I have a stormy relationship with coding because I struggled with programming in high school. However, a happy accident led me to discover my knack for web development. I just love how visual it is! Plus, when I’m coding, I’m always in a state of flow — fully immersed, my mental energy strong.
I’ve been building WordPress websites as a hobby since I was 14. In the summer of 2009, I stumbled across other teens’ self-hosted personal websites. Prior to that, I had already created some “personal diary” blogs on the Blogger (Blogspot) platform. I also had a Multiply blog. However, I was dissatisfied with the lack of personalization pre-made themes afforded me.
As a self-described artist, I thought it would be cool to make a personal website equipped with a fully custom theme. I taught myself the coding languages typically used in web development (HTML, CSS, PHP and some Javascript) via Internet resources. And thus came the birth of my very first self-hosted WordPress site, Cocktailriot.com.
Today, I still have working knowledge of how to create, design, and manage websites. With the help of a manual and/or a peek into GitHub/Reddit, I can create a fully functional website on any CMS. However, my speciality has always been WordPress.
My old domains have since expired, but I may still have some screenshots of my work, which I am sharing here.
2009: Global Virtual Classroom Web Design Contest
