Mercy's Portfolio

Everyone’s tech journey starts somewhere.Mine started in 2020, the day a desktop computer was brought into our home.At first, it wasn’t anything serious. I was just playing around with it—clicking things, exploring, being curious. I didn’t really understand what computers could do beyond the basics we learned in school: what a computer is, what a mouse is, and the physical parts of a machine. Software still felt like a mystery to me.

But that changed through conversations with my brother.One of my elder brothers studied IT, and during our talks, he started telling me about coding, software, and how people actually build websites and applications. That was the first time I realized:

“Wait… people can actually create the things we use on computers?”

That idea stuck with me.

So I started searching online:
“How to learn programming?”
“How to build websites?”
“What language should I start with?”

Almost everywhere, I saw the same advice: Start with HTML if you want to build websites.

Discovering Online Learning

Around that time, I stumbled upon a platform called ALX (a tech learning platform from Kenya, if I’m not mistaken). Back in 2020, they were offering a free software engineering course.

I was still in high school.
I didn’t know anything about programming.
I barely knew anything about software at all.

But I signed up anyway.

That’s where things started to feel real.

We learned about:

The history of computers
Basic computing concepts
And gradually, more technical topics

I remember working with PuTTY, using it like a shell, and learning basic Linux commands. That was my first real exposure to the command line. It felt confusing… but also exciting. For the first time, I wasn’t just using a computer—I was starting to understand it.

My First Steps into Programming

After that, I moved on to:

HTML for building simple web pages
Then the C programming language

This was a big jump for me.

Suddenly, there were:

Syntax rules
Errors I didn’t understand
Programs that refused to compile
And a lot of moments where nothing worked

It honestly became overwhelming.

At some point, I got stuck. It felt like too much, too fast. So I did what many beginners do…

I took a break.

Coming Back Stronger

About one to two years later, I came back.

This time, I returned to:

C again
Then C++
And programming started to make more sense than before

Around this period, the ALX platform introduced new, modern courses. The only difference was: this time, they were paid.

I was lucky enough to get someone to help me pay the fee so I could enroll.

Thanks to that, I got access to the platform for 3 years, and that changed everything.

Going Deeper into Tech

From there, my learning became much more structured. I started studying:

Foundations of web development
CSS and JavaScript
UI testing
Figma and UI/UX design
Low-level programming
System architecture and system design
Database design with SQLite and PostgreSQL

It became:

Tutorial after tutorial.
Website after website.
Project after project.

Slowly, things that once looked impossible started to feel… normal.

Where I Am Now

Today, my stack includes:

React
Next.js
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS

And now, I’m taking the next big step: transitioning into AI Engineering.

This blog—and my content in general—is about documenting that journey honestly:

The wins
The confusion
The mistakes
The growth

Final Thoughts

Looking back, it’s crazy to think that all of this started with one computer in 2020 and simple curiosity.

I’m still learning.
I’m still building.
And I’m still at the beginning of a much bigger journey.

But this time, I’m not just exploring tech.

I’m building a future with it.