DEV Community: Sam

How to use Array.Reduce() for JavaScript and the importance of DELETE EVERYTHING AND START FROM BEGINNING!

Sam — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 05:25:24 +0000

This short(sike) blurb is to highlight something I am very proud of myself of not only figuring it out, but realizing sometimes you just have to toss away what you had before! So I was watching this video tackling array practices because I always shy away from them and always felt there were daunting. I never understood the usage of => or mapping or reduce, so why not work on that! My biggest challenge was overall: Figuring out reduce.

So from what I gather from the MDN Article it is of the following:

The reduce() method executes a user-supplied "reducer" callback function on each element of the array, in order, passing in the return value from the calculation on the preceding element. The final result of running the reducer across all elements of the array is a single value.

Honestly? I do not know what in the WORLD I just read. BUT! And bear with this noobie speaking, I am believing it takes in values, does arithmetic I say I want it to,

And then returns one value which is the summation of values I passed through. Did I hit a hole in one yet? Swing!

Okay! So my first draft of my code initially looked like this after reading documents(and stalking stack overflow :-) )

function sum(inventors){
 const reducer = (sum, val) => inventors.year + inventors.passed;
 const initialValue = 0;
 return inventors.reduce(reducer, initialValue);
}

let result = sum(inventors);
console.log(result);

I kept getting a NaN and it was frustrating. Initially, I was expecting to have rows of each individual total years lived, but that was because I misunderstood and missed the key part of reduce saying that The final result of running the reducer across all elements of the array is a single value. Woops!

So, I asked some good people I know for small pair programming to get a fresh perspective of what I was doing. And you know what was best for me to get over my confusion?

I deleted everything and started from the top, this time with clarification from friends. Rewriting definitely helped me get a clearer picture and funny enough, I got the right answer thanks to friends pointing out when I was still thinking I was doing something wrong LOL!!!!!!!! This time, this is how my code looked:

//Array.prototype.reduce()
//My Notes
//Goal is to get the sum of years people live, inventors.passed - inventors.year
//We are using reduce method to accomplish this.

//array we have is inventors earlier up in code
//Now we have function to combine the values together
//let call the function "Sum" with parameters val(before I did inventors, which was incorrect)

function sum(val){
 //initializing the initial value:
 const initialValue = 0;

 //variable called reducer that does the arithmetic of pass-year
 //Want it to get each individual inventors' length of how long 
 //They lived, and add them all up together
 const reducer = (sum, val) => val.passed - val.year + sum;

 //return the result
 return val.reduce(reducer, initialValue)
}

 //now to pass the inventor array through the sum function
 sumResult = sum(inventors);
 console.log(sumResult);

As a result, the console.log showed me the answer was 861. I was honestly proud of myself to do this without seeing solution first and its my first time doing a reduce . It really makes a difference to properly document and comment out my journey, and sometimes start from the beginning :-) The life of a self-learning Developer!

Here is the full code version for people to see for themselves:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Array Cardio 💪</title>
</head>

<body>
  <p><em>Psst: have a look at the JavaScript Console</em> 💁</p>
  <script>
    // Get your shorts on - this is an array workout!
    // ## Array Cardio Day 1

    // Some data we can work with

    const inventors = [{
        first: 'Albert',
        last: 'Einstein',
        year: 1879,
        passed: 1955
      },
      {
        first: 'Isaac',
        last: 'Newton',
        year: 1643,
        passed: 1727
      },
      {
        first: 'Galileo',
        last: 'Galilei',
        year: 1564,
        passed: 1642
      },
      {
        first: 'Marie',
        last: 'Curie',
        year: 1867,
        passed: 1934
      },
      {
        first: 'Johannes',
        last: 'Kepler',
        year: 1571,
        passed: 1630
      },
      {
        first: 'Nicolaus',
        last: 'Copernicus',
        year: 1473,
        passed: 1543
      },
      {
        first: 'Max',
        last: 'Planck',
        year: 1858,
        passed: 1947
      },
      {
        first: 'Katherine',
        last: 'Blodgett',
        year: 1898,
        passed: 1979
      },
      {
        first: 'Ada',
        last: 'Lovelace',
        year: 1815,
        passed: 1852
      },
      {
        first: 'Sarah E.',
        last: 'Goode',
        year: 1855,
        passed: 1905
      },
      {
        first: 'Lise',
        last: 'Meitner',
        year: 1878,
        passed: 1968
      },
      {
        first: 'Hanna',
        last: 'Hammarström',
        year: 1829,
        passed: 1909
      }
    ];

