Side Projects are Hard.

This summer has been a fast paced one where I jammed multiple time consuming goals into 2 months. I took up a “Build To Learn Project in the Chingu Cohort Ecosystem to push the boundaries of my basic web development skills as well as picking up a part time job, learning how to drive, and reading 5 novels. Going in, I believed that these goals on top of my school work would be challenging, but at the same time completely controllable. I began the web development project with two other cohort participants and jumped right into the project. But as I soon learned, keeping momentum on a project with no vital deadlines or end standards is difficult, and takes a LOT of discipline. I struggled to keep on contributing to the project regularly and eventually had a period of pure inactivity. But after coming back from that I have a newfound maturity towards the responsibility I have in finishing what I have started. A lot of people on the path of learning web development have a habit of not finishing the things they have started for one reason or another, but I now believe in focusing on proficiency and on the learning aspect during the work rather than on my mental image of a perfect project. As the summer is winding down, I am happy to report that I have reached all of my summer goals successfully! I learned this summer that a little bit of grit and self discipline can go a long way.
This Week, I will be focusing on tying up loose ends on my side project, reviewing C++ to prepare for the fall, and learning React.js to prepare for my next project(s). Thanks for reading!