DEV Community: Nicole A. Moore

Nevertheless, Angelfirenze Coded in 2022

Nicole A. Moore — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 17:47:23 +0000

My biggest technical goals are…

I want to graduate from my dream undergraduate school, the University of Michigan, and then graduate from my absolute dream school, The University of Michigan Medical School with degrees in Computer Science and Forensic Pathology.

My biggest technical achievements are…

1) Getting out of bed and typing code at a desk, while in a lot of pain.

2) Learning Git and writing HTML/CSS from memory.

I pledge to break the bias in tech by…

Not assuming that since I'm black (mixed ancestry, really), I won't get anywhere in tech because I'm not a stereotypical nerdy white man. Not assuming that since I'm autistic, epileptic, and other neurodiverse in other ways, when people find out, I will always be thrown in the trash can as a possible candidate.

Throughout my career (as a software developer, in tech, etc), I have overcome…

I don't know if learning without being paid counts as a career, but I'm in my ninth year of programming anything at all, so I'll take it. I wish I'd stuck with learning Ruby at the very start of my Team Treehouse career, but learning (continuing, really) HTML/CSS consciously instead of writing on Livejournal and not knowing I was writing stylesheets or an entire page of HTML/CSS for my thefanlisting.org memberships (a twelve hour focus session that I've been avoiding rewriting ever since).

Going to programming events with my sister while she was in my life and facilitated those things because she knows how to network and I simply don't.

She has a lot of social contacts and is an extrovert, but she also has issues that she's not addressing and whether it's 'her business' or not, she's affecting me every day with her choices. Unconsciously, I am that stereotypical twin, I suppose, although I wouldn't want to call being a twin a stereotype it fits because I honestly DO experience her feelings if I'm in her vicinity to the point where I have consciously worried about why I'm so upset. She apparently does not experience this.

Advocating for myself looks like…

Speaking up on Discord when I got lambasted in a server for leaving my group in a lurch one night when I in fact had a seizure and lost consciousness until the next day. I was treated like crap to the point where a new member of the server actually messaged me to tell me that they couldn't believe I was being treated that way and how ableist everyone was being when I TOLD them I had a seizure.

I'm still personally astonished that I had to send the mod a Wikipedia link on seizures because he actually said to me that if I think I'm going to have a seizure that day, to let everyone know so they can plan accordingly. I was completely floored at that level of ignorance -- like, wow, this guy actually thinks seizures are so kind as to give me a little tap and request to speak to me privately in the morning? Seriously? I'm still floored, actually.

This year was actually a lot harder because I don't know what's happening to me right now, but it's been so debilitating that I spend a lot of time in bed. It's made me think of situations in the past where I've experienced excruciating pain that doesn't have a blatantly obvious cause. I want to set up a wireless keyboard in my bedroom to try to circumvent these problems, but I unfortunately have to just wait until I can buy a VGA/HDMI adapter. I have it priced.

I pledge to support women, non-binary folks, and other minorities in tech by…

Continuing to be one? I was told that I advocate for myself very well, so I can do that for others by focusing on what they need and what resources I can use to help them achieve goals with tools I might know about that they might not.

I’m excited about…

Finally feeling qualified to participate in #Hacktoberfest2022 and finally getting involved with #22PullRequests2022 on time, so I can actually submit twenty-two pull requests by Christmas. I know I need to focus on Linux and Docker, so I can work with Appwrite and other projects.

When I discussed my Imposter Syndrome on the Appwrite Discord server, I was told that it was because I wanted to learn as much as possible and that, unconsciously, I know a lot and can do it, but I always want to improve myself. That was very comforting and I'd like to pass along that sort of vibe and help others feeling the same way.

Nevertheless, Angelfirenze Coded...

Nicole A. Moore — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 16:43:02 +0000

So last summer, while battling an extensive tooth abscess, I partook in the #100DaysOfCode challenge through Team Treehouse. As much as I would love to say that it was an endlessly joyful experience, it wasn't, to be honest.

I suffer deeply from Imposter Syndrome and I believe that's what made this so difficult for me. I tried to get out of my own way, as Tyrese Gibson wrote, but it was intensely difficult at times because my brain was trying to figure out what to do first, when.

Every time I wandered away from my learning style (typing along with the code shown in the video), I immediately ran into difficulties and a lack of motivation.

Being socially isolated, in general, for a very long time didn't exactly help -- when I post on Facebook, no one really responds. Those that do are a scant amount of relatives. As thankful as I am to have a large family, it doesn't really help an autistic person like myself if a branch of it views you as being too weird and many other things.

In the end, it took losing my favorite aunt to sepsis to spur me on to finally cross that #100DaysOfCode threshold. I really did feel like devoting my finish line banner to her, both on Facebook and Twitter.

