Why did you become a Developer?

I was first introduced to coding with Geocities which, for the young ones was one of the OG website building platforms.

But it was a hobby and I never thought of it as a career.

In university I took some computer science classes and enjoyed them and did pretty well, but still thought of my career as going in another direction (more creative marketing)...

But then when I started my career I found that the most creative work was actually being done by the developers! It was clear that's where I wanted to be, so I went hard into self-teaching to be a professional software developer and the rest is history!

I loved games growing up and always wondered how things worked, in high school, I joined a robotics club, I remember that being the first time seeing those old bulky Alienware laptops. I asked the programmer why his laptop was so “fat” 😂 after I joined that robotics club my interest peaked from there

I'm still finding my reason to be a developer. Though, I love tech and always keep myself updated on tech reviews and tech news to learn about AI. But, yeah first time experiencing as a developer when I participated in a hackathon as a freshmen and wanted to test my skills and win the hackathon but that gave a sense of satisfaction to make and then get inspired from seeing what other are making. Though I lost my spark for few years but I can't express how grateful I'm to this platform that welcomed me with open hands and provided me with such informative and inspiring articles and the amazing writer behind them. Each writer with their story and backgrounds and willingness to share their learnings and their support is unimaginable. I neither experienced nor expected such love and support from strangers from the Internet as I wrote my articles and wait for that one like that finally someone got the meaning of my post. How Dev.to provided me a new platform to be write, I always wanted to try technical writing but never had the courage to start but participating in the Dev Challenges made me write what I did and I loved it and I continued the journey. Since, I'm learning so I couldn't find my niche yet . But yeah, always keeping the attitude of learning to make something epic. Soon, will make some cool projects and share the progress. Thanks everyone for their awesome, love and support.

My first experiences go back to middle school, with cassette-based computers. I was barely 13 or 14, and my curiosity was sparked. Then I graduated from high school and enrolled in an intensive short program in large and midrange systems programming — but before I knew it, I had already shifted toward PC databases. Since then, I’ve been developing, testing, experimenting, documenting… and I never get tired of it.

I was introduced to programming out of curiosity. I often wondered how games are created, so one of my first Google searches was along the lines of "Who makes games?" or "How are games made?" This exploration led me to discover programming languages.
I enjoy programming because it allows me to express my creativity. When I write lines of code and see the results, I feel like a creator. My curiosity compels me to continually explore new programming techniques, bringing my projects to life in unique and innovative ways. Additionally, as a developer, I have control and authority over the code I write, which makes me feel like a king or commander of my creations.

First of all, thank you for the shoutout, Francis. That genuinely means a lot more than you probably realize. I remember when you first started posting, and seeing you stay consistent and curious has been inspiring for me too. It’s rare to see someone approach learning with that kind of sincerity.

As for your question, I think I fell into development partly because of proximity. My dad is a software engineer, so building things and talking about systems was never something foreign to me. It was just there always in the background, I just didn't understand it then, only wished to. I also spent a lot of time playing games growing up, Clash of Clans on mobile and, on a thick old Dell laptop that struggled to run half of them.

At some point after school, it became more practical. I saw development as a path that offered independence and financial stability, which is what led me toward web and app development initially.

But what made me stay wasn’t just the money. It was the realization that being an engineer gives you a kind of leverage over reality. Once you understand systems, you start seeing patterns everywhere, not just in code, but in products, businesses, and even people. It becomes easier to move across domains because you’re not just using tools, you understand how things are built underneath.

I’m still figuring out my exact path, but development has given me a way to think clearly and build things that didn’t exist before. That alone has made it worth staying.

Thanks again for the shoutout, and I’m glad you’re sharing your journey here too.

I started a company running drone media services back in the day. I couldn't code back then so I created my website using a no code platform. I realized then that I had little flexibility on how I could expand my business on the software side and then decided to start learning how to code. I liked it so much that I continued down that route and became a developer as my main profession!

I always loved mathematics. Over-memorizing other subjects, maths gives me a tool, and I can apply it as I want to find the result. As I entered college, coding was one of the subjects that challenges problem solving skills. I instantly liked it.

The good old RPG Maker 2000 was what gave me the original inspiration when I was a kid. Even though I played with Lego Mindstorms earlier in my life, the RPG Maker was what really got me into the stuff. It had some sort of logic system that had some basic programming capabilities, but the only variable types were bools and integers. But it had if statements, loops, even something that resembles functions, if you squint your eyes a little. It was a tremendous amount fun building games, bringing ideas to life and also seeing what others could build with the tool.

I started building scripts others could use, and I wanted to present them to the world, so I asked a friend that had their own website how they built it and they introduced me to HTML. After some time, I wanted to learn how I could update my website without uploading new HTML files every time, so I learned PHP, recognizing bits and pieces of logic from the RPG Maker (as in "Oh, while is just a loop! And if is simply a fork condition!" - yes, don't question the naming, the RPG Maker was an adventurous translation of the Japanese original).

I then suddenly realized the power that an actual programming language gives you. Like, every program I ever used and every game I ever played on the computer, everything was written in code I could now potentially read and write myself! That "Woah" moment was when I decided to get good at programming. Still in high school, mind you. I originally wanted to pursue a career in technical drawing for years, but programming felt way more fun than drawing.

So I spent every free minute I had on building more fun things, trying out stuff and learning along the way. Eventually, some two years later, it worked out for me and I got into a secondary school for Computer Science and got my first job quickly after that. Rest is history :)

For me, it started with frustration.

I needed small tools for daily tasks, but most sites asked for signup or felt slow. So I tried building one for myself.

The first time it worked, it felt different. Not just using the internet — but creating something useful on it.

That’s when I realized development gives you freedom. If something doesn’t exist, you can build it.

Curious — what was the first thing you built that made you feel like “yes, this is for me”?