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<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/11/27/falling/">Falling</a></h1>
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<time datetime="2013-11-27T08:30:00-05:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Nov 27<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
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<div class="entry-content"><p>New York can be tough on a girl. There are a lot of stairs in this city. “Stairs?” you say? Well, for a life long clutz they can pose a challenge, especially when coupled with rain, and a distaste for handrails and other frequently touched objects.Today it finally happened. I fell down the stairs to the subway platform. Oh, and there was a person right behind me. We then had an awkawrd exchange, you know the kind. Where you try to make the person feel better about completing wiping out and you hand them their wallet. Anyway, perhaps a nice strong blog post can redeem the morning.</p>
<p>The New York Times Hackathon was a really great experience. It gave me more insight into this community, I got to work on a cool project, and oh did I mention that one of the Fullstack teams walked away with “People’s Choice Award”? We can hack and we have personality—ha. The New York Times were gracious hosts, and I enjoyed seeing all the creative projects that people came up with using the different APIs. There were a lot to choose from, and I found myself wanting to use them all. But part of the code process is refining, steering the course, and not getting side tracked. Which for me, meant building out a heat map for my news application. I used the number of returns on the Article API within a certain time range for the data. Nimit and I then normalized those numbers against each other using the maximum value and a log function (fancy fancy!) to determine the different levels. From there it was some simple JavaScript to assign the colors based on the level. It was the best feeling to see those colors show up (specifically, shades of blue).</p>
<p>This week Julian and I started working on the Fullstack Hiring application. Basically we are putting a Backbone application on top of what Nimit and David have built, and also practicing with some interactive web design so that it can be used on mobile during Demo Day. I had been dabbling in Backbone before this, but this project has definitely been helpful in bringing it all together. I’m also getting to play around with some mobile styling so that’s been really fun too. Fun and frustrating—as it goes with CSS. And there’s nothing like building something that you know is going to be used. I write better code and I’m more excited about the project.</p>
<p>Resumes, project finalization, and interview prep is underway. It’s stressful, but exciting too. Thanksgiving will be a nice middle of the week break, but I think most of us plan on coming in on Friday to keep cranking away with each other. Can’t keep us away from the code for too long.</p>
<p>“For we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Fellowship of the Ring</em> (this may be my favorite one yet!)</p>
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<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/11/15/hack-on/">Hack On</a></h1>
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<time datetime="2013-11-15T08:44:00-05:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Nov 15<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
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<div class="entry-content"><p>“This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Hobbit</em></p>
<p>Capstones are underway. Sticky notes are moving. Ah, the sound of typing in the air. It’s been a really fun week, and I’ve enjoyed the change in pace. These two day sprints put a little bit of the pressure on, and it is once again confirmed that I thrive on structure with a dash of anxiety. It also plays into my strength as an “achiever.” But, of course, there’s always time for the occasional ping pong break.</p>
<p>Tomorrow is the New York Times hackathon. We’ve been brainstorming ideas and trying to come up with some good hacks. There are a lot of sponsors with some really cool APIs and the possibilities are endless. I’m excited to see what some of the other teams come up with. We might also incorporate some of the stuff that I’ve been working on this week with my map application. Who knows? I’m up for whatever and I’m sure we will come up with something fun and interesting. And possible. I think I’m more nervous about being in a new environment and presenting an idea in front of people who know A LOT about technology. But that’s the name of the game. Time to break out those public speaking skills again.</p>
