Hello {#fname},

It's great to have you here! I enrolled with iNeuron and this is my journey to Full Stack Javascript Web Developer!

Let me explain - my name is Dee but growing up everyone called me "Deetjie" pronounced like "Dee Key". In my vernacular language it simply means Small Dee, as I am the youngest in my family.

I started my design career in 2009 creating promotional materials, marketing and advertising campaigns, designs for branding whilst I was a bar tender and promoter for numerous clubs in South Africa. Long story short, I dropped out from studying law and ended up with a spinal injury at 20 years old.

By 2011, I was still dealing with the ramifications of my injury but I had decided to enroll in art school. I checked myself out of hospital, attended the entrance exam, where I could barely walk up the stairs, into the University to a hall. Full of prospective students all vigorously problem solving and drawing. Out of over 400 applicants, 70 of us were chosen.

Yay! I was the chosen one!

4 long years and many hurdles later - I graduated in 2014 with a Multimedia degree specializing in photography & film, web design & development, marketing, illustration, animation and 3D model.

I entered the job force in 2015 in search of my first dev job but I landed my first full time job as an online video editor for numerous films and TV series within South Africa at a post production house. I enjoyed watching TV shows & movies for a year before I got an opportunity of a lifetime!

I got a chance to interview for a frontend developer role in 2016 and of course, I killed it and got a job offer to start the next week. I joined a fast paced work environment with a killer company culture and loved every minute of my job. I enrolled for a BSc (Honours) Degree in Digital Technology, Design and Innovation and graduated in 2018 and decided to immigrate to Europe from South Africa.

By 2019, I was started my Masters in Applied Digital Media and by 2020 we were in the middle of a pandemic. I graduated in the worst possible time, most companies were on the verge closing doors or laying off large numbers of employees and I was on the verge of being homeless.

In February 2021, I landed a job as a web designer & developer and created strategies, designs and developing websites for some of the most prestigious Universities world wide.

By 2022, I met the love of my life who pushed me to pursue what I really wanted. I wanted to break away from the designer mold and become a technically strong developer using JavaScript and all the frameworks that all these job posts seemed to require.

Stay tuned for my learning journey.

Thanks for reading! Diki :)