    const people = [
      'Bernhard, Sandra', 'Bethea, Erin', 'Becker, Carl', 'Bentsen, Lloyd', 'Beckett, Samuel', 'Blake, William',
      'Berger, Ric', 'Beddoes, Mick', 'Beethoven, Ludwig',
      'Belloc, Hilaire', 'Begin, Menachem', 'Bellow, Saul', 'Benchley, Robert', 'Blair, Robert', 'Benenson, Peter',
      'Benjamin, Walter', 'Berlin, Irving',
      'Benn, Tony', 'Benson, Leana', 'Bent, Silas', 'Berle, Milton', 'Berry, Halle', 'Biko, Steve', 'Beck, Glenn',
      'Bergman, Ingmar', 'Black, Elk', 'Berio, Luciano',
      'Berne, Eric', 'Berra, Yogi', 'Berry, Wendell', 'Bevan, Aneurin', 'Ben-Gurion, David', 'Bevel, Ken',
      'Biden, Joseph', 'Bennington, Chester', 'Bierce, Ambrose',
      'Billings, Josh', 'Birrell, Augustine', 'Blair, Tony', 'Beecher, Henry', 'Biondo, Frank'
    ];

    // Array.prototype.filter()
    // 1. Filter the list of inventors for those who were born in the 1500's
    // const fifteenHundred = inventors.filter(inventor => (inventor.year >= 1500 && inventor.year <= 1600))

    // console.table(fifteenHundred)

    //another way of writing

    // const fifteenHundrend2 = inventors.filter(function(inventor){
    //   if(inventor.year >= 1500 && inventor.year <= 1600){
    //     return true;
    //   }

    // });



    // Array.prototype.map()
    // 2. Give us an array of the inventors first and last names
    // const fullNames = inventors.map(inventor => inventor.first + " " + inventor.last);

    // console.log(fullNames);


    // Array.prototype.sort()
    // 3. Sort the inventors by birthdate, oldest to youngest

    // //my solution
    // function compareYears(a, b) {
    //    return a.year - b.year;
    //  }
    // //Sort the birth years by descending order
    // let sortedYears = inventors.sort(compareYears);
    // console.table(sortedYears);

    // //video's solution
    // // let orderedYears = inventors.sort(function (a, b) {
    // //   if (a.year > b.year) {
    // //     return 1;
    // //   } else {
    // //     return -1;
    // //   }
    // // })

    // let ordered = inventors.sort((a,b) => a.year > b.year ? 1 : -1);

    // console.table(ordered);


    // Array.prototype.reduce()
    // 4. How many years did all the inventors live all together?

    //My Notes
    //Goal is to get the sums of years people live, inventors.passed - inventors.year
    //We are using reduce method to accomplish this.

    //array we have is inventors earlier up
    //Now we have function to  combine the values together
    //lets call the function "Sum" with parameters val

    function sum(val) {

      //initializing the initial value:
      const initialValue = 0;

      //variable called reducer that does the arithmetic of pass-year
      //Want it to get each individual inventors' length of how long they lived
      const reducer = (sum, val) => val.passed - val.year + sum;

      //return the result
      return val.reduce(reducer, initialValue)
    }

    //now to pass the inventor array through the sum function we did
    sumResult = sum(inventors);
    console.log(sumResult)

    // 5. Sort the inventors by years lived

    // 6. create a list of Boulevards in Paris that contain 'de' anywhere in the name
    // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Boulevards_in_Paris


    // 7. sort Exercise
    // Sort the people alphabetically by last name

    // 8. Reduce Exercise
    // Sum up the instances of each of these
    const data = ['car', 'car', 'truck', 'truck', 'bike', 'walk', 'car', 'van', 'bike', 'walk', 'car', 'van', 'car',
      'truck'
    ];
  </script>
</body>

</html>

It's pretty neat documenting the bumps and roads along the way. Its astonishing how much one can grow in due time!

