DEV Community: averagealloy

challenge gauntlet #003

averagealloy — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 18:24:32 +0000

The problem

Given a string of space-separated numbers, return the highest and lowest values in that string.

The breakdown

let's look at the examples:

highAndLow("1 2 3 4 5");  // return "5 1"
highAndLow("1 2 -3 4 5"); // return "5 -3"
highAndLow("1 9 3 4 -5"); // return "9 -5"

Alright, so what do we need to return? Two integers, one the maximum and one the minimum. The max will be first followed by the minimum. It also looks like the return statement is a string so let's get down to brass tax!

let's set a variable to an empty string.
let str = "";

Then I would need a variable that takes the numbers in the string and splits them on the spaces putting them into an array.

It would look like this:
let arr = numbers.split(" ");

Then for the return statement what we want to do is spread over the array getting the max value, then add a space and then doing the same for the minimum value. This is good but looking back at the examples we need those values in a string. So before we do that we need to add it to a string. It would look like this:

return str + Math.max(...arr) + " " + Math.min(...arr);

Here is it all together:



function highAndLow(numbers){
let str = "";

let arr = numbers.split(" ");

return str + Math.max(...arr) + " " + Math.min(...arr);
}




#O-Zone

Alright so let's talk about time and space!


Disclaimer: I am new at tackling big O in relation to problems. If There stuff that I need to work on let me know in the comments below!

The first two lines I am not to concerned with but the third, that where it gets interesting. From my understanding (mostly a really smart friend), it would be O(n) for one of the operations. Because there are two of them (operations regarding the array (spread operator))it would be 2 but we would drop the 2 and look at the base. Long story short it will be O(n) or linear time and space. This means as the input grows the amount of computation would grow the same or in lockstep. 


#What to work on

Ok, some progress. Big O has been put into the fold but, the variables have slipped a bit this week but it is about progress, not perfection. 


thanks, Mike

challenge gauntlet #002

averagealloy — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 19:46:33 +0000

The problem

Given a string, create a function that turns all characters into the pound symbol('#') excluding the last four characters. Return the masked string.

Edge cases

So the problem is super vague but the test cases would clear some stuff up so let me put them here!

maskify("4556364607935616") == "############5616"
maskify(     "64607935616") ==      "#######5616"
maskify(               "1") ==                "1"
maskify(                "") ==                 ""

Alright, so what is this telling us? The numbers part we already knew. What we didn't know is what to do when the string length was less than four and now we see that we would just return the string.

This is good but what about letters? What if what you are being asked is a security question? Then you would only look for the last four letters in a string (of letters and spaces).

The Breakdown

Things I want to cover before we get into any real thinking. A return statement, If we have a function it needs to return something and the last thing we want is to be caught forgetting a return statement. So that's on the list I am just going to re-read the problem to see if we need more than one return statement.

----------------------------Reading-------------------------------

Reading the problem over again the answer would be no but looking at the examples in the edge case section would make it a yes. What would they be? Well, one for each case. Ok, so then what would the cases be then? It all hinges on how long the string is. If we can't get the last four characters or if there are less than four characters return the string. The other would be if there are more than four characters return the masked string.

function maskify(cc) {

  if(cc.length > 4){
     // do stuff 
   } else {
    return cc
  }
}

Ok, so we have what we got so far. A function that takes in a string in this case 'cc' and a conditional. But wait weren't we talking about return statements I only see one of them? Where is the other one?

We need to talk about what going on in that conditional before we see a return statement. So at this point in the program, we know for sure that the string that we have been given is larger than four characters. We can break this down even further and say that we need a part that contains that last four digits. We can create a variable that contains a substring that contains those last 4 characters. That would look like this! :
let lastFour = cc.substr(-4);

Great we have those characters locked down. Now to move on to the rest of the string. We know that we need to convert those values into hash marks but how can we do that? First, we would need to get those values by themselves with another variable that points to another substring. We would need to start on at the beginning in the zero position and then go the length of the string minus the 4 we needed previously. It would look like this:

let everythingButTheLastFour = cc.substr(0, cc.length - 4);

We are moving along nicely we got the last four and everything outside of it. Still need to make them hash marks but we could make a variable holding the number of hash marks we need. We could do this by calling the length function on everything but the last four and put it into a variable! It would look like this:

let everythingButTheLastFourNum = everythingButTheLastFour.length;