<p>On Wednesday Imon and I attended a Women in Tech event through ISPossible. I think both of us forgot that there were non-engineering roles in companies; we’ve been in the code bubble for awhile now. A lot of the questions were general about being a woman in tech, and Imon and I found ourselves wanting to know more about the technology their companies were using. That was a good feeling. We definitely walked away with some good snippets, but the event started late and I found myself thinking “I could be coding right now.” That was the best feeling—to wish you had more time at your computer. All I want to do now is learn to write more code, delve deeper into my knowledge, and learn more languages. It’s exciting but there’s not enough time to do everything I want to!</p>
<p>This afternoon we will be demoing our capstone projects as they stand now. That’s a little frightening at the moment, especially since there are a couple of bugs I need to work out, and it is NOT pretty. But the basic functionality is there. Working on the map project has been really fun and gratifying, but it’s definitely developing as I go. It feels very fluid, and so far I like what it’s turning into. Next week I want to round it out and maybe add a timeline feature. But I definitely want to work on another project. I want to build something with more traditional users and a more robust back end. I think that would be great practice and also help me nail done some skills that haven’t been exercised as much since we started front-end development.</p>
<p>Stay tuned this weekend for an update on the Hackathon.</p>
<p>“For victory is victory, however small, nor is its worth only from what follows from it.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Children of Húrin</em></p>
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<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/11/12/ive-got-the-eye-of-the-tiger/">I’ve Got the Eye of the Tiger</a></h1>
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<time datetime="2013-11-12T19:49:00-05:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Nov 12<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
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<div class="entry-content"><p>The last third of Fullstack is underway. The beginning of this week saw our capstone projects launch, a new project management system(read: public shame if your sticky notes don’t move up the window and they all stay in back log. Nothing like some accoutanbility systems). But really, these two day sprints are sprints, and they keep me on track. I respond well to structure it seems. And peer pressure.</p>
<p>It’s been fun having the freedom to work on our own projects, struggle a little bit through our own problems, and also help guide each other through issues that come up. Especially since we aren’t all struggling through the same bug. We get to ask questions, suggest features, and be eachother’s cheerleaders. I know it’s cheesey, but I like that stuff. I love watching my friends here put out amazing code and applitions. See <a href="http://foodoo.io">foodoo</a> to see what I mean. It’s only going to get better, and promise me, you want to be an early user. All in all, the capstones have been really fun so far. It really gives me a taste of what it’s going to be like building out in the real world. And it feels good!</p>
<p>Nimit and David gave us a Monay morning pep talk. It was inspiring. If Fullstack doesn’t work out, they may just have a spot on the motivational speaking circuit. The phrase that stuck with me is that these last four weeks are a “high impact time”. We may have faltered in the beginning, we may have started with a strong stride, but regardless these are the four weeks that can make or break us. We have the opportunity to really dig into some of the subject matter we’ve already learned, refine and hone our skills, and also explore some new technology to make us even more competitive. We aren’t struggling (as much) with the basics and that means that this is only going to get more fun—and complex. With the launch of the capstones I can already feel the creative and coder juices flowing. It’s motivating and energizing and makes me grind into the code for hours. What a feeling. And when you fix that bug, get that map to show up, or write a function that passes a test—-you can hear those angels singing Hallelujah. Or maybe you do a little fist pump.</p>
<p>OH. And I got a cronut. I felt like I needed to start this week off right. For all of you who are wondering, it was delicious, divine, and devoured. It was also the first snow of the season while I waited in line, so that alone shows you the dedication(who needs toes anyway?). It was worth every shiver and every breath of visible air. And all the smiles on everyone’s faces at Fullstack as they took a bite and gave me a thumbs up. I’ll probably go back once more for the December flavor.</p>
<p>“No half-heartedness and no worldly fear must turn us aside from following the light unflinchingly.” J.R.R. Tolkien</p>
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<article>
<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/11/08/its-the-final-countdown/">Iron Sharpens Iron</a></h1>
<p class="meta">
<time datetime="2013-11-08T09:08:00-05:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Nov 8<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
