Hey Dev Community,

I tought it would be a fun experiment to look back and share the story behind the creation of ethereum-ecosystem.com, an unofficial Ecosystem page for Ethereum and its Layer 2s featuring 900+ dApps and tools across Optimism, Base, Starknet and more.

After graduating from university, I started as a tech consultant at PwC, working alongside developers daily. While I had dabbled in Python through some basic Udemy courses, my understanding of coding was pretty superficial at the time.

Realizing I wanted more, I eventually took a career break and enrolled in the 42 cursus program (for those unfamiliar with it - there are no teachers at school 42!). This 1.5-year immersive experience was a game-changer.

I began learning C – a language that demands understanding of the nitty-gritty of programming (good ol' pointers!). It really helped me better understand how computers and operating systems function under the hood and it wasn't long before I was building a basic version of bash. It also of course got me acquainted with data structures and algorithms.

PS: C is such a tiny and fun language, you should learn it if you are just starting out!

Next up was C++ and Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). This was where I started to see how complex applications are structured and began appreciating the elegance of well-designed software. For instance I created a stripped-down version of an nginx web server.

Finally, I transitioned to web development with React for the frontend and NestJS for the backend.

The result a couple months later? Ethereum-ecosystem.com which is built with Next.js, Typescript, TailwindCSS and a headless CMS!

I hope my story inspires those who think coding is out of reach or are considering a career change. It's a path of continuous learning, and the more you understand the fundamentals, the more exciting and rewarding your coding journey can be.

Cheers,
Maxime