We have got our number, the number of characters that in the string that excludes the last four. We just need to print out a hash mark for every one of them. Sounds like a great opportunity for a for-loop. It would look something like this:

for(let i = 0; i < everythingButTheLastFourNum; i++){
      '#';
    }

If you are thinking this is bad code and it doesn't work you would be correct. Remember the return statement that I was missing long, long ago from the pseudo-code. It's making its debut now. As we saw in the edge case section the function is looking for a return string. So we must make one. Outside of the conditional, we will create a variable that will hold an empty string. It will look something like this:
let maskedCc = "";

Now with our empty string, we can put our hash marks there:

for(let i = 0; i < everythingButTheLastFourNum; i++){
      maskedCc += '#';
    }

We would still have to add the last four characters so let's do that now:
maskedCc += lastFour;

Last but not least the return statement with everything in it.

return maskedCc

Here is what the code would look like all together!:

function maskify(cc) {
    let maskedCc = "";
  if(cc.length > 4){
    let lastFour = cc.substr(-4);
    let everythingButTheLastFour = cc.substr(0, cc.length - 4);

    let everythingButTheLastFourNum = everythingButTheLastFour.length;

    for(let i = 0; i < everythingButTheLastFourNum; i++){
      maskedCc += '#';
    }
    maskedCc += lastFour;
     return maskedCc
  } else {
    return cc
  }
}

What to work on!

This week I feel like I did better with variable names, could use some work on the for-loop variable name though. I need to get more familiar with Data structures and algorithms. The better I get with them the easier the problems will be I believe. Another gap I need to fill for next week would be Big O, writing about it making assumptions, and testing more! I hoped this helped it is a lot of fun!

-thanks, Mike

challenge gauntlet #001

averagealloy — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 15:23:37 +0000

Quick intro

Welcome to the challenge gauntlet! This is a new series that I am trying out. I need to get better at problem-solving with pressure. I am not the best at it, to begin with, but I need to be if I want to work.

I had looked at Leet code because I heard it was the gold standard when it came to interviewing questions. After promptly reading the first question I had decided to start with code wars, they seemed a bit more digestible. So let's get into it!

The problem

Create a method called hello. Hello takes a string called name. Take the name and return it in a string. The problem also states that we need to take the name and only have the first letter of said name be capitalized. Also, make sure if someone passes an empty string it returns "Hello, World!". If someone calls the function without a name or an undefined value then return "Hello, World!" as well!

The breakdown

For me, the part the took the most thinking was the name capitalization part. I need to make it standardized, all the letters need to be lower case. After running the tests I saw some of the names were all jacked up. (meaning some of the letters were capitalized and others were not)

So I need to create a variable, in this case, that will hold the name in it's lower case form:

let lCName = name.toLowerCase()

Once I have the variable that has all letters in the name standardized to lower case, I would just need the first letter capitalized. Off to new variable land we go.

What I want this variable to hold is the final name the name that would be displayed. So to do that we need to capitalize the first letter. We could take the character at position zero and use the to upper case function. It would look something like this:

lCName.charAt(0).toUpperCase()

This is good but it's not gonna be the total name, that would just bump the first letter up, we still need the rest of the letters that make up the name. This is where we could append the slice method to that first letter it would look something like this:

+ lCName.slice(1)

So the whole variable looks like this:

let capitalName = lCName.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + lCName.slice(1);

We still need to return the phrase with the name, this is what the return statement would look like:

return `Hello, ${capitalName}!`

At this point, I would say that part one would be complete now we just have to take care of the edge cases. (if nothing is present or an empty string is passed)

I am going to start with pseudo-code. So we would have to check if something is being passed in. If it's a name then preform the logic we had just gone over and if not then render the generic string in this case it would be 'Hello, World!'.

To check if the name is an empty string would be something like this: name === ''. We would also need to check if what is being passed into the function will be undefined so we could say: name === undefined.

Here is what the function would look like in total:

function hello(name) {
  if(name === ''|| name === undefined){
    return 'Hello, World!'
} else {
   let lCName = name.toLowerCase()

   let capitalName = lCName.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + lCName.slice(1);
  return `Hello, ${capitalName}!` 
  }
 }

What to work on

In this section, I am gonna see what are my pain points and what I can do better next time. One thing that jumps out at me is readability specifically in regards to variable names. They need to be better. Along with that, I need to start putting in time and space costs. The faster I fumble through it here in the blog the better I will be in the interview.

Thanks, Mike

The N conundrum

averagealloy — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 20:01:48 +0000

The N problem isn't the name of the problem it's just a name I have for it. The reasoning behind it will become much more clear later down the line.

