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My First Year as a Web Developer: From HTML Tags to Real Projects

Published: June 15, 2025

Looking back at my web development journey, I can't help but laugh at how it all started. If you told high school me that I'd be building web scraping applications for a Japanese AI company, I probably would have asked "what's web scraping?" But here we are, and what a ride it's been!

The HTML Memorization Phase (Yes, Really!)

My journey began in high school with the most basic thing possible - HTML tags. And I mean really basic. I was that guy who tried to memorize every single HTML tag I could find. Looking back, it seems pretty funny, but hey, we all start somewhere, right? The thing is, we had zero web development lessons in high school. I was completely self-taught, just a curious kid trying to figure out how websites worked. I'd write HTML tags over and over, not really building anything meaningful, just getting familiar with the syntax.

The "Wow" Moment That Changed Everything

When I got to campus (Makerere University), everything shifted. Suddenly I was surrounded by people who were actually building things on the web. And man, I was easily impressed! Someone would show me their project and I'd be like "Woooow, you made that?!" That's when I realized I needed to get serious about this. All those memorized HTML tags weren't going to cut it - I needed to actually learn how to build stuff.

Back to Basics (The Right Way)

So I did what any determined person would do - I went back to square one. HTML first, then CSS for styling. But this time, I wasn't just memorizing; I was building, experimenting, and actually understanding what each piece did. Then came the moment everyone talks about -Javascript.

The JavaScript Fear (And How I Conquered It)

Here's the thing about JavaScript - everyone around me was terrified of it. My friends kept saying "JS is hard, you won't manage it, boy." But you know what? That just made me more determined to prove them wrong. My very first JavaScript code wasn't some elegant function or a beautiful algorithm. Nope. It was an alert message designed to annoy my friend. I created an alert that kept popping up every time he clicked "OK" - and let me tell you, watching his frustration was absolutely hilarious! 😄 But that simple, mischievous piece of code opened up a whole new world for me. I remember thinking "Wait, I can really do this in the browser?!"

The Tutorial Marathon

Once I caught the JavaScript bug, I dove deep into tutorials. And when I say deep, I mean deep. I found SuperSimple Dev by Simon, and oh man, his courses were life-changing! I watched: His HTML/CSS YouTube course (around 6 hours of pure gold) His Amazon web app development JavaScript course (a massive 22+ hours!) Simon's teaching style just clicked with me. The way he explained concepts, built projects step by step - it all made sense. If you're reading this Simon, Arigato Gozaimasu! You really changed my life.

The Break I Needed: AIBOS

Then came the opportunity that changed everything - AIBOS, a Japanese AI company operating right here in Uganda. Getting accepted there was honestly one of the best things that happened to my career. Suddenly I was surrounded by people who shared my hunger to learn. We were thrown into the deep end with real projects, and let me tell you, it was intense!Project #1: The Video Conferencing ChallengeMy first project was building a video conferencing app. As a research project. With basically no experience in this area. We dove into web sockets, explored third-party solutions like Agora, and tried to implement everything we could in the shortest time possible. It was overwhelming, challenging, and absolutely incredible. We had to halt it due to a client project coming up, but the experience? Priceless.Current Challenge: Web ScrapingAs of right now (June 2025), we're working on a web scraping project. It's tough, really tough, but failure isn't an option. I'm determined to make it a success so we can tackle even bigger challenges ahead.

Staying Current in 2025

These days, I'm all about staying updated with the latest in web development. I'm constantly:

Following the latest JavaScript and web development trends
Listening to web development podcasts (they're like having mentors in your ear!)
Practicing on platforms like CSS Battle and JavaScript challenges
Reading documentation and trying new technologies

What I've Learned

If I could go back and tell high school me anything, it would be:

Don't just memorize - understand and build
Ignore the people who say "you can't do it" - that alert function proved them wrong!
Tutorials are great, but documentation is gold
Failing interviews isn't the end - it's feedback
Find a community - having people who share your passion makes all the difference

The Journey Continues

I'm still that easily impressed person who gets excited about cool web projects. The difference now? I can actually build them myself. And honestly, that feeling of creating something from nothing, of solving problems with code, of seeing your ideas come to life in the browser - it never gets old. To anyone starting their own web development journey: yes, it's challenging. Yes, you'll face setbacks. But man, is it worth it! Keep coding, keep learning, and who knows? Maybe we'll battle it out in CSS sometime! 😄

What's your web development origin story? I'd love to hear about your first line of code or that moment when everything clicked. Drop me a message - let's geek out about our journeys together!