From Sketches to Screens
In school, I got bored easily. The subjects available never really sparked my interest, and even in Maths class — where you'd expect problem-solving to shine — I felt like I was memorising steps more than solving puzzles. My brain just worked differently. I thought in systems, in logic, in algorithms.
Out of that boredom, I turned to sketching in my copybooks during lessons, which is probably where my love for visual design started. Meanwhile, my spare time was filled with computer games. But even then, I wasn't just playing — I was always wondering how the game worked under the hood. What algorithm decided enemy behavior? How were those animations triggered?
Growing Up in a Small Town with Big Curiosity
Growing up without much money and using an outdated laptop, problem-solving became a necessity. Fixing broken hardware or misbehaving software was a daily routine. I couldn't call someone for help, so I learned to figure it out myself. Over time, I became the neighborhood tech support kid.
Eventually, I realised fixing things wasn't enough — I wanted to build them. I wanted to be the one writing the code behind the software I used every day.
Finding My Path in Web Development
Unfortunately, I didn't know a single person who could code. I had no roadmap, no mentors, and no clue where to start. But I did know I needed to see my work come to life on a screen. So, at 16, I started learning web development.
My starting point was in 2017 on freeCodeCamp. I scraped together enough money for a second-hand monitor so I could code on one screen and follow YouTube tutorials on the other. Those late nights were where everything began to click.
One of my earliest projects was a simple JavaScript calculator. I ran into a bug that took me four hours to fix. I'll never forget the feeling when I finally got it working — it felt better than any win in a game. That one bug gave me more motivation than any online course ever could. (And honestly, today's learners might miss that joy — AI debuggers make things a bit too easy.)
Discovering UI Design
But I hit a wall: my projects worked, but they looked terrible. That frustrated me.
I always had a passion for art and aesthetics — I was the top student in my Design Communication Graphics class in secondary school — so learning UI design came naturally. Around that time, Figma was starting to gain traction. I dived in.
I learned core design principles from YouTube and posted my designs online for feedback. After just a few months, everything changed. I started noticing design flaws everywhere — in websites, apps, and even street signs. And once you see them, you can't unsee them.
Building Projects and Breaking Through
To combine what I'd learned, I started creating solo projects. One of my favorites was a fake online store I named comp.com. I designed the whole thing from scratch in Figma, then built it using React.js (back when class components were the norm) and pure CSS — no frameworks.
When I mentioned this to strangers on Discord, they thought I was insane for not using a CSS framework. But learning the fundamentals gave me an edge. These days, I can diagnose visual bugs faster than most front-end developers — and I owe that to grinding through tough builds.
Opportunities Start Rolling In
As my skills matured, doors began to open:
- I started getting requests to build websites for startups and societies
- I designed and still maintain the site for Luna Technology Society, a student rocketry group started by a childhood friend
- I got hired as a part-time programming tutor in university, teaching Java and web development fundamentals
- I was approached by a Trinity College research lab to develop an Irish language learning app for children — this became the subject of my Master's dissertation
These projects eventually helped me land internships at Bloomberg and Amazon, where I got to apply everything I'd learned on a much larger scale.
Looking Ahead
Now, I've graduated with a Master's in Computer Science — with Distinction. I'm incredibly proud of how far I've come from that bored student sketching in class, and I'm excited to take the next step as a full-time software engineer.
This journey has been a blend of logic, creativity, and pure stubbornness. And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.