Growing up, I used computers for designing. I remember feeling overwhelmed, staring at the interface of a freshly-torrented copy of Photoshop CS4, and panic-clicking each tool in succession in a futile effort to acquaint myself with the software. At 13, with the internet as my guide, I gradually began to develop a multidisciplinary interest in digital design, evidenced by a growing collection of illegal design software on the family computer. I would enter logo contests on 48hourslogo.com using Illustrator, design 3D intros for brands using Cinema 4D, create digital art for a budding YouTube channel using Photoshop, and edit video game montages using Sony Vegas and After Effects. It was an energising creative outlet that, a decade later, would lay the foundation for a career rooted in design.Programming also featured in my teens, albeit to a lesser degree. I remember building rudimentary websites—one such triumph was called: theNevSite—with HTML & CSS, two fundamental technologies for building web pages. I would also tinker with simple scripts to automate repetitive tasks in online games I was playing at the time. It wasn't until university that this nascent curiosity developed into a fascination. I was studying Mechanical Engineering and, while the learning material was largely grounded in the physical world, there was enough exposure to programming to spark an extra-curricular interest. Notable endeavours included an autonomous RC car, and a device to measure the friction forces that act on skin. Writing the code to control these devices felt like a superpower—it was immensely rewarding, and vastly different to the rest of the curriculum.In my final year, I co-founded Recroot: a video-based hiring startup. After securing an early investment, we outsourced the development of the platform to an overseas agency that had referenced well. Over a 9-month period, we collaborated virtually on the build; I designed the product, the agency developed it. But despite a successful build and subsequent launch, the process exposed some concerns. During the project, communication and alignment on the expected end result was often a challenge. We spent an inordinate amount of time remedying differences between what was designed and what was developed. Also, we were worried about the feasibility of outsourcing development on an ongoing basis. Once in production, any updates, bug fixes, and new features would need to be scoped individually and assigned to a new contract—this was costly and time consuming. Inspired by the development process and the associated benefits of developing in-house, I decided to learn how to program*.According to a WHOIS lookup, I registered the nevflynn.com domain name on the 19th of December 2017. The date is significant as it marks the beginning of a conscious decision to learn how to code. Once again, with the internet as my unwavering guide, I set out with the intention of building a personal website with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. For 2 months, I religiously followed Jonas Schmedtmann's The Complete JavaScript Course, Colt Steele's The Web Developer Bootcamp and popular non-profit resource: freeCodeCamp. The layout was minimalistic, but included an animated dragon illustration as the focal point—a good example of me masking my novice coding abilities with proficiency in design. Nevertheless, I slowly began to piece together a respectable first attempt at a personal website.
