The last quarter of 2018 was a pretty busy one for me. Everyone who knows me on a professional and personal level knows I strive to improve myself even by little everyday. Therefore, apart from continuing on my B2 diploma for improving my German, I took on the challenge of web development. It is something that always intrigued me – and it was also in my top 10 hot digital marketing terms for 2018. I have always been very good with computers, probably because I was at the forefront of the tech evolution in the 90’s and 00’s. Having very techy friends, adept with building and using a PC, was also an advantage.

How I decided to take on web development

The need for learning web development basics arose when we were creating the new website for the financial services company I work for. Back in April, our website project was delayed by at least a month due to agency and back-end process delays. I was, therefore, tasked to create the design of the web pages to pass onto the agency – all of this in 4 days. There were a couple of issues with the task at that point in time:

1. a)I was not a developer, I did not know anything else apart from some basic HTML from the free Codeacademy lessons;
2. b)I was not a graphics designer, I only knew the basics of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign and, therefore, not able to create “fancy” design.

There was tension between the head of IT and the company director because of the increased project cost and delays, which was awkward at times to be in the middle of. As I could not help with the task, the stress for the IT staff was increased. In the end, we managed to hit the launch deadline. However, overall, I was not satisfied with how the project or the people within that project were handled.

Part of my feedback by the C-suite was that “marketing is all about creating websites”. I assume I was expected to have had knowledge of developing websites from scratch – a mix of a developer, graphics designer and content creator role. I personally disagree with that statement. Creating websites and simple, powerful user experiences can result in an increase in brand awareness and digital sales; nevertheless, it is not solely what marketing is all about. I took his feedback as constructively as possible and I promised to myself that I will improve my skills. Not because I was told I did not know web development, but because I already had shown the desire to learn. Even if the marketing discipline does not move towards a mixed dev-marketing role, I will still be at an advantage from other marketers. I will be able to brief agencies and developers better whilst speaking their jargon and understanding digital operating processes both front-end and back end.

How I decided what web development learning route to follow

I started to look into free lessons online – from Codeacademy to Skillcrush, O’Reilly books. There are so many resources out there, some of them tried and tested before, and I was not sure where to properly start.

As I was already part of Leeds Beckett University , I received an email for joining a free 8-week course on web development sponsored by CodeFirstGirls .CodeFirstGirls is an organisation that wants to increase the women headcount in tech, no matter the age, ethnicity or background. They do paid courses for businesses and individuals and they also do some free community lessons. Not everyone can join the course, as you have to go through a vetting process – answering questions of how and why you want to learn web development, how you will use it in the future and more. This vetting process seems to determine whether you could genuinely benefit from the lessons.

I was very excited to be accepted for the October intake and I was looking forward to completing it.

How useful was the CodeFirstGirls course experience?

Although I knew the basics of HTML when I arrived, the amount of information was a bit overwhelming at the start. We were given the weekly PDF files to download and a plethora of software we needed to download and use throughout the course:

• Atom to compile code in
• Github to create and host our repositories
• CodePen to find ideas and test bugs on our code

We were also given homework to do on websites such as General Assembly, CodeAcademy and iDea.

The course instructors were Computer Science students and they were all really helpful and knowledgeable. They made everything sound simple and had plenty of examples to give. The course coordinator also brought in people from tech businesses to speak to us about careers in tech, how they started and what do SMEs and Plcs look for in a tech candidate.

After some weeks of learning, we were partnered up to create our own website. Myself and my partner decided to create a website about the pets we have. She is an owner of two Chihuahuas. I have a stray cat I cater for and I occasionally borrow a dog through the BorrowMyDoggy.com app.

As I am working full-time and I also had to study German, my only free time to study and practice coding were Sundays. I studied every Sunday for 8 weeks, 9 hours minimum with a 30-minute break. During that time I was doing a revision of previous weeks, homework, extra reading on websites like Stack Overflow. I was also practicing on creating logos and images on Photoshop and Illustrator.

The reasons why I dedicated so much time on coding:

• It was a personal challenge; I wanted to be able to code a website from scratch so I can be a future asset to the company (or any other company that appreciated my tech skill)
• As I deal with IT and agencies daily, I wanted to improve the briefs handed over, understand their jargon better to improve processes and find solutions faster to tech problems arising
• Part of my job is IT recruitment marketing; therefore, I wanted to be able to approach all the software engineers, .Net developers and devops candidates through thought leadership ro, better targeting and advertising and more relevant content for both clients and candidates on the new website project I had on my list (yes, another website development!). I also got to go to cool events through the Meetup app, focusing on coding and women in tech.
• I also seem to enjoy learning languages, whether these are digital or traditional. I get excited when I envisage something in my mind and I get to have a go at doing it and tech is something that excites me as much as traditional marketing.

Even from the first couple of weeks of coding, I was able to contribute in the meetings with IT; where my directors failed to recognise bits of the methodologies used, I was able to communicate better with the tech people and generate better tactical strategies and internal processes.

Veni, Vidi, Vici

After all the weeks of learning, touch typing and touch backspacing (!), I ended up creating a website from scratch which I was proud of. Unfortunately, my partner did not pull her weight the last 3 weeks and, therefore, I had to do it all myself. On the other hand, I managed to learn and achieve more than what I believed I could. I treated the whole experience as part of my job, although I must admit it was hard at times with no help.

Hard work pays off. I managed to not only learn more about web development, I also got to be awarded the website competition for £20 of Amazon vouchers.

Have a look at my website here:

The Animal Family

Thank you for taking time reading my article. If you have any comments, please feel free to share below. If you want to email me directly, feel free to drop me a line on vdiamanti@gmail.com .