Here's a silly way I try to make Array.reduce make sense to me:

We are taking kitchen items for ONE box labeled "kitchen"

We moving out! So! The kitchen items can represent the array of values(say [1,2,3]) w.e. The box with label is the summation of all the kitchen items (in the array). Us putting the items in box is the "reducer function" where all these several, spread out messy kitchen items are neatly put in a box that when we are done, we got just ONE box aka the sum of the values.

Sorry if it sounds silly, but I try to make it make sense for me!

Mind you the putting into box can be anything! Take two kitchen items to put in box(adding), break a kitchen item before putting in box(subtract) for simple examples. Cant explain how multiply or divide will work in rea life but LMAO hope the gist is understood. I'll figure it out!

Update:
I was told the following by a friend: Not just math/arithmetic though. You can use it to take an array of objects and turn it into a single object for example. Or you could use it to turn an array of strings into a single string."

So that's like baking a delicious Apple pie! Several ingredients coming together to make one yummy tasty treat!! Hope the delicious analogy helps! Are you making a pie? A stew? A brownie? Depends on what you want to make (the function passed to reduce).

That function is the recipe. Reduce just follows the recipe with the ingredients you give it. So if you pass it a recipe for brownies but give it ingredients for a stew, you get garbage. But if you pass it brownie ingredients and a brownie recipe you get brownies!

5 AM Thoughts - Changing the Script Of Tech Interview Process

Sam — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 11:07:09 +0000

Full disclaimer: As I am writing this, it is 5:32 AM in the morning for me(Eastern time) and I am restless, so I chose to write my thoughts that (hopefully?) can spark a productive conversation. I'd love to hear peoples' thoughts.

I know I am still new to the industry and I have a lot to learn and experience. The one thing I just cannot seem to grasp though is the constant talk and reiteration of how the process has grown out of control, hurting potential hires who end up quitting the industry before getting a foot in the door because the interview process has become so.... unhealthy.

Yet, I hear this a lot and very few offer solutions or just say to continue feeding into the broken process that is starting to fester like a sore that has not been given proper attention and treatment. Or perhaps, I should say, the process is working as it's intended to be which is snuffing out potential talent that do not pass the criteria that the broken process singles out to seek after like a moth seeking a light source.

Aren't Technical Interviews meant to gauge a candidate's ability to organize and gather pieces of logic in one's mind in the sense of bringing a solution to a concrete problem, thus resulting in showcasing how one would design or architect a solution? How is LeetCode and HackerRank supposed to help solve this when it's the same questions and answers that can go down to mere memorization? Is it not, in that manner, just competitive programming where one can invert a binary tree in 30 seconds because they have done it millions of times? I admit, I think LeetCode and HackerRank can be great practice for one self-learning or in college and has yet to graduate.

However, although it is a good source of practice, the fact of the matter that LeetCode and HackerRank questions are used as a indication of one being granted an opportunity of a job that bring about a significant difference to one's life, in addition as used as an indicator of being a "good enough Software Engineer" seems to do more harm than good.

There are people memorize a Data structure and algorithm problem, but can they actually code from scratch or debug an existing script that has nothing to do with DSA? Do they know how to do Test Driven Development? Do they know how to pair program? I've heard time and time again, depending on role you go for, DS&A will barely be used in the actual code-base itself. How are interpersonal qualities measured? Or does that not matter as long as they know how to spit out code?

I've heard from people that DS&A is just a filter to weed out people that can't pass medium-hard problems on leetcode, hacker-rank. So what gives? I genuinely wonder.

Perhaps I say this because I've been told how I am not capable of being in Tech because I cannot do such problems. I may not know how to memorize such problems, but sit me down with some team members to collaborate and figure out what to do and build and I'd be on cloud nine enjoying myself talking to people and learning. I'd be happy to know that the work and time I put can be something bigger than me and my team. The lives that can be made better, the efficiency of daily tasks that can be done with whatever product I work on.

I just do not feel it is healthy on both ends to have over 7 rounds of interviews. Time is a very sensitive manner and this varies upon each individual, especially those with a family to take care of. I admit, I am biased on this part since I patiently stuck through interviews ranging from 2 to 4 months, completing all the rounds and even making it to the final round only to be told my lack of experience is what worries the company or they suddenly decided they had no need for the role to be opened because someone got the role internally. Such is life, you know?