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<div class="entry-content"><p>I’m starting to lose track of the weeks. And sometimes the day. With daylight savings time, I’ve lost track of the hours on occassion too. I always think it’s gloomy and gray outside because it’s so dark, but then I go on the roof and look up, and it’s blue skies for days. We just get caught in the shadows of all the tall office buildings. Ah, New York.</p>
<p>This week has been a “bring it all together” kinda week. We have been sharpening our JavaScript chops, modifying the DOM with jQuery, oh and we introduced Backbone.js. It’s been a good week though. I’ve started to feel the pieces come together. I’m enjoying JavaScript (still confused about the colons though; working on it) and I enjoy writing code in it. And if you need someone to explain protypical inheritance, I got you. Definitely an improvement about how I was feeling about it from last week. It’s fun, and I’m figuring it out. I’m in a good place, friends. But man, am I tired. There is so much to learn and as I learn more there becomes even more opportunity to learn. It’s a big computer world out there.</p>
<p>BackBone is still coming together. I’m still not tracking with everything it does. The concept is interesting, but I think learning the syntax and how it all links up is going to take me more time. But I will. Of that, I am confident.</p>
<p>This Friday also marks our first round of mock interviews. There’s “no pressure” but I definitely don’t want to completely flop. I have learned, I have! Ha— but it’ll be good. Just another thing to focus on getting better at and continuing to grow and develop as a developer.</p>
<p>Oh my gosh. I haven’t even talked about our speakers. So Monday we had the founder of Beeminder, Daniel Reeves. I love his business model and idea. I think it’s genius. Go checkout Beeminder if you have a goal that you are having trouble achieving. Then on Tuesday we had Emily Stolfo from MongoDB. The fact that they store objects in JSON-like objects. And documents and collections… WOW. I was geeking out over a database. I have arrived. I want to try to use it for one of my projects before Fullstack. Thanks, Emily, for the inspiration!</p>
<p>And we will be finishing off with Stacksgiving tomorrow. Feeling very thankful that I’m doing something exciting and challenging at this point in my life. And I love some good pumpkin pie.</p>
<p>“You take after Bilbo,‘ said Gandalf. ‘There is more about you than meets the eye, as I said of him long ago.’ Frodo wondered if the remark meant more than it said”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring</p>
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<article>
<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/11/01/geeking-out/">They Didn’t Build Rome in a Day</a></h1>
<p class="meta">
<time datetime="2013-11-01T09:31:00-04:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Nov 1<span>st</span>, 2013</time>
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</header>
<div class="entry-content"><p>“I wish life was not so short,‘ he thought. ‘Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien</p>
<p>It’s a rainy morning in New York City. Today is the first day I didn’t walk to Fullstack. It was raining and hot. I’m used to that. But it’s the first day of November and it shouldn’t be this warm so I decided to treat myself to a subway ride.</p>
<p>This week has been a tough one at Fullstack, as noted in my earlier blog post this week. We worked on a trip planner project which involved putting all the pieces together (rails, JavaScript, JQuery, and finally, AJAX). Talk about a lot of moving pieces. This afternoon will be spent in review, doing a project to make sure all of these concepts are nailed down before I move onto Backbone. It’s hard because the frontend aspects of development don’t feel as natural, but it’s so important to being a Fullstack developer. User experience is so heavily dependent on all of this, and as we know, users are fickle. You have to grab and hold their attention. So I’m going to keep at it until I love it and I can write jQuery, JavaScript, and AJAX in my sleep. And then checkout some Backbone. And then some Ember or Angular.</p>
<p>Yesterday David spent a good 40 minutes with Robert and I debugging our Trip Planner project. Thanks, David. Watching you at the keyboard for that long inspired me—I’m going to be practicing some shortcuts this weekend. Afterwards we somehow got on the topic of <em>Game of Thrones</em>. Which led to a conversation about the character development, plot theories floating around on the web, and George Martin’s refusal to allow anyone else to write the books should he not be able to finish them. Yes, I’ve surprisingly read all five. Or maybe I just want that to be surprising. Then we turned to other good reads out there, and needless to say my “Must Read” list expanded pretty quickly (<em>Cryptonomicon</em> and <em>Masters of Doom</em> were additions). I was completely “geeking out” talking about all these books. Mom, I blame you. Growing up reading was always a priority and books were one thing that we knew our Mom could never say no to. As a result, I’ve realized that I’ll need to incorporate a significant portion of my disposable income to a book allowance (perhaps I’ll get an Oyster account, although I love a good paperback). All this to say, I realized that I have a terrible system for curating my “to-read” list.</p>
