Undergraduate /
UC #2 - "Lessons by Design" [6]
Hello EssayForum. I've been working at this essay for a while, but I've been having some serious trouble trying to come up with ways to express my ideas. Any sort of help would be appreciated!
Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?At ten years old, my feet would barely touch the ground as I sat forward and bent over a keyboard and mouse, face pressed against the cold glass of an old computer screen; I was designing my first website. For the time being, developing web sites provided just an engaging hobby for me to pass the time with, as it seemingly offered the perfect challenge for me; not only would I have to artistically create layouts and graphics, I would also methodically develop the accompanying code that would display that very layout its contents. Although time spent working on web sites seemed to be, at least to my parents, "wasting time playing the computer," the whole process had a more significant role in my eyes: I was creating something worthwhile. Each web site challenged me with its own tasks, opening the opportunity to learn a lesson that could only be learned by experience.
My first web site was my own: a modest fan site on Japanese cartoons. This site functioned as my sandbox, where I could hone my skills as a webmaster. Though it would be discouraged by my parents, countless hours would be spent here when I would learn the basics of web development, mainly being the principles of web design and the methods to code a functional HTML, which is the language used to display content on the internet. In a way, my personal web site represented my own ambition; each reiteration of the site's code and design structure embodied my undying zeal to improve on the aesthetics of the web site, as well as its content and code. For what may have been the first time in my life, I felt as if I have accomplished something of my own will.
When my dentist heard that I could make web sites, what seemed to be a juvenile hobby suddenly became an viable passion. Unlike anything I've ever done before, my dentist asked to have a completely animated, yet professional, website made in Flash, a web media more flexible, but significantly more complicated, than HTML. I had no prior experience with developing any media with Flash, so my dentist's proposition posed an interesting challenge: how well would I be able to master a completely new programming language and design method in a timely manner? Almost immediately, I researched the medium to the best of my knowledge and began my learning process. Within weeks, I showed my dentist a working prototype of his web site with an intense, I-did-it type of enthusiasm. I had passed his challenge. I had adapted to an unknown environment.
With one paid client under my belt, I considered myself to be a freelancing web developer. I thought the job would be easy and enjoyable, but every day I had work, it pushed my thinking boundaries. Each client requested something new, from an online store to an unusual donation system to a distinct image gallery; the list goes on. To create so many web sites each so different, I had to be innovative and flexible.
Aside from recognizing the plethora of fonts used in public, the skills acquired from web development became useful traits in my persona. I have been conditioned to argue from multiple perspectives, as web design involves tackling problems from the standpoint of an artist, a programmer, and a publicist. I have been trained to be adaptive, applying past lessons to present issues. I have been taught how to collaborate with those with less experience in a field than I, since I had to balance my ideas with my client's ideas. Amidst the the rest of the lessons, however, the one thing web development taught me is how to pursue a passion: I have to love what I do, always.
