Ah, even a Python minion like me is turning up his first program. This is the first of probably the innumerable Python programs that I am going to churn out, that is if I and my family, especially my parents remain alive after the pandemic is over. Yes, I know it sounds pessimistic, but just look all around. Never seen so many deaths from such dangerous flu. SARS-CoV-2, we bow down to you. Never have I been so scared in all of my life and for my life and that of my loved ones.

It is a heart-wrenching scene to see the news every day. Every new case detected and we pray for their speedy recovery. May God stop this virus in its tracks, halting the havoc it has wreaked the world over. No one has been spared. Anyway, we should not digress from the issue. Our focus should only be on Programming.

I have begun my Data Science journey in the midst of this pandemic. Having received the certification, now my mind hovers for a job in this area. But I have realized my weakness, zero experience with little to no programming experience apart from what I learned in the school syllabi.

The Journey Begins

Around two decades ago, I had begun with LOGO, then graduated to BASIC, and then we had to study C++/C. With nothing to see what result the program would execute, it was just a cramming exercise, nothing at all.

But thanks to the entry of cheaper PCs, I could now purchase one and embark on my own coding journey. I also had an internet connection. There were tons of literature out there on the web. I saw a C++ program. Downloaded the software along with the compiler. But the programming did not begin instantly.

First I spent a hell lot of time on gaming, downloading music and movies. One temptation or the other would prevent me from wholeheartedly pursue a programming language. I was a writer back then, only a writer, who hated to code. Heck, I didn’t even have a job. When you are young and not technically inclined, then there is all the probability in the world that you would avoid it.

I didn’t even like PhotoShop. It was way too much for me. The tools were too intimidating and the time it required to edit a photo. I was born to be a writer and loved playing with the pen. Even going to the keyboard demanded an effort. But thanks to my passion for gaming, I overcame that. But still, I was way too far from my programming dream.

My First Job

Then came my first job. Out of fear of losing my employment and dislike for my boss’ grimace, I had to learn to type. It was a free software blog. Among one of my colleagues/coworkers was a Computer Science Engineer, somebody who authentically knew how to code. I was an engineering dropout(I was into electrical engineering). Somewhere I was envious, but still, I was head and heels in love with writing.

SEO And Image Editing

No, now was not the time to crib about it. I had to write. Moreover, I had something new to dabble with. SEO. On-page SEO to be specific. We were being trained on how to use Google Keyword Tools and employ them in our content. It was a lovely but boring exercise. But, it was something great at the time.

Also, I was taught how to use a basic image editor, Paint. It’s funny that I found it difficult at school. But now that I had to use it every day, it wasn’t as complex as it had been during my younger days. After all, the theory looks scary but a practical lesson and you learn to master a new tool.

The Obsession With WordPress

But something else started to brew in my mind. While we were blogging, we were introduced to WordPress. Whoa! Just pen your thoughts onto the interface and publish it. Man, that was so impressive! I wanted to build a website, a blog for myself. I hunted for ways to build a website on the internet. Again I was reminded of my shortcomings. I did not know how to code. Worse, I did not know which language to learn for building myself a website. PHP or HTML?

I wanted to learn how to have my own WordPress powered website, but I could not figure out for myself. Back in the days, there were not many YouTube tutorials. The ones that were present on it were not up to the mark and were not simple to follow. My hopes of having my own website were buried, until one day…I discovered Google Blogger. It was called Blogspot back then. Finally, I had something to show my writing talent and capture the world. Facebook was also scaling to new heights during that time. My job responsibilities had also increased manifold. We were being taught how to promote our posts on Facebook. Meanwhile, I was introduced to Twitter. We were posting our blog posts and interacting with a dynamic audience, people who replied in real-time.

I used to read about these social platforms only on paper. Being able to use them on a first-hand basis was making me far more distracted from my coding ambitions. Now, I wanted to be an SEO executive or a Social Media Manager. Man, my digital journey had begun, and I did not even have to write code. Everything sounded too cool. I was getting bored in my job, but I was nestling down cozily in a snug corner. No, I need not learn to code.

After two years, I quit my first job and joined a web design company, which provided web development, design and SEO services. I had worked enough on my on-page SEO skills. Now, I had to pen different nature of content, but overall I wasn’t experiencing any difficulty. By this time, I had applied for a college degree through distance mode. Being a graduate was necessary if I had to progress further as a content writer.

Now, this job had a different terrain. I got to have a closer look at web development, web design, and SEO. I was finally able to understand how web designing and development were two different trades. But overall, I was able to sink my feet deeper into SEO. I got to learn a lot of off-page techniques as well and therefore acquiring a basic knowledge of search engines and optimization. But wait, there’s a twist to it.

We had many Wordpress and Magento developers in our workplace. Since all of us were of the same age, we discussed a lot of things. I tried to scourge for ways to learn how to develop a Wordpress website but I couldn’t get anything helpful out of them. Nobody was prepared to show me how to do it. I even asked them how much it could cost if they developed it for me. I was given an estimate of around 200 USD(14000 INR). It was unaffordable. I seriously wished I could do it.