The problem

The problem is asking can you implement a Queue data structure from 2 stacks!

Quick up to speed on Queues and stacks!

Queues and stacks have advantages and disadvantages like many things in computer science, but this question is more concerned with the behavior of these two data structures rather than what's better for what scenario.

Queues

The behavior I was talking about above is the order in which data comes in and out. In a Queue whatever you put in first you will get the first out. (FIFO for short)

Stacks

Stacks are a bit different although it is still dealing with the order in which data moves around. A stack is first in last out. (FILO for short)

If you are still a bit lost hopefully these analogies will help you. In the country of England if you were waiting for something in an orderly fashion then you would be in a queue. Makes a bit more sense when you think about if you were the first chap in line you would get the first fish and chips(FIFO)! Now with stacks, I think about how cars make it from manufacturing plants to dealerships. Car carriers, those giant trucks that can carry 5-6 cars on the trailer. It is impossible to take the first car that you put on that truck off, so you must take the last one off first (FILO).

Back to the problem

So now that we have a better grasp of the parts, the problem appears. Being quick on your feet is one of your expertise. After all, you are an engineer or at least trying your damnedest to be. So the idea of an array sneaks in your brian thoughts start to bubble. You sigh and pick up the maker to hit the whiteboard (Revision for the year 2020, no whiteboard just your childhood bedroom. Good luck trying to be professional with Mario posters over the wall). As you do that the interviewer, without looking up from his phone says you can't cheat and use arrays you have to use 2 stacks. Annnnnnnddddd we are back to freaking out.

So we have two stacks and those stacks deal with data! At this point I would ask my interviewer for this example could I use a finite set of data. ( Like 3 letters) Just so you could create a diagram for better understanding.

The methods we need

The methods that we need to implement are: add, remove, and peek. We will need these methods because they are properties of a queue.

Just one more thing

Before we get going we need two stacks. We can't make a queue out of two stacks unless we have the stacks themselves.

 constructor() {
        this.a = new Stack();
        this.b = new Stack();
    }

The add method

The add method has one purpose. All that this function is doing is taking the data and placing it in the first stack or in this case stack A. No crazy not voodoo yet! Here is what that would look like:

  add(record) {
        this.a.push(record);
    }

The remove method

The remove method is a bit of a step-up at least for me in brainpower. It took me a while for me to understand what was really going on and why we were doing it! Here is how it breaks down. First, we will have a while loop that says "Are there any elements in stack A?" If the answer to that question is yes we would want that value and push that value into stack B. We will keep doing this until all the elements in stack A are pushed into stack B. Following that, we would set a value to the popped element in stack B. Following that, there is another while loop. In this while loop, we would check if there is an element in stack B. If there is then we would push that element back into stack A and return the value that we wanted. The code would look something like this:

 remove(){
        while (this.a.peek()) {
            this.b.push(this.a.pop());
        }
        const record = this.b.pop();

        while (this.b.peek()) {
            this.a.push(this.b.pop());
        }

        return record;
    }

The peek method

The peek method is extremely similar with only one difference. The return value instead of being a popped value will be a peeked one.
The code would look something like this:

 peek(){
        while (this.a.peek()) {
            this.b.push(this.a.pop());
        }
        const record = this.b.peek();

        while (this.b.peek()) {
            this.a.push(this.b.pop());
        }

        return record;
    }

n?

In this case, I am not referring to big O notation. This might sound crazy but I am actually referring to the letter itself, specifically lower case n.

The letter in question

Pull up the picture and I will tell you what I see. So to break down this even further I would say this problem has two parts. Addition of data to the stack and moving the data from one stack to another. Peek and remove are so similar that I would consider them the same sans that you get in the return from both of them. You would add the data in the top left of the letter. All of the information that you need is in stack A, the first line down. Well then with either peek or remove we would have to move the data to the next stack and back, the arch connecting both lines. Your peek and pop records come out of the same spot that the data came in completing the n.

I hope the weird diagram that I have show gives you a little bit better understanding when you see this problem again!

Thanks, Mike

The Importance of breaks!

averagealloy — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 20:02:24 +0000

For the last couple of weeks, I had felt lost tired. Even good things that got me excited had me flustered. I was in a textbook rut. It felt like the work was crashing in and I couldn't breathe. This is the story of the long-overdue break.

When a person is fresh, work doesn't even seem like work. The effort you put in to achieve your goals is minimal in comparison to when you are feeling burnt.

