Yer a wizard (of API coding), Harry

Before entering Flatiron I worked for over 6 years in a private college's admissions office. On one occasion I was tasked with using a data-tracking company's API to update specific areas of our school's website. I had very little knowledge of APIs at the time, but still found it quite easy to utilize and had no problem getting the information we needed. Back then I chalked up the ease-of-use to "tech wizardry" and didn't give it a second thought. I knew I wanted to learn more about how an API is actually created, but figured it was too advanced and time-consuming to really get into.

When I realized we'd be building out our own API for our projects this go-around, I was thrilled. We'd been using them from time-to-time in our labs, and I had even signed up for a RapidAPI account while we were in the midst of our Rails segment (so I could practice fetching various sets of data from different endpoints in my spare time).

It seemed a bit daunting at first; building my own API from the ground up. This quickly changed when I saw how several small alterations in a familiar Rails app build would get me the json I needed (rather than render the information into a view).

Coding with javascript is a lot of fun, and quite powerful. Once we started to put it together with a backend server we built ourselves, it became obvious that the sky is the limit! Handling both the data side of things AND the dynamic frontend made me feel like a true full-stack developer. It's motivating to think back on the tasks I was assigned years ago in that admissions office, knowing I now possess that "tech wizardry".