I genuinely wonder, has there ever been a full, fleshed out conversation among people on what ways to do an interview process that isn't trying to imitate FAANG? Or perhaps, a cap of how many can apply to a place that doesn't end up being overwhelmed or resorting to said flawed procedures? These are thoughts that constantly run through my mind that I do not know and am so young to the experience.

I saw someone by the name of Jim S. write the following of interview process they have done:

"Assuming a candidate looks potentially “good enough” on paper, I pair-program FizzBuzz with them for an hour sometimes two. This simple exercise: leads to many, many conversations around principle and practices; shows me how well what they’ve written about themselves matches up with reality; let’s me know what it would be like working with them; in short, tells me everything I need to know and eliminates guess-work.

So, they’ve never paired before? Cool! Let’s see how well they learn and whether they’re amenable to change. They’ve never done TDD before? Great! See above re learning and change.

We have fun. Almost every time I’m told stuff along the lines of, “that was fun,” and, “I learned a lot.”

I’ve been happy with every hire that we’ve made based on this simple interview style."

This comment was then followed up by someone who asked what does one do for 1-2 hours using just FizzBuzz. Is it just simply rewriting it in different ways? I was curious too and this is what Jim continued saying:

"Not exactly - sort of. It depends on the candidate.

If they’re good at TDD and pairing we start ripping thru FizzBuzz and launch into conversations about TDD, Four Rules of Simple Design, SOLID, “if as a guard clause, never else,” Law of Demeter, pair programming, mob programming, microservices, event driven designs, our favorite authors and what they wrote that changed our perceptions, etc. It could easily go beyond two hours on all those topics, as I’m sure you know.

If they’re not versed in TDD and pair programming I see how quickly and well they learn, and whether they enjoy learning new things.

After implementing the second business rule simply within the single method we’ll often start talking about SRP and how we might solve the SRP violation that is beginning to emerge. Sometimes that comes later.

The refactoring that we do along the way in FizzBuzz, and the conversations that we have as a result, are what tells me a lot about how the candidate think about software."

The conversation came from this LinkedIn Post that honestly sparked me to write this blurb/early morning thoughts. It actually had me thinking "Man, I'd love to interview on FizzBuzz right now!" and then it had me thinking,

Imagine if companies adopted such a creative way to interview that had people wanting to sign up for such, knowing it'll be a healthy and productive one that can leave the candidate learning something or knowing something from said interview, even if not selected.

I guess it's wishful thinking and again, this is just my early morning rambling.

But I truly wish that in this year of 2022 where we promise changed habits or new things, this year can be a year where early career software engineers like myself can see change in the industry and us given a chance to be a member of said change.

But then again, I know my voice probably means so little right now and I've come to terms with that after all that has happened. I can only dream of a better tomorrow.

JavaScript Dev Learning Journey - Leap Year!

Sam — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:55:39 +0000

I am currently picking back up on assignments I have been working on to improve my JavaScript self-learning journey and currently doing a program to determine if a year given is a Leap Year or not! What better way to start a new year :-)

My first step right away was looking up the method of how to determine if a year is a leap year, which I found out through a Microsoft docs which states the following:

Any year that is evenly divisible by 4 is a leap year: for example, 1988, 1992, and 1996 are leap years.

Which seems pretty easy ! Right away I knew I would be coding a conditional statement so I wrote up the following:

const leapYears = function (yearNum) {

    if (yearNum % 4 == 0) {
        return true;
    }else{
        return false;
    }

};

Of course, as I was going through the tests, thinking I am in the clear, I knew a part of me felt that this was too easy/good to be true. Sure enough, I ran into a problem where my test failed when the year was 1900 for example. So what I decided to do was go back to documentation to see if there's anything about that and sure enough:

However, there is still a small error that must be accounted for. To eliminate this error, the Gregorian calendar stipulates that a year that is evenly divisible by 100 (for example, 1900) is a leap year only if it is also evenly divisible by 400.

So that means although 1900 works with 100, it doesn't work with 400 and therefore is not a leap year!