Let me take you back a week prior to the big break. I was doing what I needed to in regards to work, reaching out to people, and having conversations. I did it that week and the week even before that, like I should if I want a job. The logical part of my brain said "yes stay on the plotted course, keep steady" but my brain was cooked. I couldn't manage it, it tried to keep reminding itself that "life is going to get simpler, some stress will be mitigated" but just like in any horror movie the call was coming from inside the house.

My brain got into this weird for loop where it would remind itself that if you want less stress you must work hard for it now! The only exit condition for this loop would be for me to get burnt out. As the loop dictated I met the exit condition. I missed the signals my brain was trying to tell me, I wanted the job so bad I was blinded to the fact I wasn't even productive this miscalculation cost me. Without family and friends pointing me in the right direction, I could have lost a lot more. So over this past weekend, I had decided to take a break, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. So Tuesday rolls around and I was nervous. For what reason I am not sure. I had felt guilty for most of that first day, antsy, I just could sit still. I thought all of the jobs would vanish. For that day I mostly drove around listening to music just to get out of this headspace. By the end of the day, I had this weird peace. I wasn't sure why but I couldn't complain at that point. The next morning was a lot better. I saw the board a bit clearer. I started to notice that there was a forest beyond the tree I was looking at!

Now that I have gotten that world's cheesiest but true quote out of the way we can return back to reality. Later on, the second day I felt it creeping back in. A modified case of the Sunday Scaries on Wednesday of course. It's a reasonable thought. You don't wanna be back in the situation that you were in. I am not talking about working, working is what people need to do to live. It's that feeling that you can barely keep your head above water. That sucks, so I decided I needed an action plan to take its place just so if I ever have a feeling like this again I can make the right call and save myself some headaches and be more productive.

I don't see this problem going away. People are going to become burnt out. But instead of just getting bummed out just think that it's inevitable I can take action steps. Now later that night I still felt the Modified Sunday Scaries but knowing I had a plan to deal with them going forward made going to bed that night much easier.

Thanks, Mike

When faliure works out

averagealloy — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 20:16:34 +0000

In my quest to find a job doing what I love I have come across some bumps but, who hasn’t. No one said that this road was going to be straight and narrow nor did I expect it to be. But I have to forge on. Now, having the willingness to stick to a problem is key but a person (me!) could spend months driving up and down the same block over and over again looking for a house that in a different town. This means we need new direction. Looking at the certifcate that I was studying for I thought “why not take a practice test to gauge where I am at?”. So to udemy I went searching for a practice test, I had thought “I have been studying, this should be a piece of cake”. Truthfully I had been studying on and off since the dream job blog from about a month ago. So I had seen the information prior “Couldn’t be that bad” I thought.

A little background on the test prior to moving on. So, the exam is 40-60 questions and is about an hour long. The most important part is that you need to score an 80 or Higher to pass! (if you are reading this and thinking that he’s wrong. You are kinda right, on Microsofts website they say closer to 70%, for this instance I am going off the practice exams on udemy) So naturally off the rip I thought 65-75%, nothing crazy.

A pause to pay respects to one of the dumbest ideas I think I have ever had.

Alrighty then so, what was it what did I score? I had gotten a 47 out of 100. We are about to go on an extremely long walk to illustrate a point that might not even make sense to you so just hang in there. After looking at the test grade I smiled and chuckled a bit. I was happy. This was exactly what I need to get back in gear. After graduating in March and applying and reaching out and writing every week. It all felt like the same to me, just plugging away, grinding at the same stone over and over again. Even goals that I had set seemed pointless. However, becoming a technical consultant at my dream company Microsoft moved the needle on the gauge. The wheels started to turn, I felt like I was in school again. A little off balance but motivated to learn. I would study in what felt like a vacuum, zero checks and balances. So to me it felt like I was on fire. If I was playing Halo I would have a killionaire (if ya know, ya know … ya know?). But lurking around the corner was reality and his gravity hammer. Taking this test gave me some balance, much needed I might add. I know that this isn’t a revelation to anyone, that someone who is new at something thinks that there great at it but, it really nice to see a practical example of what Dunning and Kruger were talking about! So now what? Failing this test not only game me more balance in my thinking but, a bucket of motivation. This Failure game me a reason to pick up the gloves and get back in the ring.

This is the first time professionally in my life, when a failure is working in my favor. I am not sure if I am too old to pout or just old enough to be excited about this! If you are trying to learn something difficult and your crushing it, take a deep breath and try it out. I promise you, you will still be crushing it in the end!

