Growing up, I was something like the bad boy in school who just wanted to be popular. I had an interest in learning and always dreamed of creating my own Software. A game, to be sincere, like Contra or Super Mario Bros on Nintendo. But the environment dictated other rules. Little did I know that my passion for software development would change my life forever.

After a year in the army, I decided to make a change. I started teaching myself HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and soon I was using React to bring my ideas to life. With the help of a friend, I taught myself the basics and practiced every day.

Instead of taking classes, I used websites like free CodeCamp and books to learn. I also watched videos to understand how everything worked.

My goal was to make my own version of Netflix. Whenever I ran into a problem, I asked “how do I solve this?” and learned by trying different things.

I didn’t stop there, I continued to improve and interview for software developer jobs.

First and actual job

My first job as a developer was at a company called Devhouse. They hired me even though I was just starting out with JavaScript.

I quickly realized that the job was much harder than I thought. I had to work long hours and put in a lot of effort to keep up with the other developers. But I was so excited to learn and grow!

I was put on a project with NFTs and it was my main focus. I had to do many different things like work hard, lead my own team, and talk to customers.

The project was really special because it was actually five different projects all connected together. There was Enter.art for artists to show and sell their unique NFT works, Enter.audio for musicians to sell music NFTs, Enter.xx for artists to sell their NFTs on their own website, Enter.market for artists to sell NFT collections, and Enter.blog for NFT news and updates.

We used technology like web3.js to connect to the blockchain and Howl.js for the music player.

Working with NFTs and the blockchain was exciting and difficult at the same time.

I was always learning and growing, and I was right in the middle of the NFT hype. It was a wonderful start to my career as a software developer.

And then really education has started

When I started working as a software developer, I was introduced to a bunch of new technologies, including JS, nodeJS, VueJS, mongoDB, and MarsX. On my first day at the Devhouse, I was already diving into MarsX — a brand new technology for me.

But I quickly realized that learning MarsX wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. All the popular concepts and approaches used in other technologies are also applied there. The only thing that would have made life easier was complete and well-described documentation, which was unfortunately lacking.

Luckily for me, the founder of MarsX, John, stepped in and helped me out. I was able to pick up pretty quickly, even though I had no prior knowledge of it. Some basic website building concepts are straightforward and simple, but if you want to dive deeper and try out new things, you’ll have to put your thinking cap on.

In general, MarsX was very easy to learn. However, not everyone will have the luxury of having John personally teach them, so comprehensive documentation would go a long way.

So what about my goal?

Going back to my goal of building my own version of Netflix, I’ve accomplished it by working on two projects entirely on my own on MarsX. It makes the process much faster by handling all the technicalities behind the scenes.

But as a self-proclaimed nerd, I chose to go a different route and dive into the nitty-gritty details of software development. I want to fully understand the low-level processes and have a hands-on experience. I want to write my own server and routing from scratch. It’s just a personal preference, but I feel a sense of satisfaction in being able to say I did it myself.

So I think my “Netflix” still a goal but on new terms (true nerds will understand me).

What a hell is MarsX?

So, what’s the deal with MarsX?

At our company, we call it low-code, but I’m not exactly sure that’s correct.

If you’re building something big and complex on MarsX, you’re going to have to dive into the code and write a lot of it. You’ll need to know your way around JavaScript, JSX, Mongo, and probably Vue.js. Even with AI writing some of the code for you, you still have to put in the work. That’s what I love about being a developer: thinking for myself and figuring things out. I don’t want the computer to do everything for me.

But with low-code, it’s a little different. You press some buttons in the UI, add some microscripts and maybe some CSS, and presto, you’ve got an app… Right?

Now, AI might get even better at writing code in the future, but there will always be a need for a programmer who can guide the AI and tell it what to do.

Think of MarsX as a shortcut for app development. It helps speed things up and eliminates some of the steps you would normally have to take when creating a new app. It’s great for startups and can act as a framework for development. But, as with anything, it’s just a tool and there may be other tools out there that do the same thing.

So, that’s my journey. I would love to connect with other programmers who have gone through the same way.

Thanks for reading this far.

Also published here.