Nick’s Personal Blog
Face to Face (2/27/22)
What is the number one thing that held you back this week? Why?
While I feel I learned a ton in our first in-person sprint week, I absolutely felt held back at times. When it comes down to being held back, I mostly feel it’s just a plain lack of syntax knowledge which will come with experience. I was excited for the Mind Reader project after pseudocoding everything, reading the documentation, and having my plan of attack on building a JSON file to pull data from. That was until I hit a huge wall. I made it through building my JSON file and pulling some of the data, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to correctly pull data from my fetch into a function to where I could switch my data for each card. I had asked some questions and got some help, but after we reached the end of the day, I went home still not successfully understanding how to pull the data and pretty much nuked my progress and threw my code in the javascript graveyard. I started from scratch and went with a new plan. While my new plan and code worked, it was not how I wanted to create my project and I think stinted potential learning. I later found out on demo day I was incredibly close to success with my first bit of code when I gave up. Had I asked one more question, a last plea for help, I would’ve been able to break through that wall. At the end of the day I held myself back because I was afraid of asking for help again and became impatient. But I’ve now learned something, something I can build on and not make that mistake again. Better to learn this earlier than later!
What is one thing you would like to learn more about regarding JavaScript (JSON, Data Structures), Bootstrap, or Atomic Design?
For me, I really want to learn more and more JavaScript. I find JSON and API’s somewhat fascinating in being able to grab data and produce it into something useful. It’s also where I have found I have struggled the most with in a couple projects I’ve now worked on. I’m hoping I will soon break through my barrier with those two!
How does In-Person Bootcamp compare to Remote Onboarding?
I enjoyed being in person more than I thought I would to be honest. Remote onboarding felt like just doing the homework you were given and sort of being on your own. While I work well on my own, being in the presence of other students and our instructors who are motivated to accomplish this bootcamp together has given me more motivation. Everyone in our group has been incredibly welcoming, open, and helpful so far. I feel like we are coming together quickly and working well as a team already. In a way, it already kind of feels like a family in a sense. We are all wanting to change something in our lives, to something greater, and are holding each other accountable to be the best we can be. I am very much looking forward to sharing our struggles, our successes, our laughs, and our cries together along the way.
What is your “Why”?
I am here in the bootcamp because I felt it’s where I needed to be. I needed to do something new. Something difficult. Something creative. I have always struggled with stagnation and hit a point in my life/career where I felt I needed a new challenge to set me in a different direction. I was looking for a new journey and thanks to a good friend, I was pushed towards web development and programming. I have always been intrigued with it and always wanted to understand the magic of it all. My true “Why?” is that I don’t have another option I would feel comfortable falling back on. It’s uncomfortable, but I kind of jumped off the cliff and planned to learn to fly on the way down. I did the same thing when I decided I was going to try to race cars professionally. I made the leap and gave myself no other option than to dedicate myself to becoming just that and I did it. I’ve learned that I have to jump all the way in to something or I won’t learn, I won’t be successful. I’ve now given myself no other option than to learn, be a good developer, a great one even, because I cannot stand only being statisfactory.
It’s All Coming Together (2/11/22)
Week three is done and dusted. A bit more work than the first two and the first time pulling an entire project together using HTML, CSS, and Javascript without any hand holding. Our task was to build a simple alarm clock which was a little nerve wracking at first, but after moving through things piece by piece and finally getting items to work, it was also the most gratifying week so far.
We’ve worked on HTML, CSS, and Javascript mostly on their own with little crossover, but never altogether at once. This blog, while written in markdown, populates in HTML with a hint of CSS and allows me to convey a story, pictures, or maybe even a GIF or two. Working through all three elements though, you start to see how many different options there are to produce the same results. HTML being more of your basic formatting like trying to put the edges of a puzzle together first, CSS is putting what pieces you can together to look like the picture, and finally placing all the pieces neatly together with Javascript to complete the whole puzzle. Javascript continues to baffle me in how powerful and intricate it can be. It’s really the motor behind everything and provides a lot of the user interactivity where you can create or modify designs, make calculations, kick off events, sounds, you name it, it can do it. I take a liking to CSS since I enjoy the design side of things. Every website or app I use, I pay close attention to how it feels and works from a user standpoint. Does it catch the eye? Is it easy to navigate? Does it pull me in to want to use the site?
At the end of the day, I’m simply impressed at all of the different paths to a destination and how much of an art programming can be. I’m just excited to dive deeper into it and see where the journey takes me.
Two Weeks In (2/3/22)
What is something you wish you could do but currently do not have the coding skills to accomplish?
While I know we have not touched on it much yet, Javascript. I feel I understand HTML and CSS enough to be able to navigate my way through creating something that looks reasonably well, but I am really wanting to bring more function into what I can make with HTML and CSS.
What are you struggling with?
In terms of the work we have been given so far, I don’t feel there’s anything I’m struggling with yet. There have been some additional small projects I am trying to work on in addition where you essentially need to create a project from scratch. Something like a Frontend Mentor challenge where you have an end result they provide you with and maybe some basic code, but you have to create that small project from scratch and figure out how to build it effectively and efficiently. Since there is no specific way to get to the end result, sometimes I don’t feel like I know where to start and when/where to add the pieces needed. I imagine this comes with experience and figuring out your preferred workflow.
How do you solve a problem?
When it comes to programming, I typically try a couple solutions I know off the top of my head to see if it changes/fixes the problem or at least helps me understand my problem better. Then I can narrow down the keywords I’m looking for or the exact problem in order to effectively research my problem. I try to read or watch a few different solutions and find something that I understand best and follow to resolve my problem. Maybe I take something that already works to test it, modify it, break it, whatever helps me better understand how something actually functions.
What methods do you use to help yourself get unstuck?
Often times going back to the beginning and reviewing everything I’ve just done step by step just to see if there’s something small that I’ve missed or skipped. Far too many times there’s something incredibly small that was looked over causing me to get stuck. I’ll also just go occupy my time with something else to take a break from my issue since I’ve found myself thinking or staring at an issue for too long that I just can’t figure out. Taking a step back and going into it again with a fresh mind seems to do the trick. My all time favorite, reverse engineering. I feel like there’s so much to learn from taking something you know works and just looking at how all the pieces go together and understanding WHY they go together. If all else fails, I’m going to someone who knows more than I do!
First post! (1/26/22)
This first week I started the Awesome Inc. Bootcamp and began my journey to becoming a full stack developer. Web development has always piqued my interest since middle school from linking random pages together with basic HTML to creating advanced and interactive profile pages from the Myspace days. Talk about a flashback! A few years back I worked with a development team to start an online business but now I’ve decided to take things into my own hands and jump all in to learn how to do it for myself. I’m sort of an all in or not at all person as you’ll learn along the way.
Why tiptoe through life to arrive safely at death?
Our first week has already provided some new challenges, especially getting used to the ins-and-outs of github. I initially took the Fall Intro to Web class where I learned bits and pieces of HTML, CSS, and Javascript just to get my feet wet. Now, I’m excited to start building on that foundation to become a full developer while building relationships and working as a team while in the bootcamp with those who have the same goals as I do. Hope you’re all strapped in for the roller coaster ride!
- Complete Intro to Web
- Start Awesome Inc Bootcamp
- Become full stack web developer
I’ll tee up a fun fact for the first thing to learn about me. Did you know, I have actually traveled to more countries than states? I love to travel and have been incredibly fortunate enough to see a few different corners of the world. I get a bit restless when I’m home for more than a few months without having gone somehwere new and am always in search of the next adventure.