Thanks, Mike

Jimmy HOFfa

averagealloy — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 19:51:44 +0000

Higher-order functions are an important part of javaScript just like jimmy Hoffa was to the IBT. The blog will talk a bit about some of the confusion points so no one ends up lost, missing, or even worst "disappeared"! If none of this is making any sense it's ok. I will link the wiki down below! But enough of that let's get into some of the confusion.

The Spin Zone

In the beginning, I got higher-order functions and closures mixed up. Higher-order functions are functions that operate on other functions where closures deal with variable scope manipulation.
Now that we are on the topic of confusion we should talk about first-class functions as well. A first-class function is a property of a programing language.
When using a language that supports first-class functions they treat functions as values. This allows a function to take a
function or more than one function as an argument or arguments. I know what you just read seemed like the movie inception. Something inside of something else, it's nuts.
Hopefully, some of these technical examples help you understand this insanity a bit better!

Here is an example of a basic function!

function prod(a, b) {
  return a * b;
}

prod(9,9);

This function is taking both arguments and then multiplying them!

var prod = function(a, b) {
  return a * b;
}

var muffins = prod;

muffins(10,10);

This is interesting muffins now is prod. We can now pass all of the information to this new variable. This would significantly change how our(metaphorical) project would function. (pardon the function pun, it was low hanging fruit) Higher-order functions give an engineer more control of the project making each step more understanding. The more understanding your codebase is to another engineer the fewer bugs will in inhabit in it!

thanks, Mike

PS: Jimmy Hoffa wiki

2 most important parts

averagealloy — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 18:06:14 +0000

When someone has an idea, it comes in waves. At first glance, it seems like a problem, a round peg in a square hole. Following that, you are in some sort of limbo. It's not all negative but some positive is starting to show. Then and only then (for me at least) it's explosive, the idea comes to fruition and my brain is held hostage. The ink in my pen is running faster than Usain Bolt when he sees a gold medal. You see yourself shaking Mark Cuban's hand after making the biggest shark tank deal in history.

Ingress!

So now that you have solidified this deal and most importantly you have a vision, how do you get started? UH-OH, there it is your old friend anxiety. Walking in the door like he runs the place, you start to sweat a little bit and it becomes a bit nerve-racking. Your old pal invites his friend self-doubt and now that the whole gang is here so you push off the project idea and do nothing instead.

Step one, Directional chaos!

Think about the instant that the idea went from a problem to a solution! Do you remember the head rush that you felt? Harken back to that moment and Harness that for the hard work that lies ahead.

Now that you have that energy back on your side make one google search related to the project. That's it, seems a bit anti-climatic but that's all it takes. Notice how I said nothing about anxiety and self-doubt magically floating away? They're gonna be there! They're gonna be there now there gonna be there tomorrow and even when you make it to where ever you want to go they will be there. The more I have lived life the more I come to understand that it's not about when you fold your hand to life, but when you pick up the had in spite of it! So if you have passion for the project and you make that first google search the odds you make the second one is pretty good. And you will never guess about the third!

An Object in motion

Now Physics got me into this mess to begin with but that's another story for another day, Let me know in the comments section of this blog if you want to hear that story!

After that google search, what happened to your problem? You had moved closer to the middle. Going from "How do you eat an elephant?" to "an object in motion stays in motion!" your momentum has picked up! I can almost promise you that you haven't noticed. It's kind of like boiling a frog. if you do it degree by degree really slowly it's going to feel nothing is changing. Your childhood bedroom won't change because you need that poster of Mario looking into your soul to keep you on the right track. So now with momentum and a more digestible problem you can now move on to step two!

Déjà vu!

Congratulations, you have made it after one day of work! Your Ferrari will be parked out front and you will meet Mr. Cuban at the American Airlines Center. Only if it was that simple!

Step two

Wait a minute? have I been here before, I was congratulated for my shark tank deal? Does it smell like burnt toast? O NO smelling burnt toast is a symptom of a stroke not memory loss it must be getting really bad. Alrighty then if you have made it this far I commend you, you must be terribly lost so here we go step two.

Step two is just 2 parts a question, and an action step! The question is are you still passionate about what you are doing? If and only if the answer is without a shadow of a doubt an emphatic no. keep doing what you're doing. Passion for a great idea got you into this mess and it will get you out it. Dig deep and get it done! Then what's the second part? Surprise surprise, Make one google search pertaining to your project.

Recursion

After step two we enter a recursive function with the only exit condition being that we reach a point in the ideas life where we can use it. This is known as a minimum viable product(MVP for short). Well done, you have done it you have an MVP that you can talk about in meeting and it's going great until someone asks you "Hey where can I find this? What's the website called?".

