I did not get accepted to App Academy. After a month of long nights, learning concepts that made my head feel like it was going to explode, and constant trial and error, it would appear as if I am walking away empty handed. Turns out that is not the case at all!
This past month was amazing. I learned a lot about what it takes to become a developer. What's more, I learned a lot about myself. I am going to be a developer. Few things have been this clear to me in my lifetime. The constant challenges, with solutions to be found at the finish line. I love it.
Applying to App Academy jumpstarted my learning, and has only made me hungrier for more. So now I am taking a step back to find my own path, but I have been blessed with some clear direction as a result of this past month's work.
I don't know exactly what I want to specialize in, or what type of company I want to work for, but I have a strong belief that I am headed in the right direction to find all of that out. I am still learning the basics, trying to make things work together. My morning was spent learning how to use git and Github so that I can start a Ruby track from TestFirst.org. It was very frustrating, especially since I was having a hard time finding the help I needed on Google.
But thats what this is: trial and error, getting failure messages when my code sucks, and figuring out how to fix it. And I love it!
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Reliance on others
Ruby is kicking my ass right now. And so is App Academy. After completing the first coding challenge, I was invited to take a shot at the second one.
For the past week I have been going over the prep work for the second coding challenge. A lot of the material is complicated and I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it. I haven't given up, though. I thoroughly enjoy the challenge. There have been many nights that have ended up being much longer than the 3 hours I have committed to. Its fun!
One thing that has helped me tremendously is blogs written by others who have been where I am now, which finally brings me to the intended topic of this post: Reliance on other people's experiences helps markedly.
Luckily, this is an idea that I am very familiar with. So, when I get into a jam that seems too hard to ever understand or figure out, I find someone that has been there. Not only do they typically have a good answer for me, but the fact that they can say that this same topic or problem was an issue for them is reassuring. Thanks to the internet, and especially blogging, I don't even need to personally know someone to be able to relate to them.
So when I get stuck, and I feel like the stupidest person on the planet, I simply look to the people that have come before me. Not just for answers, but for common ground as well.
For the past week I have been going over the prep work for the second coding challenge. A lot of the material is complicated and I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it. I haven't given up, though. I thoroughly enjoy the challenge. There have been many nights that have ended up being much longer than the 3 hours I have committed to. Its fun!
One thing that has helped me tremendously is blogs written by others who have been where I am now, which finally brings me to the intended topic of this post: Reliance on other people's experiences helps markedly.
Luckily, this is an idea that I am very familiar with. So, when I get into a jam that seems too hard to ever understand or figure out, I find someone that has been there. Not only do they typically have a good answer for me, but the fact that they can say that this same topic or problem was an issue for them is reassuring. Thanks to the internet, and especially blogging, I don't even need to personally know someone to be able to relate to them.
So when I get stuck, and I feel like the stupidest person on the planet, I simply look to the people that have come before me. Not just for answers, but for common ground as well.
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