<p>We always talk about how the best applications, or at least the ones that are the most fun to build, are the ones we build because they solve our own problems. Or you build something because you are passionate about it. Well, I realized that maybe keeping a list on my iphone wasn’t exactly the best idea. And I also recognized that I love to read. Why not build something around that passion? So I don’t know if this will evolve into a capstone project or if this is just something for fun, but I’m going to build an application to help me keep track of my list. Maybe I’ll suck in some fellow reading enthusiasts to test it out for me as well (I’m looking at you, Anna and Abbey). We are going to be talking about our ideas more in our one-on-ones so hopefully there will be some exciting news to follow next week.</p>
<p>“Mercy!“ cried Gandalf. “If the giving of knowledge is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more should you like to know?”</p>
<p>“The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-Earth and Over-heave and of the Sundering Seas,” laughed Pippin. “Of course! What less?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Two Towers</em></p>
</div>
</article>
<article>
<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/10/28/fsdfs/">JavaScript, JQuery, Rails, OH MY</a></h1>
<p class="meta">
<time datetime="2013-10-28T19:40:00-04:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Oct 28<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
</p>
</header>
<div class="entry-content"><p>Sometimes Mondays are tough.</p>
<p>Okay friends, I said that I would start blogging more so that not <em>every single</em> post was a novel. As much as I know you secretly look forward to them on Fridays. The weekend can’t start without that e-mail now can it? I digress.</p>
<p>Today consisted of a heavy morning. We went over two projects from last week. It was good and helpful and necessary. But I had that familiar feeling of “What is happening to me?” Ha- just getting rocked by a new language. Oh the old, familiar feeling. JavaScript just feels so foreign and messy. I know it can do all these great things, but I have this “ugh” gut reaction to it. But then again, maybe I will be made into a lover of JS. Stranger things have happened. AND I did happen to win lunch by asking the “obvious question” about prototypes today. So maybe it’s a sign. JavaScript is bearing good fruit so far. So after going over Test First and our Game of Life projects we broke for lunch and resumed on the topic of…</p>
<p>JQUERY. jQuery y’all. Well, this wasn’t as terrible as I anticiapted because Nimit had sent out some prep work for the week, <em>which I did</em>. And it really did help a ton. It’s so much better when you have a reference for these things before diving in. We started a new project for today and tomorrow with a new partner (I managed to keep my seat that I’ve sat in almost all of Fullstack—Thanks Robert and Wenson, such gentlemen). This project brings it all together. When we all switched back to Ruby there was a collective “uhhh” moment. It’s a muscle. Ya gotta use it. So we were back in Ruby. And switching to HTML. And then back to JavaScript. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it we’re so fast. Not really, but it’s really cool to have a view of what the bigger picture looks like. Rails, Ruby, I missed you. Being back is like putting on that old familiar t-shirt. I’m excited to do more of this project; we will definitely run into speed bumps, but we have all the tools. Now it’s just going to be a matter of honing and getting more confident and being awesome. There, I said it. We are on the path to greatness.</p>
<p>On a side note, I tried again to make reservations for some cronuts. I, yet again, have failed. I forgot because we were in a review and then it was TOO LATE. Soon I think I’m going to have to give up on the dream of making a reservaton and put on my big girl jacket and wait in line. In the cold. For a pastry? Questioning my bold (and highly public) statements about this coveted delicacy. But you know what? I said I was going to do it and I told the whole wide world (web) about it. Which means you’ll see me standing in that line soon.</p>
<p>Happy Monday, Y’all.</p>
<p>“Maybe the paths that you each shall tread are already laid before your feet though you do not see them”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Fellowship of the Ring</em></p>
</div>
</article>
<article>
<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/10/25/week-6/">Woah, We’re Halfway There</a></h1>
<p class="meta">
<time datetime="2013-10-25T09:09:00-04:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Oct 25<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
</p>
</header>
<div class="entry-content"><h2>Woah, We’re Living on a Prayer.</h2>
