<metaname="description"content="My participation in IndieWeb Carnival November 2024, by reflecting on our capabilities of making an impact on other people and the world.">
<metaproperty="og:description"content="My participation in IndieWeb Carnival November 2024, by reflecting on our capabilities of making an impact on other people and the world.">
<p>Alexandra, also known as <ahref="https://xandra.cc/">Xandra</a>, is hosting the <ahref="https://indieweb.org/IndieWeb_Carnival">IndieWeb Carnival</a> for November 2024, with the topic being <ahref="https://library.xandra.cc/indieweb-carnival/">"Impact"</a>. It is a great topic for self-reflection, and Xandra has provided prompts as jumping points for us to share our thoughts and experiences related to the topic. I have some of my own to share as well.</p>
<p>I believe everyone is capable of making an impact on someone else's life, no matter how small, and even if in an indirect manner, because our actions and choices have consequences.</p>
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<h2id="impact-of-a-kind-and-generous-stranger">Impact of a Kind and Generous Stranger</h2>
<p>One of the people who have made great impact on my life was a stranger whose name and face I have unfortunately forgotten, but I still fondly remember the moment when she helped me.</p>
<p>At the time, I was about to travel back to my home state for the first time since I began to attend university, which was located on a different state from my home state. I was supposed to take a regular train to a station closest to my parents' hometown, but due to my lack of knowledge, I accidentally took rapid transit that was not even connected to my home state, so I realised my mistake only when the rapid transit began to travel back to the direction of the state where my university was located. I contacted my parents about my situation, and they suggested me to drop by the next stop in the neighbouring state to my home state and wait for them to pick me up and bring me to my parents' hometown.</p>
<p>There was a woman passenger who intended to leave the rapid transit at the next stop learned about my situation, then acting as my temporary guide at a place I was unfamiliar with, and suggest me to stay in a shopping mall while waiting for my parents, while giving me her phone number so I can call her in case I need her help again. Eventually, through continuous contact with my parents, my father managed to locate me, pick me up, and safely brought me to my parents' hometown.</p>
<p>I never saw that woman again, and I lost her phone number, but despite being a stranger, her kindness and generosity had left a great impact on me, for being a major reason why I can still have faith in humanity to this day despite everything. She made me genuinely believe there are still humans who are willing to help out strangers in times of need, and why I strive to be a kind person myself.</p>
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<h2id="strangers-impact-on-my-career-choices">Strangers' Impact on My Career Choices</h2>
<p>My career choices from graphic design to web development were another major example in my life of how strangers can still capable of making a profound impact on me.</p>
<p>During my teenage blogging years, I was following a Taiwanese blogger who was also a professional web designer. I was impressed by her web design skills displayed on her blog, especially her Flash header. She ended up becoming the main inspiration for my interest in design, and I picked up some basic HTML and CSS knowledge and skills. However, I lack the knowledge of how to break into the web design field, so I studied graphic design in university and subsequently worked as a graphic designer instead. After working in the field for 8 years, I was burned out from graphic design as a profession, for many reasons, including my mistaken belief that I could get web design work as a graphic designer.</p>
<p>Fast-forward to 2022, I discovered <ahref="https://neocities.org/">Neocities</a> through Tumblr, and thus discovered the resurgence of personal websites. My interest in HTML and CSS was fully rekindled after learning to code my personal website from scratch for the first time on Neocities. Eventually, my interest grew large enough to take online courses to teach myself web development, starting with <ahref="https://www.freecodecamp.org/">freeCodeCamp</a>. I decided that I wanted to become a web developer after hearing other web and software developers' stories about getting developer jobs without a computer science degree, including stories of those who previously worked on a different occupation.</p>
<p>In mid-2024, I decided to get more involved in the personal web by joining its communities. In June 2024, I joined a personal web community for hobbyist web developers named <ahref="https://32bit.cafe/">32-Bit Cafe</a>, which was <ahref="https://32bit.cafe/about/">started by Xandra herself</a>, on both its Discourse forum and its Discord server. In <ahref="https://discourse.32bit.cafe/t/hello-its-me-leilukin/1029">my introduction thread</a> on 32-Bit Cafe's Discourse forum, I introduced myself as an aspiring web developer, because I was already in the process of working towards my goal of switching my career path from graphic design to web development.</p>
<p>I was drawn to 32-Bit Cafe because it appears to share my values, after reading its <ahref="https://32bit.cafe/about/codeofconduct.php">code of conduct</a> and <ahref="https://discourse.32bit.cafe/guidelines">community guidelines</a>, and I was proven right. I have been enjoying my time in the 32-Bit Cafe community and have always felt welcomed there. Interacting with other webweavers has provided me a lot of inspirations for my own website as well.</p>
<p>Finally, after spending almost 2 years to teach myself web development, I reached my goal of becoming a professional web development in August 2024. I shared the news of my official career transition from graphic design to web development on <ahref="/blog/posts/2024-08-18-from-hobbyist-to-professional-web-developer/">this blog</a> and <ahref="https://discourse.32bit.cafe/t/tell-us-some-good-news/1091/16?u=leilukin">32-Bit Cafe's Discourse forum</a>, and received a great deal of support and positive responses. I even received messages from other people in the personal space, including members of 32-Bit Cafe, that my story of transitioning from hobbyist to professional web developer has inspired them to learn web development more.</p>
<p>I made the decision to pursue web development as a profession after being inspired by other people's stories, so I was pleased to hear that my own story has inspired others in turn too. This shows the impact we can have on others by sharing our stories.</p>
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<h2id="what-impact-i-hope-to-make">What Impact I Hope to Make</h2>
<p>My life and experience have taught me that everyone is capable of making an impact on other people and the world, and making connections to people from all walks of life on the web only cemented such belief.</p>
<p>I have used the internet for most of my life, with blogging being my first foray into creating things on the web, and thus planting the seed of my love for the web. Participating in the independent web as an adult has given me hope that a better web is possible. Now that I am a professional web developer, I aim to make use of my knowledges, skills and abilities to make the web better.</p>
<p>I cannot predict how long I will live, but I hope to do what I can to make a positive impact on the world by channelling my desire to want to make the world a better place into my actions and creations.</p>