Hacktoberfest2020 was extremely difficult because, right at that moment, I became employed in an extremely taxing job at my local major grocery store that took such a huge toll on my body that I really feel like I injured myself. So when I would get off work at eleven and had to get a ride home -- even though this was a part-time job -- there was absolutely no energy left in me to even attempt #Hacktoberfest2020. I prioritized sleeping, resting, eating, and doing yoga to try to cope with said utter depletion.

On the last day, I finally busted out some additions to people's projects because all month long, resources like RaiseDevs:

A site I came across, with the host of the videos I was watching on Twitch. The developer who specifically told me that issues and other, non-pull request-related actions would be accepted because WOW, were the rules changed to the point where I was completely perplexed and rather dejected because I never feel like I've learned enough. In the end, I didn't qualify because while I made the contributions, they weren't counted because the accounts I was trying to help didn't seem to be tracking anything going on in a timely fashion.

'Whatever', I told myself, 'I tried BLOODY HARD and I'm going to be fine with not getting swag this year because I had a situation that actually injured me', as I later discovered. I'm satisfied with my efforts even without the yearly t-shirt.

I'm on Social Security Disability, so learning programming from sites that I love, such as Team Treehouse, is not always an option, though they were willing to extend my account so I could finish. So I guess my entry is about how I do make attempts to continue my programming journey even when I am in intense situations.

So, yes, I guess: nevertheless, I coded.

I completed #100DaysOfCode...

Nicole A. Moore — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 19:16:44 +0000

Earlier this year, I started #100DaysOfCode through Team Treehouse and Github.

I focused on the Web Design course, as I was already involved in it. It took a ton of effort, especially when I felt like I'd lost all of my motivation.

It turned out, though, that I knew myself better than I ever thought.

In a tweet from not two days before, I noted that my problem was likely that I need to type along with the tutorial or it doesn't sink in.

This was during three weeks of mindnumbing torpor, but I finally finished on the seventh of this month and got my badge. I was ecstatic after all that bother about 'why can't I do this?'

I knew I could, I just kept forgetting myself. My next goal for this year is, of course, Hacktoberfest, which I've participated in for three years this October, and 24PullRequests, which I've been participating in since 2013, and preparing for by creating pull requests in my own projects to get out of the lamentable habit of publishing directly to master all the time.

My main concern is that since I didn't know I was learning HTML/CSS when I started using Livejournal in my senior year of high school, I never knew to read the documentation about my particular interests, much less about things I wouldn't learn for roughly eight years.

When I joined Foursquare, I had no idea that apparently, I joined with hackers, the stripes of which I still don't know. I guess I'm a grey hat, though this is mainly because I feel learning the techniques I'm trying to monitor wouldn't mean I would hand them out to horrible businesses like Facebook and HB Gary.

Angelfirenze01 / Web-Design

Projects for Team Treehouse's Web Design track.

Nevertheless, Angelfirenze Coded

Nicole A. Moore — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 17:20:49 +0000

Equality in tech looks like the first episode of Blackish that I ever saw. Before people started ramming all their opinions and biases onto the show and its characters, I remember thinking 'This is something I would have written'.

I can't remember the name of the episode, but the constant infringing upon other people's personal space and the complete obliviousness of the dude trying to befriend Dre was absolutely hilarious.

For me, this sort of thing happens online CONSTANTLY, which is why I bring it up.

I've had to apologize and retract posts on Livejournal and other places in the world so often I can't keep count. I have had to learn what others' boundaries are, which is still an ongoing project, but when I look back to even a couple of years ago, much less high school, the difference is very stark.

Equality in tech is being able to study from both male and female tutors, which is always great. My idea of it isn't having a woman or a man sitting in front of a team of the opposite gender.

To me, it's having samples of every race, religion, cis, trans, gay, straight, asexual, aromantic, romantic, demisexual employees and superiors alike and having them work together in a harmonious workflow that is free from strife most of the time.

I’m an expert at…research and Git, though I'm always finding more to learn, like from @TimBerglund; I'm also an expert at pronouncing medical jargon, which is just fun research into infectious disease (the specialty, not a singular mention of a singular disease) that I did way back in high school, for example.

When I start watching a show like DaVinci's Demons or Mr. Robot, I seem to research it to death and then get kind of annoyed because they can't mention it all, even in passing...which is me kind of paraphrasing [the character] Leo's words about the lack of memories he has of his mother. Anyway.

My advice for allies to support self-identifying women and non-binary folks who code is...start with something simple -- don't go jumping off the deep end because you'll find you've come to a halt rather quickly. Always search for the easiest way forward because you will be glad you got to the harder stuff without all the confusion.

Nevertheless, Angelfirenze Coded

Nicole A. Moore — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:30:59 +0000

I started/continued to code in 2019 because...

I really want to learn as much as I can and use that knowledge to help others in a multitude of ways.

I deserve credit for...

Continuing to persevere despite a cavulcade of situations sending me almost to my breaking point.

I hope to see my school/work/developer/tech community...

Grow beyond the need to wonder how I'm going to make it through the month and to have patience with my job prospects because it's not going to be a open and shut process.