<p>The halfway marker has come and gone. And I know every week I’m all “Where has the time gone?” Like I don’t expect the days to change or something, but still. It really does fly by each week! I knew it would be like this when I decided to do Fullstack, but I didn’t think I would feel this pressed for time. I need another day or two tacked onto each week to recover, review, and build something new. There truly are not enough hours in the day.</p>
<p>This week we started JavaScript. Not to be confused with Java… Amateurs. Just kidding. Now, I’m turning into a code elitist. Worst things could happen? Probably a little premature at this point in my career. So, I was a little nervous to start JS. Maybe more than a little. In the preterm work I was so relieved when I got through that section. Alas, my first intuition was right. JS is a kind of a love hate relationship. On one hand, it’s a pain. It does something and I’m all “WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?” But then you can build all these really cool things that people love to use and do fancy things and make you feel like a bad ass. I haven’t quite experienced that part of JS yet (here’s to trusting that will come in time). So the jury is still out on JavaScript. One thing I will say is that it has made me love Ruby all the more. Ruby, I pine for our days of def end and each loops… I’ll be returning to you soon.</p>
<p>It’s crazy to think about the change that has happened in the last 6 weeks. The first day of class I was afraid of the terminal. What if I mess something up and break my computer forever? What if I delete all my files? What if what if what if? Now we all joke about doing that because we all want an excuse to buy new Macbook (did you hear about the battery life— oh I went green with envy!). Now I’m installing gems and deleting things and playing with reckless abandon. Maybe too much. Now the attitude is “Eh, whatever. Throw it into the command line. If we break it we’ll figure it out.” Talk about a pendulum swing. On a different note, I’ve finally made the transition to using two monitors. I resisted for so long. But as I’ve delved more into this world, man, those two monitors are pretty sweet. And then there are the keyboard shortcuts, alfred, flux, trello, sublime… Oh the list goes on. We might just make a techie out of me yet…</p>
<p>As this is the halfway mark, it only makes sense to spend some time looking forward. There’s a lot that I’m excited about. I’m starting to enjoy development more, savoring the ‘Aha’ moments and relishing in a web page that doesn’t yield any errors (pun intended). I have more intuition with the next step, and sometimes it’s a matter of talking through the logic so that I can formulate a plan. The more I code the more I realize that it’s really helpful to start out with the big picture. What do you want the application to do? What are the smaller actions/operations you want it to perform in order to make the complete package? What is the first thing you need to build to be able to execute the “main functions?” And then just working through the logic of that individual function or method. And then occasionally zoom back out to make sure you are moving in the right direction. I don’t know if this is right, or if this is what you are supposed to do. But for me it works, and it makes it a matter of plugging in the right pieces.</p>
<p>I’m really excited to start working on some of my own stuff. Every week I say that I’m going to try and build something new over the weekend, and I never get around to it. My body crashes, I’m trying to review from the previous week, and prepare for the new material. But now we have covered everything to make a “fullstack” website, so I can do it all. It’s almost time (is time?) to go for it. And I like it. The hunger is there. What I really am working towards is being able to say “I want to learn that” and be able to do some reading, some tinkering, and figure it out. I’m definitely not there yet, but guides and documentation are actually helpful. So that’s a jump!</p>
<p>As part of the CTO program we talked about Lean Startups this week. This philosphy was championed by Eric Ries. It was interesting and we had a lot of really great discussion about getting products out there. More than anything it made me excited to work in a dynamic environemnt and try to build something. This is one of the advantages of being a developer. The opportunity to build something from the ground up is there, you can work for an established company, or if you think you have a great idea you can pursue that too. We talked a lot about how the technology challenges are a small part of being a successful business. It’s more about meeting a market need at the right time with the right balance of price, product, and innovation. All this talk about working and companies and code made me so excited to get out there and do it.Just gotta get this Javascript under control.</p>
<p>As a side project I’ve been reading <em>Getting More, How to Negotiate to Achieve your Goals in the Real World</em> by Stuart Diamond. Nimit recommended it—he had taken Diamond’s class during his time at Wharton. So far it’s pretty good, it’s about different techniques you can use to negotiate and achieve your goals, even in the day to day interactions. Good recommendation on Nimit’s part.</p>
