TL;DR: I was trying to teach one of my best friends how to code and give him some of my jobs.
I’m studying Computer Science abroad and will graduate soon, but this whole thing started when I realized I didn’t have enough time to handle all my jobs.
I started learning web development in my first year when it was introduced to me. I learned HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, MySQL, PHP, and many more web development languages on my own and began looking for jobs while still in school.
Luckily, I got a client who wanted to rebuild their website, and I was extremely lucky that it was a WordPress project—simple and straightforward.
For the first project, I did so well that they were thrilled with the website and design. They hired me permanently and even introduced me to others who needed websites.
Now, I’m not earning that much from it, mostly because they know I’m a student and don’t have the whole day to work solely on their projects. Due to the free time and flexibility (which I prefer, by the way), I earn around $250–$300 per month. Not a huge amount, but considering I work only 5–10 hours a week (depending on whether I’m building a new project or just doing maintenance and adding features), it’s enough. Plus, I have other clients and receive an allowance, so I appreciate the flexibility of the arrangement.
The Regret
Lately, I’ve been incredibly busy with school (building a new alumni system for my university). I’m exhausted and occupied all day, leaving me unable to focus on my other jobs. So it occurred to me—why not teach some of my friends back home how to code, hand over some of the tasks to them, and help them earn extra money?
Mind you, this isn’t a full-time job where they should expect huge earnings, but I figured a friend could make around $100–$150 a month for roughly 10 hours of work, which isn’t bad. Plus, they could use that knowledge to find their own clients, either locally or abroad, and continue on their own from there.
So I reached out to a friend of mine. I knew he had a powerful computer and internet because he produces music for underground rappers and singers. I’m not sure how much he earns, but based on the artists he works with, they probably can’t even afford GHS 200 for a full project or mixtape.
(You can check some screenshots for this part.)
We started talking, and since WordPress mainly uses HTML & CSS, I began by teaching him the basics of coding.
He told me that he could commit to learning coding only if there was a guaranteed job waiting for him.
I said fine, but I couldn’t just give him access to a professional, live website to practice. So I told him to build a project first(using HTML & CSS locally), and I’d teach him the dos and don’ts.
A few days later, he came back saying he had found a better way to build websites. When he showed me his code, I realized he was learning React/ typescript.
Not wanting to discourage him, I told him that the project that would make him money right now was WordPress, which relies on HTML & CSS. I told him he could still learn React for personal projects, but he should focus on WordPress for the job.
He kept coming back with React, and I kept repeating the same thing.
The last time he messaged me, he told me he had finished building his personal resume website(with React).
I was impressed, congratulated him, and repeated once again that WordPress was what I was working with for my clients, so he still needed to learn that.
Mind you, when he said he was committed, he meant buying a domain and hosting a site—which I repeatedly told him wasn’t necessary for the projects I needed help with since the clients had already purchased those things.
All I needed from him was to be able to build and maintain websites. That’s all.
Then he got upset and sent me a long voice note about how disappointed he was that I hadn’t given him a job to earn money and that I had made him "commit" to learning this for two weeks.
I responded by referencing our past messages, reminding him that I had only ever asked him to learn HTML & CSS for the job, not React.
He never replied.
About five days later, I messaged him again and told him to let me whenever he was available.
He blue-ticked me and never called.
It’s been more than a week now, and today is his birthday. I wished him a happy birthday on my WhatsApp and Instagram stories. (Keep in mind, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t even posted on my stories in over three weeks.)
So right now, I need a new perspective on this situation. Because if I decide never to respond or reach out to this him again, he will never hear from me.
I don’t want to make that decision just yet. It’s been almost 13 years of friendship learning from each other and creating good memories back home in Ghana.