Calm Before The Metaphorical Storm
So I’m about half way through Hack Reactor. Tomorrow we have this small thing, I guess it’s normal academic equivalence would be a midterm. Well, it probably has a little more weight than your normal midterm. It’s kind of a big deal.
Do You Even Cram?
But here I am, writing a blog entry. I don’t really do well with cramming before exams, it’s never been my style. It also never helped much as a Math major since writing proofs is rarely about cramming.
Time to Reflect
This week, especially today, has been a time of reflection. We were asked to give advice to our past self. My advice can be broken down into three points.
- One line of code at a time.
- Be comfortable feeling stupid.
- Never give up! Never surrender!
One Line At A Time
This is just awesome advice from Any Given Sunday. When I was staring at the blank canvas for our first solo project, I knew I just had to dive in. That’s not to say you don’t think about where things will go and how things will fit together, but you need to start somewhere. It’s important to plan, but don’t let that planning become the output.
Personally I know there have been times in the past where this is what happened. I’d be tasked with some project, some objective, and I would just plan and plan and plan. I let some plan be the output more than the objective.
And honestly, maybe if come the end of tomorrow I realized I should have studied more, this is one thing that I will take away from this experience.
Be Comfortable In Awkwardness
It’s always been the case that growth comes from uncomfortable and hard circumstances. Adversity breeds character. This experience is no different, it was, is, and will continue to be hard. I’ve been pushed beyond what I thought were my limits. I’ve been asked to be a better version of myself. And after its all said and done, I don’t think I’d want to go back to anything less.
Never Give Up, Never Surrender
Because Galaxy Quest. In all seriousness, I had grown accustomed to instant answers, instant solutions. In coding, finding the best answer is not always the instant one. Early on, I would scan through documentation to see if I could glimpse the answer. More often than not, this led to me glossing over the understanding some piece of documentation was providing.
Instead, don’t give up. Take the time to dig into the documentation.
Come What May
Another challenge is around the corner tomorrow. I am a bit apprehensive, I’m ready for it. Irregardless of the outcomes, I’d say the past six weeks have really been a life changing experience.