<p>Goals for Saturday/Sunday: Read <em>Eloquent Javascript</em>, Spruce up this blog—it needs some personality, no? Do some more reading on d3.js in preparation for the mini map project. And maybe spend a couple of hours outside in this beautiful weather tomorrow.</p>
<p>Keeping in line with tradition…</p>
<p>“Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Hobbit</em> (on switching languages…)</p>
<p>“For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.” J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Fellowship of the Ring</em> (on <em>learning</em> new languages…)</p>
</div>
</article>
<article>
<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/10/20/these-are-the-days/">These Are the Days</a></h1>
<p class="meta">
<time datetime="2013-10-20T16:35:00-04:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Oct 20<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
</p>
</header>
<div class="entry-content"><p>Another weekend has (almost) come and gone, and in line with my goal to blog more, I decided a little afternoon post was in order.</p>
<p>Friday at Fullstack (post Friday blogging) was a change of pace for all of us. That may be an understatement actually. It was more like we have all been running a marathon and all the sudden we are in row boat in the middle of a lake. In preparation for us starting HTML and CSS we had an afternoon art lesson. Oh yes, you were are not mistaken. Art. Did I mentionwe are a bunch of budding techies? We stepped away from our computers for like 5 waking hours. Records, people. Records.</p>
<p>Nimit’s wife was our lovely instructor. She walked us through some of the basics first. Basics such as lighting and shading, and even a little topography. Needless to say, most of us needed some extra help and guidance. Then we moved onto the big dawg—painting. At Fullstack we don’t wait to dive in and go for it. Nope, go big or go home. Always. We first made a grid and sketched our picture in. Then we just went for it with the paint. It was relaxing and we put on some music and I think for the most part we all enjoyed it. Except Julian, who I was sitting alongside. He said that this art was “putting him a bad place.” He makes up for his lack of artistic talent in other ways. Anyway, I enjoyed the change of venue and schedule. I’m also so tired on Friday afternoons, and this was a great way to stretch the mind and try something new without any pressure. Then several of us capped off the night with dinner in Chinatown—a first for me. Two words, y’all: soup dumplings.</p>
<p>When I came into Fullstack yesterday and looked at all of our “works of art” on the table, I blurted out “These are really bad.” Alas, we don’t have to paint by hand, and soon we will be making beautiful works of art with code. After spending some time at Fullstack yesterday reviewing Rails—all that prework makes a WHOLE lot more sense with some context—and watching the Dawgs lose (to Vandy of all schools—I can’t even…), I headed over to the mobile payments hackathon. Some fellow Fullstackers had been there all day and were going to present their project at 6. They did a wonderful job, and I would say they presented one of the more articulate and organized presentations. They didn’t place, but hey— we’ve only been doing this for five weeks. So I say rock on. They were great. Then the night ended with some much needed college football. How about that FSU/Clemson game?</p>
<p>Sundays are for rest. Or at least that’s what I’ve tried to make them. I feel like it’s important to gear up for the week and start Mondays off strong. Today I worked out (briefly), read this morning and enjoyed a cup of joe, and took a nap. I then headed to Washington Square Park to enjoy this AMAZING fall weather. There’s a man who rolls his piano there and plays for free everyday. Apparently he’s some old concert pianoist who quit and decided he’d rather play in the park. I don’t mind—only in New York. I brought a book and a warm jacket and enjoyed alternately reading and people watching. Now I’m back at home blogging. Resting and enjoying a quiet afternoon before church and one more social gathering before we all dive back into the business.</p>
<p>It’s funny because not only am I learning to code, but I’m learning New York. It’s a hard balance—because I want to get as much of each while I can. Because I’m not guaranteed time here I want to enjoy the city, but I also want to learn as much as I can and put in as much time as I can coding so that I’m prepared when this is all over. But New York has been kind to me so far aside from some choice incidents and the always present stench. Luckily this fall weather is to die for and helps with the questionable aromas arising from trashbags and other miscelaneous sidewalk items. I wonder when puffer jacket weather will start. Home is where the heart is right? (I’m thinking of you Chickfila and Lucy Bear—my dog). It’s exciting to be here. I never anticipated this is where I would be, but I’m loving it. And I feel like even better things are in store.</p>