So, now I need to account for how to make a number go through several checks:

Make sure it is divisible by 4.
Check to see if it's divisible by 100 AND 400 after checking if divisible by 4.
If it's divisible by 100 but NOT 400, it's not a leap year. Same if it's flipped around.

That's a simple fix! Taking my previous code, I've updated it to the following:

const leapYears = function (yearNum) {

    if (yearNum % 4 == 0 && yearNum % 100 == 0 && yearNum % 400 == 0) {
        return true;
    }else{
        return false;
    }

    //Any year divisible by 4 is a leap year.
    //Check if divisible by 3 numbers: 4, 100, and 400. 
    //if-statements on passing all three conditions to be leap years


};

Where yearNum is checked to have a remainder 0(hence the usage of % to show if it's divisible by a number) with 4, 100, AND 400. This will cover the cases where it can be divisible by 4 and 100 BUT not by 400, making it NOT a leap year. This goes the same if divisible by 100 and 400, but not 4 in addition to divisible by 400 and 4, but not 100.

And no-- 2022 is not a leap year. 2024 is when we will have our next leap year!

2022: Year of Growth and Ownership

Sam — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 01:52:33 +0000

Happy New Year! I hope the new year is treating everyone well. For me, I have been battling sickness for a while now, which made Holidays a lot harder since nothing was done. I was honestly depressed because end of the year is always hard for me all of my life and getting through it. It's a journey battling depression and a lot of other things, but I know I am not alone. I wanted to share with you all my personal website that I am honestly so proud about having released. It's my pride and joy right now. It has a lot of work to it that will get better as I learn more and grow in my journey. Thanks to someone kind enough to donate me time to my domain in addition to pushing me to get it done,

I was like, heck I got to go for it. And I am stunned. Stunned at how it looks, what I accomplished, what I am capable of.

My future employer does not know what's coming for them!!!! I am excited to learn anything needed to get the job done, to collaborate, to grow. My goal is to be able to get out of the state I am in, to see new sights and live a life on my own two feet. I know I will get there. I just need to be given that "yes". That chance of someone believing in a early-career like me.

No longer I am calling myself a Junior. I am a Software Engineer through and through.

I will break barriers. I will make a change in the tech industry that will shake tables.

I am ready.

This is my testimony.

Psuedo-code is so important!

Sam — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 08:11:50 +0000

I am proud of what I accomplished in learning Test Driven Development as I self-teach myself JavaScript. Better late than never. Continuing in exercises that I initially mentioned in an earlier article, this time the exercise is sumAll where you have a beginning number and ending number and wanting to add all the numbers in between, including the end and starting points.

What I did first was do psuedo-code because I keep being told how it makes things a lot more clear and I am glad I did because I knew what I wanted in human language, and need to translate to computer.

I admit, sometimes I feel the urge of just doing the programming and make it perfect as I can because that was what I was taught in classes. But, I am starting to see how people are right that it's better to plan and break down the problems one by one. And I usually run into code-blocks and get myself frustrated and give up. But this problem I didn't feel any frustration when I wrote down what I want, variables I want to name, like naming ingredients for a recipe! I found myself referring back to my human notes each time I felt like I wasn't getting somewhere and utilizing Stack Overflow and google to learn of functions like instanceof that can do checking of parameters being an array or not.

  //What code should accomplish
  //Want two variables, numStart and numEnd
  //Loop to begin at numStart and end at numEnd
  //Add numbers between numStart and numEnd, including the two in summation
  //return the sum at the end, variable named finalSum
  //check if parameters are negative or non-number as well

Then it was a matter of getting right output, and I had quite a few console.log to check :) I almost got stuck at part where larger number is started first, but then realized it's the same logic, except we would be decrementing instead of incrementing.

