now a certified Master in Software Engineering and I still learn from my coworkers every and each single day and I will continue to do so and pursue that knowledge.
- It does not matter what a seal-marked paper tells about you, but your actions and self-initiative do.

<p>Hello, my name is Igor and if, by chance, you enjoy what I write, you may also like what I have to say on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/igorasilveira">my Twitter profile</a>.</p>
<p><strong>DISCLAIMER:</strong> This article was written specifically for the tech field and may not apply for all areas of expertise.</p>
<h2>Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li>Why listen to me? 👂</li>
<li>Well, everyone is getting one so... 🤷‍♂️</li>
<li>My story  📖</li>
<li>Construction Supplier to Bread Distributor/Guitar Player/Part-time Student 🥖</li>
<li>The next level 🎓</li>
<li>Job applications 👨‍💻 (no degree)</li>
<li>Working environment 💼</li>
<li>Takeaways ✅</li>
</ul>
<h2>A debut 🎊</h2>
<p>Hurray! This is the first ever article that I am writing to publish online! Any feedback is well appreciated, and please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or any other way you can find.</p>
<p>It is sort of a long one, but I had so much to put out there all at once.</p>
<h2>Why listen to me? 👂</h2>
<p>Being straight to the point, I myself have in my possession a 5 year degree in Software Engineering making me a Master on the subject (whatever that's worth). That is why, after all the hard work I had to output in order to obtain it, I'm here to tell you:</p>
<p>You probably DON'T need a degree.</p>
<p>Sure it can open many doors for you, and each college is itself and will teach you differently. But, in my experience, it is not what kind of paper you have under your belt with a seal of trust, but the sort of work you put out on a given subject.</p>
<h2>Well, everyone is getting one so...  🤷‍♂️</h2>
<p>This is very hard to understand by those coming straight out of high-school (like it was for me) since all they are taught during those formative years is:</p>
<p>"Stay in school, get good grades, land a nice job and that's it".</p>
<p>The fear of failure in life settles in and they feel pressured to achieve what they have been told, at all costs, some paving their way to stress and anxiety.</p>
<p>I'll tell you my story to put everything into context when I give you the final conclusions.</p>
<h2>My story  📖</h2>
<p>I come from a small group of 9 islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean which I can call a small paradise on Earth, but not exactly the land of opportunity, the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago.</p>
<p>The normal flow of education is to complete the 12 mandatory years of basic education and then apply for colleges abroad (one of the two islands that have faculties or mainland Portugal) and so I did, or at least tried to.</p>
<p>I was an average student and managed to finish the final year (or graduate high-school, in more American terms) with a score of 15/20. All that was left now was to take the admission exams and apply to universities.</p>
<p>I failed. </p>
<p>With 6/20 in the Math exam I could not apply to any degree that would interest me. I could have taken the 2nd phase exam and join uni a month later, but instead I made the dreadful choice of calling it quits (go figure). This was around summer time, and when the summer holidays were over, I had no more school to go to and had to find a job and start living the adult life.</p>
<h2>Construction Supplier to Bread Distributor/Guitar Player/Part-time Student 🥖</h2>
<p>My adult life began with working at a construction materials supplier during the hot sun of summer. It was a straight underpaid 9-to-5 job that consisted in carrying heavy loads pretty much all day long. I started to re-think my life choices and it was easy to conclude:</p>
<p>"I need to finish my studies, retake the admission exam (Math) and go to university."</p>
<p>With the help of a relative, I was able to find a physically less demanding job as a bread distributor. I would get up between 4AM and 5AM and drive a van full of bread around the island delivering to customers. I'd wrap it up around 1PM, get some lunch and head up to my cousin's place to have band practice.</p>
<p>I've always loved to play the guitar 🎸 </p>
<p>We were not the greatest showmen in town but we did have a lot of fun! We managed to book some summer gigs getting some extra cash in that would be much needed once I took off to uni.</p>
<p>The rest of the afternoon/evening I would go to my room and study as much as I could in preparation for the exam.</p>
<p>This was my routine for a few months until the day arrived. I woke up, headed to school and took the exam. The grades would take a couple of weeks to be given so I kept on working and playing music.</p>
<p>I did it.</p>
<p>I score 16/20 in the individual Math's admission exam and was qualified to apply for colleges! I already knew I wanted to pursue Software Engineering so I applied to the same degree in several different places. I ended up being accepted into my first choice, which was a five-year integrated Masters at a top engineering college in the country (through a special island-guy program, but still). I packed my bags, got on the plane, thought "the hardest part is done".</p>
<h2>The next level 🎓</h2>
<p>Oh boy, was I in for a treat. I knew uni wouldn't be easy, but it was actually extremely hard! Countless sleepless nights, unfinished projects and stressful weeks. Nevertheless, I was plowing through the adversities.</p>
<p>When it came my fifth and final year, I started applying for jobs. The semesters were starting to ease in work and the last of them all was dedicated to writing the dissertation. I felt that I could managed a full-time job along with these tasks.</p>
<p>I was neither wrong nor right 😅</p>
<h2>Job applications 👨‍💻 (no degree)</h2>
<p>I did a few interviews for several companies looking for fullstack developers. At this point I was still a student with no degree just randomly applying to jump-start my career.</p>
<p>The credentials did not matter.</p>
<p>I know I still hadn't finished the 5-year course but I thought the other 4 would at least raise some importance discussion points. </p>
<p>I was wrong.</p>
<p>All that was asked in reference to the degree I was obtaining was mainly what I had learned in terms of team work and deadline management. There was some talk regarding used technologies, but most came from my own personal projects that were created with tech I chose to learn outside school hours!  It didn't matter which classes I took, it didn't matter what score was I averaging at the moment! I took some code challenges in-person and after a couple of weeks I was in 😎</p>
<h2>Working environment 💼</h2>
<p>We developers have a very interesting field of business. All the fancy offices, tasty snacks and ice cold beer at our disposal. I was lucky to have landed a job in such a place that was so heavily fantasied. I couldn't be happier, but also hit by the all-famous imposter syndrome.</p>
<p>"What am I doing here, am I even qualified? I don't have a degree!"</p>
<p>The days were passing, I was managing the balance the final stage of my degree with my full-time job. The more I spoke to my fellow coworkers, the more I realized an unexpected truth:</p>
<p>Most of them had no degree whatsoever. Self-taught!</p>
<p>Many of those incredible professionals surrounding me, filled with knowledge and eager to share it, had not gone to school to obtain a specific degree in order to execute the functions (pun intended!) they were at that moment. They got to were they were by having an incredible passion for programming and building their ideas and nothing else. Sure they had a lot of hours of coding and tutorial hell under their belt, but:</p>
<p>Those who do it with passion do it effortlessly.</p>
<h2>Takeaways ✅</h2>
<ul>
<li>There might be special cases where the pursue of a degree is the only way out (like me), but every day is released more and more free content online that can get you to where you really want to be. The only thing between the present you and your ideal you is yourself (there was a lot of 'you' referencing on this sentence).</li>
<li>I am now a certified Master in Software Engineering and I still learn from my coworkers every and each single day and I will continue to do so and pursue that knowledge.</li>
<li>It does not matter what a seal-marked paper tells about you, but your actions and self-initiative do.</li>
</ul>


As an introduction to my online writing, I wanted to tell that I have a degree and that you probably DON'T need one to be successful in tech (at all).