<p>Sunday Funday means that you get two J.R.R. Tolkien quotes…</p>
<p>“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Hobbit</em></p>
<p>“Yes, I am here. And you are lucky to be here too after all the absurd things you’ve done since you left home.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, <em>The Fellowship of the Ring</em></p>
</div>
</article>
<article>
<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/10/17/picking-up-steam/">Picking Up Steam</a></h1>
<p class="meta">
<time datetime="2013-10-17T17:45:00-04:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Oct 17<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
</p>
</header>
<div class="entry-content"><h2>Rails on Rails</h2>
<p>This week we started to build our first big Rails project. To be honest, I was completely nervous and freaked out about starting a group project on Rails. I felt like we had barely been exposed to the framework by working in it on StackWorld. But as is usually the case, I think David and Nimit were right to throw us into a big group project this soon. I think I have a natural tendency to want to sort it all out before I actually do anything, and sometimes the most effective way to learn is to just do it—break some things (a lot of things), and then learn how to fix them.</p>
<p>My group was one of the groups with four members. In some ways, I think this gave us an advantage. Four minds working on a problem, three other people to ask questions when something goes wrong. But it also meant we had to be a little more organized and had to make sure that we were keeping track of everyone’s work. Our group was really into the SCRUM model and using Trello. Actually, we loved <a href="https://trello.com/">Trello</a>. We loved scrumming. We held scrum meetings two or three times a day (depending on the issues that arise and the work flow). I honestly don’t know how other groups kept track of their project without it. Y’all are crazy. Trello really allowed us to see our progress and also helped us define our goals around our project more clearly. There wasn’t wasted effort because we knew the tasks that had to be completed. I think I’ll continue to use Trello for future group projects and even for projects that I’m working on independently. I love the over view that it gives you, and the ability to see the longer term goals as well as the details. Kudos and thanks to the people of Trello.</p>
<p>Back to Rails. What’s neat about Rails is basically everything. There are a ton of built in conventions and helper methods defined for you. It anticipates what you will want and need and it practically hands you a good bit of this on a platter. But things aren’t all ruby and roses in Rails. Rails conventions are great. Until you break them. Accidentally. Or you name something with or without the desired ’s’. Note to all: grammar IS important. Typos will cause death by error messages. Don’t be fooled, that comma matters. You may spend an hour deciphering an error message and trying all different types of syntax for a route and come to find out that you were missing a comma. Not that that’s ever happened to me… But really, as you dig in more to the set up it all starts to make more sense. I’m definitely not all there yet, but it’s getting more natural. I trust my intuition more, and I’m not as scared to break something. If I do, that’s okay. I just won’t push it up. Or I’ll do a stash. Or I’ll git reset —hard. I may have over utilized that tool in the beginning of our project haha. Git is a whole other story. But it is magic as well and I love it.</p>
<p>On a more personal level, this week has definitely been a tipping point. I think learning any new skill is a challenge and can bring about frustrations and doubts. And I think I let that get in my head for awhile. And the crazy thing was that I knew it was happening. I knew that I was letting self doubt and a lack of confidence affect my work and learning curve. I think this week I may have overcome that, or at least started that process. Coding became WAY more fun as I started to trust my instincts more, and started to solve some problems on my own. It became more like a puzzle and I was the one with the pieces, and I just had to figure out how to put them together. Previously, it was more like I had the puzzle and I couldn’t figure out a way to open to box. Haha Or something along those lines. About halfway through our project Dave was over helping “The Dream Team” with a problem. Shout out to the other half of the dream team, <a href="www.wensontsai.github.io">Wenson</a>. If you want to be inspired and laugh and gain some wisdom click that link. Anyway, Dave noted that “I always have the right intuition but I hesitate.” I may have paraphrased that slightly, but the message is the same. So this weekend I’m going to try to build a mini app, let myself make some mistakes, and trust myself to figure them out. Or give it the good old college try. I’m really excited about continuing along this journey and becoming an even better developer.</p>
<p>Goals