After a handful of short stints at other places, I relocated to another city. My WordPress dreams were shifted to some other part of my brain. My attention was towards getting a higher salary. Reality had hit me, and it had hit hard. I realized I couldn’t be a writer all my life because it was a low-paying job. SEO had better prospects. But I would have to reboot my career, and that meant a lower pay. SEO interns get paid peanuts in comparison to other fields. Again, I rued at my inability to code.

I didn’t even have my own WordPress website. Almost every popular writer I knew had their own websites. Most of them had it on WordPress. I just couldn’t handle it. Like a sour loser, I would bang my head here and there. I wasn’t stagnant. I had learned the basics of HTML coding and how to use an editor called Kompozer.

I had also discovered WordPress.com by then. It was similar to Blogger, but better. But it couldn’t be customized a lot. It didn’t have ads and the design wasn’t as attractive. With limited free themes and no way to monetize it, my interest had waned away.

Getting To Know HTML

It was like candy, you like the taste, but you need to shell out a penny each time you want one. I liked the tags and the effect they had. Tinker around with the code and you could change the appearance of the text. So cool. It was my first experience with coding, and you know it was not boring at all. I just loved to code with HTML. A child had laid his hands on a new toy that was popular the world over. YouTube had tons of tutorials on HTML back then. However, I wasn’t extremely confident with WordPress. I still had a long way to go.

I Was Finally Able To Break The Glass Ceiling

In 2017, I had quit my nth job and was playing around with it at home. I had many friends from work and there was one who was like me. He had a penchant for learning new things and had just discovered WordPress. He had quit just before me, so both of us had time to kill. He had purchased a domain and was trying to install WordPress with some free host.

He mentioned cPanel and just asked me to watch a free tutorial on YouTube. With zero interest in it, I complied only because of the friendship. But it was the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle. I had figured out how I could make my own WordPress website. In June, I made my first website/blog which was followed by four other ones. One of them was an affiliate marketing website. I had even mastered how to create an online shop on WordPress.

Best of all, I had a website without having to learn to code. I tried my hand at learning some PHP. But I squandered away my time without learning anything substantial. I had added another failure to my already long list of fiascos. But I was not disappointed. I had finally emerged as a digital entrepreneur. I had also installed AdSense on to my website. For some time, I was blinded by my success. Nothing should stop me from earning my first million.

But I was so wrong about the whole deal.

Disaster Strikes

After a year, I had just made $7.15. I couldn’t pull on with five websites. One by one, I had to sacrifice them all. Out of the cash I had saved and having consumed a good amount of my parents’ retirement money, I realized that this is not how I was going to earn my riches. I had to strategize and learn a lot more.<

I got into a new job, this time with a known acquaintance. He showed me that content needs to be promoted and that monetizing content was not easy. He also introduced me to native ads. But I was disenchanted by the whole process of content creation. I knew that blogging wasn’t going to pay my bills all throughout my life. I needed to shift my career in a worthwhile direction. I needed to switch fast. I joined another firm as an accountant-in-training.

Then something happened that changed my life forever

My father had a heart attack. Thankfully, due to timely cardiac surgery, he survived, but I had to quit my job. He needed attention as well as some assistance due to his weakness during the recovery period. This sent my writing career into a tizzy. I had some freelance offers. I took them up, but was solely dependent on my mother’s savings.

Eventually, I Make The Shift

After this long journey, just months before CoVid-19 came into existence, I decided to become a data scientist. Data science was being aggressively advertised on YouTube and other media. I was curious and was ready to dive in. I was mulling on shifting to Bengaluru for a content writer’s job and a friend who was into data science pushed me in the right direction.

It would give me more opportunities than a content writer. Also, the salary prospects would be higher than that of a content writer. He had taken up a part-time data science course at Coursera and was asking me to do the same. But it was too pricey.

My father, being the typical father he is, just asked me to go ahead. He asked me to pursue the course said he would take a loan if he needed to. Incensed by his unbreakable mettle, I forayed into deeper waters. But, I knew that it wouldn’t be practically viable to get a certification from Coursera, let alone from the other expensive courses that were popular online.

I would have to pursue a free course. Dataquest was the best option, but I was deflated as I didn’t know if it had much value. I had heard that my Git profile and my Kaggle profile would be enough and that was what I was focusing on. Only if I had any other way out.

Thanks to another acquaintance who suggested Udemy to me. I was simply bowled over by the low cost of the courses. I promptly joined a data science course by 365 careers, which was followed by a course in Python for Data Science and Machine Learning by Jose Portilla and various other free and paid courses on R, Javascript and other applications in these respective fields, I was finally able to pen down my first few lines of code.

I was born to be a writer. But now I am a coder too. And yes, definitely a data scientist.

(To read more articles like this one, you can pay a visit to my blog