Recently, we've organized a #ProjectPortfolio challenge. Today we'd like to share with you one of the projects - meet Julia Łojek and her Chrome App.
Why IT? What was your journey so far?
I am an interior and furniture designer by education and after finishing university I worked in that field for a while. I liked being creative, solving functional and aesthetic problems and the general design process but when I started working I realized I am constantly asked to create similar projects and I am unable to build my own ideas in real life due to high costs of materials or factory costs.
This is the difference between physical and digital projects and this is why I decided to take what I’d already learned (like design methodologies, solving problems during the development process and focusing on the human factor in creating products and solutions), study new technologies and combine it all. To achieve it I decided to go the front-end way. Now I’ve just finished an intensive 2,5-month course, learned a lot of technologies and tools, built some projects and I’m still learning more, now on my own.
When did you start learning to code? Any tips for those who’d like to start coding, too?
My first front-end project I created when I was 13 and it was a simple web page. I got a book about HTML and I was amazed that I can create so much just by writing some words and symbols 😉
After that I had a break and went the other way (design studies) and then about 1,5 years ago I got interested in writing code again and discovered how much it changed over the years and how convenient it is now compared to my earlier experiences.
And the tips? I try to follow these as well since this are also my beginnings:
Please tell us more about your portfolio: what & why you decided to build?
In my portfolio I have a few projects. The biggest one is an app (React, Firebase) I created in a scrum team during the course I took. It’s the app for people who want to visit Tricity, Poland and together in our team we’ve built many features, worked on functionalities and UX.
The other thing in my portfolio is a Google Chrome extension – Tiny Break, which uses a new tab in the browser to remind you of some small but important activities that can be helpful while working at the desk. The idea to build a Chrome extension I found thanks to the article written by Geek Girls Carrots.
The third small project is a simple todo list app built using React, Redux, Firebase and MaterialUI.
My portfolio is still growing, I’m learning new tools and write new projects 🙂
Check Julia’s Chrome App in Chrome Store and on Github.
