During this past year, I have spent time learning and building a portfolio to upload on LinkedIn. The goal, of course, was to catch the attention of HR and be offered a job. However, almost a year has passed, and I still don't have a job. Not because I haven't applied, but because I always fail at the interview stage.
My morale has started to decline, my heart has surrendered, and all I think about is, "As long as there's a job that can help me advance my career, it's okay." Then, on August 22nd, I received an offer to work as a Fullstack Developer.
The first question asked of me over the phone was, "Can you use Laravel?" Of course, I can! Without much ado, my potential boss asked to meet at a coffee shop for further discussion.
Long story short, I explained that I am proficient in HTML, CSS, and Javascript as the front end and PHP as the back end. Additionally, I am well-versed in frameworks such as Bootstrap, Vue, and Laravel. The conversation eventually led to WordPress and Elementor (luckily, I am familiar with those too). Coincidentally, the company was currently focusing more on WordPress rather than custom code.
Okay! Let's fast forward to the workday. In short, I was tasked with managing websites A and B. Initially, it was my senior's task, but since there was already an IT department, the task was passed on to me. Naturally, I was a little confused because I didn't receive any documentation at all (not even basic information about the websites). I tried to understand it on my own, despite being a bit confused, but in the end, I managed.
However, what baffled me was that the website was function-oriented with little regard for design. Furthermore, the irregular use of plugins made it seem hastily put together just to make it work. It was not responsive, had too many plugins, lacked documentation, had an unpleasant UI (from my perspective), and what annoyed me the most was that it wasn't easy to maintain.
Two important aspects of building a website are Responsiveness and Easy-to-maintenance. If these two aspects are overlooked, the website we build will be subpar.
Sure, functionality is important. But what if there are changes? What if there are updates? What if a different programmer is assigned? What about aesthetics?
All of these need to be considered. That's why we can't just rush to get something done; we need to start with an analysis, flowcharts and other diagrams, UI design, and initial setup, and then move on to slicing and adding functionality.
In conclusion, there's nothing instant; everything has a process.