The complete code is as follows:

const sumAll = function (numStart, numEnd) {

    let finalSum = 0; //holds the sum of numbers
    let addedNumbers = 0; //hold added numbers
    let i = numStart

    //Checking right away to see if number is non-number or negative.
    if (i < 0 || typeof numStart != "number" || typeof numEnd != "number" ||
        numStart instanceof Array || numEnd instanceof Array) {
        return 'ERROR';
    }

    //handles case when numStart is larger
    while (i > numEnd) {
        addedNumbers += i;
        i--;

        if (i == numEnd) {
            addedNumbers += i;
            finalSum = addedNumbers;
            console.log('#2 Final sum is: ', finalSum);
        }
    }

    //handles case when numStart is smaller
    while (i < numEnd) {
        addedNumbers += i;
        i++;

        if (i == numEnd) {
            addedNumbers += i;
            finalSum = addedNumbers;
            console.log('Final sum is: ', finalSum);
        }
    }
    return finalSum

};


// Do not edit below this line
module.exports = sumAll;

I say all of this to document my journey and look back when I improve and become a senior in this field I chose to pursue. Although I feel disheartened and sad over how I cannot truly enjoy the holidays as I should because I cannot afford to do so, one day I will have my Tech career providing me the accessibility to needs and financial stability that will allow me to have fun and feel accomplished.

Each day is a step to that brighter tomorrow, even though I may walk in darkness. This is my testimony of a rising Computer Engineer.

Self-Learning JavaScript Journey

Sam — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 20:54:47 +0000

In small short bursts of productivity and the ADHD urge to have exciting blurbs of newfound excitement of learning(who can relate!!? :-) ), I will do my best to share small tid-bits of my journey into learning JavaScript and working on myself to become the best web developer I can be!

I am using The Odin Project to help me in my journey and I have been loving what I have been doing so far.

Right now, I am working on learning the concept of "Test-Driven Development" which at first glance for me, I interpreted as software development that is largely developed. It was new to me that in the work place, tests are made of what code should be doing before the actual code is even written up! This is news to me since in college, they never really emphasized or told us about how the work life can differ so much on what classes may exhibit, in addition to we were never really given the opportunity to make our own test, but use test what was provided and build code around it for it to passed. So this is a steep learning curve for me that I am grateful to push myself towards.

The current incomplete coding challenge I am doing revolving around TDD is removing values from an array using JavaScript.

The following code I have works in removing a single value from an array:

In my current understanding, I have an array object that is not an array instance, and a rest parameter to be a placeholder for an arbitrary number of arguments I want to pass through.

const removeFromArray(array, ...multArgs) {

    let changeArray = [].slice.call(array);
    let indexArg = changeArray.indexOf(...multArgs);

    changeArray.splice(indexArg, 1);

    return changeArray;

    };


  module.exports = removeFromArray;

Since it successfully passed the first test, I moved on to the second test case I needed to do which was having multiple values removed instead of a single one.

My next approach was trying for a for-loop.
The notes I took were the following:

Whenever I deal with arrays, I always immediately go for for-loop knowing I have to iterate through the elements. It seems as the best approach to handle array elements, pending discovery of new functions/elements that can accomplish what I want.
Rest parameters I understand is a placeholder for an arbitrary number of arguments wanting to be passed through, hence the utilization.

My code is then slightly changed to the following where it currently fails both the single value and multiple value:

const removeFromArray(array, ...multArgs) {

    let changeArray = [].slice.call(array);
    let indexArg = changeArray.indexOf(...multArgs);

        for(let i = changeArray.length-1; i >= 0; i--){
             changeArray.splice(indexArg, 1);
}
        return changeArray;
 };


  module.exports = removeFromArray;

After asking someone to do feedback on this manner to improve, I have received helpful tips that I am still navigating through.

First thing I learned: Array.from.

According to documentation, it creates a new, shallow-copied Array instance from an array-like object.

In my own understanding: Its just another way to make my array parameter an array instance or a copy to say the least.

I am very weird in repeating concepts and things I see, but this is how it makes sense to my brain.

My coding journey continues on how I improve and reach a solution!

I hope to update you all soon on when I finally approach a working solution!

I have had some try to just send me a solution, but I know I cannot learn that way! I need to approach it on my own hand to feel accomplished so I appreciate anyone helping, but I appreciate if I am not handed stuff easily! :-)

Update as of 8:43 PM EST

I have reached to a solution thanks to having a productive pair program and a little nudge from people to get on the right track. This is important to me as a junior developer to have soundboard and active, live feedback. I tried rubber ducking, but it didn't help me much because the rubber ducky couldn't talk back to me. :-) But, I digress.

So! The following code has passed the multiple value test cases I had.

What I had did was take my function that was able to remove one value and make it its own function to where it can handle taking one value at a time in terms of handling multiple values.

