It's funny how we plan to grow & improve in our careers and what skills to learn while growing, forgetting to consider the uncertainties that we would face along the way.
Micah Bournes said in one of his poems:
"I had a nice simple life plan to ensure that I would become the man I'm supposed to be. But there was one thing I forgot to factor in, life. Somehow in all my preparation, I forgot to prepare for the thing that you can't prepare for - life"
I had planned this year on what steps to take and what course to study to improve more in my craft. I planned to complete four courses by the end of the year.
When I was making this plan I didn't know I would get a job though I did apply for several jobs and had done two interviews.
For my sanity, I decided to plan for only the things that I know I could control and not get myself hurt if I don't get a job.
Fortunately, I got a job and had to resume with immediate effect, remember getting a job wasn't in the plan.
My goal for the year was just to improve on my craft with some specific courses which I had in mind. I had planned to complete a course every quarter until I'm done with the four courses.
I was already in my first course when I got my job. Life happened when I resumed at my job, I was told I had to learn a technology used for developing desktop applications which wasn't among the courses I had planned for.
I had to pause the course that I had started and start learning how to build a desktop application.
I took some crash courses on YouTube which helped with completing my task at my new job.
I wasn't satisfied with the knowledge I had with the technology we were using - electron.js.
So I decided to take a course on Udemy, the course was going smoothly and I was beginning to like the challenge of going out of my comfort zone which was building web applications with react.js to building desktop applications.
Electron made building desktop applications easier because I was still using react.js in it and I was glad my previous knowledge was still being put to use.
Along the way, I got frustrated with the course I was taking because it wasn't an updated course so I had to Google a lot of things that weren't working anymore.
I kept on studying the course until I got stuck again and couldn't find a solution on Google.
This time I couldn't continue with the course anymore. So I started searching for another course.
I searched on Udemy, but the latest electron course I found was last updated in 2020. I was shocked at this discovery.
So I decided to check if I would find an updated electron-react course on skillshare. And I didn't find any.
This discovery was becoming interesting, and I was becoming more curious as to why there weren't updated courses on electron.js.
I went on to check tutorials-point and w3school but unfortunately, there weren't any electron-react courses. I did find one on tutorials-point but it wasn't what I was looking for.
This made me angry, like, how won't there be any course on electron v16 or even v14, if not an updated electron-react course.
Then I remembered I had read the whole of w3shool and tutorials point tutorials from beginning to end when I was learning HTML and CSS.
So I decided to do the same with electron even if their documentation didn't cover using electron with a framework.
I was determined to learn electron from their documentation as I did with HTML and CSS. And then, I would go on to figure out how to combine it with react.js.
I promised myself I was going to create an updated electron-react course even if it was going to be the only course that I'll put out there.
I wasn't interested in creating any course before now because of the preparations and time that goes into creating a dev course.
But this frustrating moment of mine gave me a new goal. A goal that was never thought of. A goal that I'm determined to achieve.
I'm currently taking a node.js, it was the same course I had paused for the electron.js crash courses I took.
But I'm back to it again because electron requires knowing node.js, and from my little experience with electron, it's basically writing node.js that runs on chromium.
I know this would take time but I'm definitely going to achieve this goal.
Summary
I forgot to prepare for the one thing that can't be prepared for. I never dreamt or planned that I would one day build a desktop application not to talk of being paid to build desktop applications.
I got frustrated along the way and was angry for not finding a good course that focused on combining electron.js together with react.js
So I decided to create one myself, and I'm currently working to achieve this goal.
Conclusion
While making plans, it is good to always be open to adjustments.
It's important to make adjustable plans because we can't always factor life into our plans.
There would always be some uncertainties, and sometimes uncertainties are a good thing.
My boss at my new job said something that I resonate with. He said:
Anger is a good thing if used correctly.
In the same way, uncertainty is good if you choose to focus on the positive side of it.