An Untold Story
A Journey I Never Planned
The day was 20th September 2022, I left my hometown (Kathmandu, Nepal) for the first time for my undergraduate studies in Bangalore, India.
I was pretty uncertain about what I was gonna do. I had never explored tech my life and had absolute zero knowledge of Software Engineering Field.
I have been an artist since my childhood and I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the creative field. But I was not sure about what to do.
But my parents told me:
"You are always free to take on your passion. But at one point you also need a degree right?"
I agreed.
They asked me to pass exams somehow and grab a degree and rest I can work on my passion. So, I agreed to go for Computer Science and Engineering not for exploring tech but just for degree.
Almost a month later, on 16th October 2022, I stepped into my college for the first time, booked my hostel room.
I was pretty numb and scared and I didn't know anyone there — new place, new life.
I couldn't even sleep that night.
Next day I went to college to attend my first class and the day was normal. I met new people, made new friends and told them about my art life.
Everybody had the same question:
"What are you here for? You must go and pursue your passion."
I replied:
"I know but I just need degree and rest I will work on my passion."
That being said, I simply carried my ongoing artwork and called it a day.
I didn't face any pressure as I had the mindset that I am just here for the sake of degree.
I didn't even have a laptop and frequently had to borrow it from seniors for exams since they had given us a personalized LMS.
The Day It All Started
Days passed on.
But one day I met a guy who was my new classmate.
He had just returned from his hometown and we just met each other.
He had been into tech since school days and showed me a website he built for class to give free access to resources and materials for competitive exams.
I looked at the website and I was stunned.
I asked:
"Did you build this by yourself?"
He replied:
"Yes, I did."
I asked:
"How did you do this?"
He said he used JavaScript and certain tech stack.
I asked:
"What's JavaScript?"
He was surprised realizing I had absolutely no idea about programming.
He walked me through everything.
And I kept visiting his room just because I was curious.
Then I asked:
"With coding, we can build all this?"
He replied:
"Yes bro."
That was when it all started.
The First Spark — CSS
What got me into coding was CSS, used for styling websites.
Since I was an artist and always fascinated by colors, I thought maybe give it a try.
I asked how I can try it.
He said:
"Download Visual Studio Code, and I will guide you through the basics."
I told my brother I need a laptop since I want to try it and college exams required it too.
I got the laptop somehow and installed everything.
I followed tutorials on CSS without even understanding core structure of a web platform.
When I saw my first button made using HTML and CSS, I went:
"Woah, this is something."
I asked my friend if this is how I am doing it.
He asked me to learn fundamentals of how a website works and taught me about servers and IPs where my button was being rendered.
I was stunned again.
And then I went full throttle on learning CSS and styling more than the main language.
First Term Ended
We had C programming subject.
I struggled with syntax and logic and at one point almost gave up programming entirely.
But my friend kept helping me through concepts.
And somehow I coped up.
But seeing what he kept building, I knew I could learn a lot from him.
I visited my brother's house in Bangalore and showed him what I was doing.
Seeing my interest in arts and CSS, he suggested me to explore Product Design (UI/UX).
I had no idea what UI/UX was.
And he left me with that thought to figure out myself.
Discovery of Design
Soon, a hackathon was organized.
They needed illustrators.
I had an art background, so I joined.
I gave my everything into illustration work.
I saw people coding day and night while another guy was designing interfaces.
I talked to him.
That’s where I was introduced to Figma.
I saw beautiful interfaces and colors and couldn't stop exploring it.
I searched what UI/UX is.
I kept reading day and night just to understand it.
By the end of first semester, I realized:
I have interest beyond just art or degree.
Confusion Phase
First year ended.
I started exploring everything:
- Figma
- JavaScript
- Frontend basics
But ended up overwhelmed.
My brother told me:
"Focus on one thing and do it really well."
So I chose UI/UX design.
Learning Design
I started learning:
- color theory
- typography
- composition
- design fundamentals
My first UI designs were bad.
I realized:
Product design and art are totally different fields.
But I kept going.
Slowly I understood how products are designed end-to-end.
Backend Exposure
Later I came back to coding.
I learned backend basics to understand how data flows.
I learned:
- REST APIs
- data flow
- client-server communication
It was challenging but fun.
Wrong Phase
In third year, I started chasing internship certificates.
I wasted time.
I learned nothing meaningful for 2 months.
First Real Project
I got my first real UI/UX project:
An AI-powered nutrition app.
I worked on:
- product thinking
- UX flows
- market gaps
- UI design
It took me 4 months.
But it worked.
Startup Journey
Later, I joined a startup with two teammates.
We built a product from scratch.
I had to convert my designs into React Native UI.
I learned:
- API integration
- state management
- component architecture
- UI optimization
It was messy but real growth.
The Realization
I am not just:
- an artist
- a designer
- a developer
I am something in between.
What's Next?
I still don’t know if I belong to one label.
But I know one thing:
I love creating things.
I will keep exploring, keep building, and keep learning.
Because a guy who once asked:
"What's JavaScript?"
somehow ended up here.
Maybe this story was never about tech.
Maybe it was about finding something I never expected to love.