I also learned about how tricky off by one errors can be. The code below I initially had my for statement in the typical

for(let i = 0; i < multArgs.length; i++){}

fashion and it ended up taking out an additional value that wasn't being indicated to remove! So to handle that off by one, I changed my for statement to

 for (let argument of multArgs){}

to handle that logical error.

I am so glad it started working!

However, not all of the test cases are working the ones it did not work with are the following:

what it doesn't work with yet:
ignores non present values
ignores non present values but still works and
only removes same type


//function that handles removing multiple values
//one at a time
function removeOneValue(array, valueToRemove) {
  let changeArray = Array.from(array);

  if (changeArray != -1) {
    let indexArg = changeArray.indexOf(valueToRemove);
    changeArray.splice(indexArg, 1);
  }

  return changeArray;

}

const removeFromArray = function (array, ...multArgs) {

  let changeArray = Array.from(array);

  //looping through all the arguments that is seen
  //this handles off by one error
  for (let argument of multArgs) {

    changeArray = removeOneValue(changeArray, argument);

  }

  return changeArray;
}



// module.exports = removeFromArray;

// Do not edit below this line
module.exports = removeFromArray;

So what is the issue? It lies within the code snippet that says:

if (changeArray != -1)

where there isn't a proper checking of non-present values. This is changed by updating it to:

(changeArray.indexOf(valueToRemove) != -1)

where if the index of the valueToRemove is present in changeArray, carry out the splicing, otherwise, ignore it and move on.

The updated code is shown below

//function that handles removing values one at a time
function removeOneValue(array, valueToRemove) {
  let changeArray = Array.from(array);
  let indexArg = changeArray.indexOf(valueToRemove);

//we want to check to make such index
//of value to remove is 
//present in change array or not
  if (changeArray.indexOf(valueToRemove) != -1) {
    changeArray.splice(indexArg, 1);
  }

  return changeArray;

}

const removeFromArray = function (array, ...multArgs) {

  let changeArray = Array.from(array);
  //looping through all the arguments that is seen
  //this handles off by one error
  for (let argument of multArgs) {
    changeArray = removeOneValue(changeArray, argument);
  }

  return changeArray;
}



// Do not edit below this line
module.exports = removeFromArray;

Overall, I am pretty proud of myself of sticking to seeing this through and accomplishing my hurdle and I am grateful for individuals in Tech community being a listening ear for me and pushing me to find the solution on my own and me not just giving up and finding a solution elsewhere.

Cheers!

Exhaustion From Tech Hiring Process

Sam — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 22:24:14 +0000

The Update Thus Far

Hey everyone! I know it's been quite a minute since my last blog post , but I will do my best to update and write here accordingly. I have immersed myself into a journey of self-learning, networking and of course, applying to jobs and doing interviews. I decided after being encouraged by a few individuals to write my thoughts in this blog, to shed a light of how I feel and to make it known, hoping it may be the sign or signal for something to change.

So buckle in, grab some tea and biscuits because this is opening myself in a very transparent manner that I am not used to.

My (Exhausting) Story

In this section, I want to just go over a bit of how some interview processes were like for me. There has been a lot I have done which surprises my own self, and it would take a whole book to list them so I will only highlight a few. After doing virtual career events, networking with career coaches who were kind enough to give me consultation free of charge because of my circumstances and them seeing I am genuine about making friends and not just using people for their knowledge, I cleaned up my resume pretty well, sending pictures upon pictures of updated text and format to a few trusted individuals who have been my soundboards and biggest supporters through this process.

As a result, the notifications of how frequently end up on the searches in LinkedIn or having people message me saying "Hey, I wanted to reach out after hearing you on ...", so on and so forth. It's pretty neat I will admit to get this and I am grateful for this outcome.

Now let's get into parts of interviews. Many I had started with a phone call, doing the intro, the role, and me explaining what I am looking for in the company and in the role. The usual. There have been a few times companies did not want to waste any time and send a work prompt/technical assessment to get the ball rolling which was also neat and even moreso neat that the work I was given, wasn't some Hacker Rank timed assessment, but work reflective of what I would do should I be onboarded. These are the interviews I seek that are more humane for me, more of a less frustrating process to do, in addition to helps me gauge when given a challenge, how far I will go.

