One year ago today I sat down and started a project that has changed my life. That sounds totally corny but it’s true. April 1st of last year was day one of my 180 websites in 180 days project and I was super nervous. I had no idea how to code. My computer broke and I was using a borrowed laptop. And I set up this crazy learning challenge where if I failed everyone would see it. Clearly I was nuts. I remember thinking to myself if the project did fail I could call it an elaborate April Fool’s joke.

But I was also super excited. I was finally going to learn to build the things I wanted make! I had wanted to learn to code for quite some time, but books and online courses seemed so dry. I was going to just do it by teaching myself. When I finished my website for the first day of the 180 websites project I was incredibly proud. I knew I had a lot of hard work ahead of me, but I had overcome what is often the largest hurdle in any project: getting started.

I’ve learned a lot about myself in the past year working on both the 180 websites project and YumHacker. One of the bigger surprises was how much I dig data! I’m not a ‘numbers’ gal but getting, manipulating and displaying data has been the most exciting part of programming for me. I’m also continually fascinated by how people engage with the things I make and I enjoy trying to optimize their interactions.

Most importantly, I’ve been able to overcome the fear of being judged. Whether you are making a piece of artwork, teaching yourself something new or building a business you’re bound to encounter some negative energy. People will say some pretty weird or just plain mean things to you when you’re doing something kind of crazy. Those comments sting a bit, but they’re most dangerous when you let them feed your self doubt. Battling your own self doubt is incredibly formidable.

Do not let the Zoidbergs get to you.

In my first blog post, I wrote, “I am not sure where this project will go but I think it will be interesting!” Sometimes I can’t believe how much I’ve learned and sometimes I can’t remember what life was like before I learned to code. This past year has been challenging, exhilarating, lonely, overwhelming, frustrating and awesome. It’s been the best year of my life. I’m still dealing with a bit of impostor syndrome and it still sounds weird when I tell people I’m a software engineer, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Update: Since I finished the 180 Websites project, I’ve been working on a website called YumHacker. You can read more about that project here.