Egress!

Ah, the second part, we all knew this was coming, the second wave just like an earthquake. The nerves are back and so is the self-doubt. But here is the difference. We know what to do. Sure not the specifics but know how to do things we don't know. We are skipping step one because we know what to do there and with step two we will change the recursive loop just a bit.

Whats the new step two?

The question still remains of "do you still want it" we still need anything but a no to keep going. So then what changes with the loop? The exit condition, we have the MVP we just need a new condition, in this case, to be hosted. Once we have a goal in mind we can now move to the 1 question that we have to google. Surprising no one we will do this over and over again till we hit our exit condition.

Closing

This process might seem dumb and arbitrary, but it works. I think a lot of people think that you have to work smarter than the pack. from my experience, a lot of people fall into this trap and get burnt out. This reminds me of the old fable the Tortoise and the Hare. The Hare got sidetracked. The Tortoise had a reasonable plan that he knew he could stick to and what happed, he won. Stick to a simple plan and win your race, you got this!

-Thanks, Mike

The SQL was better!

averagealloy — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 20:26:00 +0000

What is SQL?

Before computers, there were written records. For example, in a western movie there would be a General store. This general store would keep track of how many items were sold in a week. Today we have computers. People before my time had used languages like C, C++, and java to build databases. Now, what's a database? A database is where your information is being held. Going back to the analogy prior, a database would be the book or piece of paper that the shopkeep would write down all the information about sales for the week. But what if he or anybody else in this fictional western town had a question about what they bought the week prior? In the land of make-believe, he would have to dust off those glasses and mosey over to his record reading each name just to find that you got a poker set and some twine. That sounds brutal because it was. Only if there was a language that spoke with a database that held all the information you were looking for and asking a question to that database easier? There is and it's SQL. SQL stands for Structured Query Language, I just think about it like a really complex magic eight balls. You use SQL so ask questions and get answers in return.

How does it work?

It starts with a question to your database. Were going to stick with the general store model here as well. let's say our database holds customers. Each customer has information about them such as what they got prior to there current visit so they could get what they want this visit.

Edgecase City!

It's important to think about edge cases early on because the sooner you work them in the less stress you will have later! So what edge cases do we need to consider. Number one would be lookup. How on earth are we going to find a customer? By name? I am not sure usually in that western movie there is a dual and in that dual one guy says to the other "this town isn't big enough for the two of us!". So that's out! A reasonable option would be an ID. Each user would have an ID so we could look up the third dirty dan because he would have a unique ID. This, however, is more about database set up rather than SQL sow we will get back to that.

Your garden variety query.

What would a query look like for this database? Let's say we want all customers who bought apple's the query would look something like this:

SELECT * FROM storeRecord WHERE purchased = "apples"

A little bit to unpack here which is good SQL reads like English so we are in luck! the SELECT and FROM make sense but what is the *? Well, the star means everything. No, I am not kidding, it makes more sense when we read it out. Select everything from a specific point in our database specifically where this condition is met.

A peek inside the looking glass

This is the Highest level explanation I can give without getting more technical. SQL allows for more advance queries from multiple tables and receiving different types of data. It's pretty cool! Hopefully, this gets you on the right path to mastering the art of asking your database questions!

-Thanks, Mike

Where openmindedness will take you!

averagealloy — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 21:11:09 +0000

Holy Cannoli! I had an interview today!!

This is Nuts.

Although this might seem like nothing, it was huge. Being nervous and working through it was awesome. The interviewer herself was awesome! And if you couldn't tell already I am pretty excited! Now, what's the position, well the position is a financial consultant. In school, I studied Full Stack software engineering and I loved it. The problem solving and figuring out bugs in my code was really great. Now before all of this, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. After finding my passion for software engineering (really coding and problem solving), I thought that I had to lock myself into one career field. It was a software engineer or nothing! Those qualms were quelled when I saw another cohort mate of mine get a job in a different field. Still really technical but it was something he always wanted to do. So then it got the wheels turning "what if I started elsewhere, what if I could apply my technical skills to other places?" so instead of narrowing my search I widened it. Here is how the interview went.

Rolling with the punches

The morning of the interview I was a bit nervous. This is ok, I think it means I am just a person, so that's good. A lot less nervous than normal thinking well "at least it's not the dentist,"
I chuckled. That morning I reviewed my notes over and over and over. Realizing that I studied and prepared properly, I worked on a project for a bit, but that wasn't really scratching the itch. So I called a friend, we talked for a bit, he reassured me that "it's gonna be great and to take a deep breath!" So I did.

