What I Gained After 1 Year of #100DaysOfCode

Eleftheria Batsou
Prototypr
Published in
4 min readDec 31, 2017

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back — Abraham Lincoln

How it started

I read an article from the creator of the #100DaysOfCode challenge, Alexander Kallaway, and it got me super interested. I wanted to get better at coding and grow my portfolio. I knew if I committed to it publicly I would finish it.

I started the challenge on 31-December-2016 and I finished it on 9-April-2017

Progress: #100DaysOfCode and Javascript30 are done

The Rules I Followed:

  1. I will code for at least an hour every day.
  2. I will tweet my progress every day with the hashtag #100DaysOfCode.
  3. I will track my #100DaysOfCode progress on my GitHub account.
  4. I will encourage and support at least two people each day in the #100DaysOfCode challenge on Twitter.

(View the official rules of the challenge here)

Tip: To stay focus eat healthy, exercise regularly and keep notes

My Achievements

  • I Improved at HTML, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript and jQuery.
Sun, earth and code — click Run Pen to view the project
  • I created fun games and quizzes.
Whack-a-mole — click Run Pen to view the project
  • I used for the first time APIs like the geolocation and Twitter API.
Twitter Api — click Run Pen to view the project
  • I learned about Canvas and SVG
D3.js, svg and canvas — click Run Pen to view the project
  • I worked more with Git and GitHub
My Github after 100 days of committing my projects

My GitHub Account

Sources and Inspiration for Projects

A lot of people say they want to code but they don’t know what to build, honestly, there are endless possibilities. Some free sources with online development courses are freecodecamp, codecademy, coursera, udemy, udacity and of course there are several channels on youtube. You can subscribe to other challenges, like javascript30 or read books, like eloquent javascript.

Personally, I used:

  • Developphp.com — A great site with video tutorials about HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery and PHP
  • I followed the javascript30 challenge
  • I also committed to the #dailyCssImages challenge (I wrote an article about how I started with pure CSS images) but I choose not to do it as part of my #100DaysOfCode journey.
  • I recreated pens from codepen.
  • I developed my own personal snippets.
Cute animal — Video tutorial

Web Environment and My Daily Process

  • I coded most of my projects on Codepen and some of them on the text editor Atom. (These are my reccomendations for offline text editors)
  • After I finished its project I uploaded the code on GitHub.
  • I shared my progress on Twitter and I always encouraged others.
  • To make my life easier I used a lot of tools for selecting colors, icons, images and typography (I wrote an article of my favorite UX and UI tools, you are welcome to read it here).

while (! (succeed = try() ));

What Did I Gain?

My growth wasn’t only in a coding level but on a personal level too.

  • My web development and web design skills improved.
  • It got me motivated to commit to other challenges like javascript30, dailyCssImages, 30Days30Sites, 301DaysOfCode (which is what I ‘m currently doing), and I’ll propably start #dailyUI too.
  • I gain followers on Twitter, Codepen, YouTube and even in GitHub.
  • I learned to be more optimistic and grateful.
  • I got better at time-managment.
  • I learned to set priorities and actually stick to them.
  • I got feedback on my projects and positive vibes for my fellow coders.
  • I met a lot of people with different backgrounds and different aspirations (most of them were via emails, Twitter and Skype.)
Progress: 100DaysOfCode, Javascript30 and dailyCssImages are done
Progress: 100DaysOfCode, Javascript30 and dailyCssImages are done
Progress: 100DaysOfCode, Javascript30, dailyCssImages and 30days30sites are done

Would I Recommend It?

If you want to improve, grow, learn, share, get feedback, friends, endless posibilities for connections, stop procrastinating and stay focused, then YES, this challenge is for you.

P.S. Note the day I started #100DaysOfCode, it was New Year’s Eve, I can hear you say “this developer has no life” 😛

P.S.2 Note the day I started #dailyCssImages, it was Valentine’s Day, now I can clearly hear you say “this developer really has no personal life” 😜

Thanks for taking the time to read my story, if you like it please share and help the #100DaysOfCode community to gain another loyal coder.

It would be great if you could also follow me on my social media. Have a great day.

Youtube | Codepen | GitHub | Twitter | Site

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Published in Prototypr

Prototyping, UX Design, Front-end Development and Beyond 👾 | ✍️ Write for us https://bit.ly/apply-prototypr

Written by Eleftheria Batsou

Hi, I’m a community manager and an app developer/UX researcher by passion. I love learning, teaching and sharing. My passions are tech, UX, arts & working out.

Responses (3)

What are your thoughts?

Salute to your dedication! 👏
Keep inspiring in 2018.

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Awesome work! Love the CSS Puppy.
Definitely going to have to give this a go myself, been looking for some real inspiration to stick to and I think this article has definitely given me some good feeling about doing 100daysofcode!

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Thank you for sharing your experience Eleftheria! You spent your life by becoming a better version of yourself and helping others to succeed. You’ve made the best use of your time possible- please don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. You are an…

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