1. Build a mini app on Rails this weekend
2. Blog at least once a week besides Fridays
3. Go on a walk or run during lunch or after class at least twice a week now that we have lockers at Fullstack (upgrades, y’all. upgrades)</p>
<p>In the spirit of our J.R.R. Tolkien Quote Fridays…</p>
<p>“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.” <em>The Lord of the Rings</em></p>
</div>
</article>
<article>
<header>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/blog/2013/10/12/git-it/">Git It, Girl</a></h1>
<p class="meta">
<time datetime="2013-10-12T11:51:00-04:00" pubdate data-updated="true">Oct 12<span>th</span>, 2013</time>
</p>
</header>
<div class="entry-content"><p>As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been thinking a lot about “women in tech”. I can account for this for several reasons. The first being the obvious imbalance in the numbers. Imon and I hold down the female fort in our cohort, now with back up from Charlotte. We are constantly outnumebred and are also two of the younger members of the class. All that’s fine, but it’s definitely makes for a different culture (think GTA and WofWC over J.Crew and The Kardashians). And then there are those outside of the classroom. Whenever I tell someone what I’m doing in New York, they never seem to believe me on the first go round. I get some variation of “Coding? Like for computers?” Yes, “coding for computers.” I always wonder what “other coding” activity they are thinking of when I get this question. This is typically followed up by a “what was your major” and further shock when they learn that is unrelated to anything STEM. However, my male counterparts have yet to mention any similar encounters. Maybe they are just being mum on the matter. Or maybe no one is surprised that they want to learn how to code.</p>
<p>In a way, I don’t mind being a novelty, and I don’t mind shattering people’s expectations. I’m certainly not the first female that has decided to be a developer, and I sure won’t be the last. To me, what’s important is the work I produce. I don’t want to be a “girl in tech”; I want to be a great developer who happens to lack a Y chromosome. What’s interesting is seeing this paradigm change as I make this life change. I’m excited to see more awesome leaders and developers in the field who happen to be women.</p>
<p>And yet, while there is change in the air, the glaring imbalance is still there. Recently Twitter filed for IPO with an all male board, all male investors, and all male executive officers (except for one, who has been on the job for 5 weeks and is general counsel, so she hardly counts as a technical woman executive). To read more about it, check out this article by the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/technology/as-tech-start-ups-surge-ahead-women-seem-to-be-left-behind.html?_r=0">New York Times</a>. Did I mention that half of Twitter’s users are women? Sometimes it’s moments like these when you grasp the reality of the imbalance. In a way, it puts more pressure on you to perform—to not fit the stereotype and to build things that kick ass. Everyone wants that, but I think there’s an extra pressure (pressure from themselves) there for women to be exceed expectations.</p>
<p>Which brings me to Sheryl Sandberg. I’m sure you’ve probably heard of her, the Facebook exec who has been making BIG waves with her book <em>Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead</em>. I never paid much attention to her, and I didn’t really buy into the hype around her message. And then I saw her Ted Talk from 2010. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Ted Talks? I do. So I watched her Ted Talk, and she drew me in. She’s articulate, funny, and easy to follow. Needless to say, <em>Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead</em> has now made it onto my Christmas time reading list (ah, the luxury that awaits). She talked about several things, but the main one that stuck with me was this:</p>
<p><strong>Sit at the table.</strong> She told a story about how two women accompanied an executive to a meeting, and they declined to sit at the table and instead sat in two chairs against the wall. These were not lowly assistants—they were managers and major players in their company. And they declined to sit at the table. Sometimes I can feel that tendency in myself—the desire to withdrawal, to sit back, to not make a waves. I don’t know if this is partly my Southern upbringing (wouldn’t want to offend anyone, now would we?), my natural introvertness and go with the flow personality, or perhaps, a tinge of intimidation and fear of being judged for not saying the perfect thing. So whether it’s code, an outing with my fellow developer friends, or just being honest about how I feel— I’m going to sit at the table.</p>
<p>I had someone tell me recently that I “could be a lady or be an equal in New York.” Well you know what? I don’t buy that. I think I can be a lady, an equal, and an excellent developer.</p>
<p>And to sum it all up…</p>
<p>“How wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself?” Anais Nin.</p>
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