I put on a button-down shirt and was ready to roll. The clock struck three and I was hanging out in the Skype call waiting for my interviewer. When she arrived she said something to the tune of "the job you applied for is closed." A crushing blow. Immediately my brain jumped to "ok what are the next steps?" Feeling glum, I heard my interviewer say "tell me more about you in case something comes up." If you have ever seen the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and noticed how a Miniature Pinscher's ears go up when they hear the word 'turkey,' then it's safe to say you have a sense of how I was feeling. I sprung into action, my heart beating again. I described my previous work experience from burger flipping to medical debt collection at a financial company. Clear as the sky above, I heard my interviewer say "would you be interested in financial consultant position?" Emphatically I said yes. I thought this would be incredible using my technical skills to work on financial models, feasibility analysis, or capital programming. This might seem drab or boring but for a career, I thought it would be awesome. I remember how much I loved learning about credit and how the proverbial sausage is made. This is all to say that the wind was back in my sails.

What does this have to to with tech?

Good question. I didn't think that this role was very technical and one of the requirements for the job was Excel. Now, the dreaded Excel has been talked about a ton in the "getting the job" sphere. I was honest with my interviewer and told her that my only experience with Excel was putting things in cells. So she advised that I look at Excel and take a skills assessment test on Linkedin. So I began looking into this strange new world. To my surprise, I found Excel to be just programming with a funny looking skin over it. Each "thing" in the program was just a function. I thought there had to be more to it. No secret sauce, no magic powers? No, just classic programming technique and some database stuff, it was a breeze! So I studied for a little bit and crushed the exam!

What is next!

My Dad and I were having a conversation a week or so prior to this interview and he told an incredible quote that I read every morning. It says "If it is to be, it's up to me." Now I'm not sure what the future holds but I will keep working for my goals and one day get there; it might not be or tomorrow but the more I work the better the odds get -- so we shall see.

-Thanks, Mike

Just keep throwing them

averagealloy — Sun, 26 Jul 2020 15:42:37 +0000

Have you ever played paper toss? That silly iPhone game where you take paper balls and try to get them in the can? Today, I am here to talk about my experience with missing those shots. For instance like what happens when you post a blog to try and get some traction, and it leads to some LinkedIn activity and you think over one blog, your life is going to change like a movie but then your brain returns back to earth.

Here we go

You feel like its back to reality, you look around your room and you see the same color paint that you have been staring at since the day you started this endeavor that we call life. You talk to your family about what you are feeling and what's going on. They are there to comfort you and they do a great job at it. Telling you "Hey, keep your head up, its a pandemic, something will break soon." So promptly you take a deep breath. Begrudgingly you calm down a bit, you take the night off to just let the mind relax. You ask yourself before your head hits the pillow, "what am I going to do differently to shake this thing off?" You jot down a couple of notes on some action steps. You exhale and hit the lights.

The next day the sunshine greets you along with your go-getter of a neighbor's lawnmower. You look at the note, and it stares back at you all the while you think I should have paid more attention in writing class in elementary school. Now that is Tuesday you have your commits to do on GitHub to make sure that you can still keyboard surf. Following that, you have to write a blog about something, who knows. It's a different day though. Still not in the right gear, we move into the stage of bargaining. Oddly sounding like the prosses of grief, you tell yourself that if you get your commits done, you will take a car ride just to get out of your own head for a moment. Getting through the commits feels like you are running through molasses that has been doused with quicksand. By the time you hit the ignition you remind yourself of a time when you weren't doing something that you loved. You chuckle and crank the tunes. The air conditioning blowing at your face, doing the worst covers of songs you have listened to more than one million times each. It makes you feel alive again. The wind is back in your sails. You decide to really think about what if you crushed it on American idol, then return to reality. Once you get home you sit down to write your blog. You still don't know what you are going to write about. After your bout of writer's block, you think what if I just write what I do for a week -- the ups and downs and what we can learn from it.

You smile and start writing, then you finish. You continue to smile, believe it or not, and think, wow I am getting some stuff done. You wrap up for the night and everything is peachy keen. You finally get back to working on the stuff that you wanted to work on like certification stuff, working on communication, working on reach-outs, every day practicing your skills and that goal that you have is at peak palpability. You can see yourself coming home after a long day of work with a smile on your face because you do what you love (and turning on Monday Night Football). This is all well and good and your riding high so you decide to post your blog.

What is there to learn!

A couple of nights ago I had heard a talk from the CEO of Patreon. His name is Jack Conte. Now, I have never met Mr.Conte a day in my life but over the course of the 35 (or so) minutes, I felt like his story sounded oddly familiar. Don't worry I won't spoil it and I will link it down below. The lesson he talks about is a lesson that I am warming up to like boiling a frog. Uncomfortable but slow. I will keep tossing those paper balls because there is a chance that if I keep at it and take a few more deep breaths, I might sink one.

The almighty talk

The outbreak inside of a pandemic

averagealloy — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:23:10 +0000

I know the title is a bit out there but strap in.

Storms before Lightning

While living life you come into contact with brands every day. You can't go a second in life without a brand, so you become invested in them. No one can blame you; this is just a part of life. Yea, Mike cool so what brand are you talking about? And no this is not a hashtag ad, you have nothing to fear. The brand is Microsoft. I think about Microsoft in two ways: the present in-your-face product and the other product, like air. Don't worry I will go into it a bit further. But first, we have to address the storms part.

Microsoft has been my dream company for a while but that can sound a bit off-putting when someone else says it. So I will try to explain why I care about this company so much. Early on in life, I had to take care of this thing called hip dysplasia (if you are a German Shepherd owner, you know what I am talking about). The long and short of it is, I had three major surgeries growing up and was in a body cast and braces with only my thumbs to twiddle. It left me with a few options - namely toy cars and video games. Being fortunate I had both. I leaned into video games hard.

Fast forward to my brother's birthday party (if I remember correctly it was his 13th). We were on our way back from Funzone in Oceanside, NY and it was just starting to snow, just barely. When we got back to the house I asked my mom "what did James get for his birthday?" She said a Sydney Crosby jersey. I knew and loved my mom very much, but I knew she hadn't seen a minute of hockey in her life. Then as we waltzed into the den, there it was an original white brand new Xbox 360 This interesting looking box had me captivated from the start. It was total frustration playing my brother in NHL and gave me pure joy becoming my own level designer in the Halo 3 Universe (with Forge). Although escaping into worlds all by yourself is good, the power of connection was brought to us later in the form of a headset. It was white and had a piece of gray foam at the end. My brother and I would sneak out of our room to play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 online. Later on, Xbox One (when I was not living at home) gave me an excuse to talk with family and make friends that I still have today.

This is what I think of as the in-the-moment, in-your-face product, or a product that has high user engagement. But when I think about the intangible products, I don't have to search far and wide for them. Whenever I would go to a doctor's office, they are never using Apple products. The comforting glow of the blue screensaver is there to greet me. Admittedly that thought is fleeting, like a gust of wind. Microsoft's suite of products is like air. Surrounding us at every turn.

The Lightning

In March, I graduated from The Flatiron School. I was and still am very excited that I am doing something that I love. It was technically rigorous and tough as nails but every day I wake up happy because I get to do what I love. I have a cohort mate that I was working closely with from the beginning. He is incredibly smart but he didn't get there overnight. Talking with him, he put the hours in like a mad man. Truthfully, I think he is allergic to the word break, still waiting on the tests to come back. All jokes aside, he's a true inspiration. So when he got a job at a company that he was truly passionate about, we cheered. We talked about the next steps for him with his new career and doing something that he loves. It lit a fire under me that I have no clue was possible. I have done some soul searching looking for what I am going to do. I decided to take a break and play Xbox with some friends (the same friends that I had made connections only through Xbox). Then like the gravity hammer itself, it hit me. I knew where I wanted to work; a company that has helped me in more ways then I can imagine. It's a huge goal of mine to work there and give back to this company that has helped me!

A goal without a timeline is just a dream

So what's the play? What's the plan to get there Mike? Well, looking at the technical careers at Microsoft, the Technical Consultant role really spoke to me. Helping clients understand what products and services work best for them and their business seems like a terrific way to have an impact and love what I do. So first, I have to get up to speed on the products and services, but lucky for me there are certifications that I will be working on. This is my action plan by mid-August I will have that certification and will apply to the big Tortuga and go after my dream job!

I am still lost on the outbreak part!

The outbreak in this pandemic for me was seeing the success of another individual, an individual who just worked for it put his nose to the grindstone, and got the results he was looking for. His positivity was and still is contagious. This is the only bug I want during this pandemic and I think I am coming down with a case of it. I will keep working towards it and keep the blog updated on my progress.

-Thanks, Mike