At most, the rounds of these interviews were 5 to 6. One place was 10 interview rounds, and no, it was not a FAANG company. The process for most of these interviews were 2-4 weeks.

About 5 companies I did interview with in close timelines- Lasted a month(1), a month and a half(2), two months(3), 3 months(4), and 4 months(5) as I currently write this.

The roles I picked were all ones that were stated explicitly to be early-career friendly, open to recent grads, the usual spiel. Some I took the leap of faith knowing I wasn't qualified and still applied just to see how far I can go. I am proud to say that many of these I knocked off one by one, celebrating my wins with people I message on social media of my progress, feeling good to be given notification of next round.

Never mind the fact some had stalled for a week or two until giving that notification, I knew that as a Black woman in STEM, I can't be picky about the process because I do not have that power nor place to bounce back on. I know that because of how I was born, I do not have much impact in what happens to me and I have to fight for myself. I have to fight to get where I want to be because not many will fight for me if it means risking their own position. I have to stay positive and grateful for every possible opportunity coming into my way, even though each rejection, each delay, each doubt I can read on peoples' face as I express my passion in tech, it kills a part of me inside every time. I know no matter how unfair it is people may say, I cannot change it with the lack of impact and power I have. I cannot change what I am being denied entry to. So I wait. I smile and I wait.

I keep waiting. I patiently waited despite my anxiety gets through the roof. I waited despite I cried myself to sleep at night wondering where did I go wrong in the process and did I say one word wrong, did my clothes look professional enough, did I not smile enough.

At one point, I knew I got a rejection when an email came and I don't see a file attached. Sometimes, just seeing the first few words going "Thank you very much for taking the time to apply to..." is enough for me to not bother reading the rest. Though, curiosity gets the best of me and I still open email just to know the inevitable,

Application pool was really competitive.

You were not selected.

We wish you the best in your endeavors.

Back to square one. Back to the start after well over a two-week process. Back to the self-pep talks, praying, playing motivational music, getting my neurodivergent brain to not go in panic mode day of a meeting and get myself in the zone. Back to it all over again. But it's not enough. It's not enough as I read articles, read Tweets from seasoned tech people on what one should do to get a job. I'm not doing enough staying up, having sleepless nights as I read, meditate, practice, code, curate spaces and talk to people and network and do everything I am told is the best way.

The rejection letters still come. I switch up my approach, switch up my style, get feedback. Rejected.

I do projects, take some freelance and allow myself to get some exposure under my belt even though I am not being paid learning what I am, even as the fridge goes low on food and having to plan how a sandwich or a small meal can be broken into 4 days.

I continue. I fight. I process and I endure as so much in life is happening around me and working to break away and get in an environment that is new. But it's not enough.

It's not professional enough. It's not good enough for entry into tech. It's not being passionate enough. It's not optimistic or a cultural fit enough.

It's as if I am in an infinite for-loop in the tech process that has no breakpoints, no stopping statement to stop the debilitating, soul-crushing feeling,

Of knowing one can't even qualify for the lowest-level position there is to offer because they do not have experience for a position that should be where one starts to build to gain said experience.

What also can be hurtful and this is the human part of me: Is seeing others who got opportunities because of their family or not having to do most of what I have done to get a job, making a change in their life. This is exclusively in regards to people I talked to about what I have been doing to get a job and them being absolutely floored by it because they never even thought of doing what I had to because when they had their own process,

They were believed and given a chance. They didn't even have to wait for two weeks. They were given such a timely-mannered opportunity that allowed them to grow beyond expectations.

All because someone believed in them. They didn't do well in technical interviews, but was given that chance to show up in work and do better. They were given grace.

I choke up inside wondering did I do something wrong to not be deserving of grace too. Did I not be polite enough or professional enough or erase my identity enough to where I am but a blank slate that is easily written, just to be given the grace of opportunity?

I truly wondered this at times and I will always push for positivity because I love positivity.

Though I will admit I cannot deny my feelings and the tears that shed on my face of feeling as though I am not enough despite working to the point of exhaustion because that's the professional ideology of needing to show drive and passion just to be worthy of advancement.

I have been told that all it takes is one yes out of the thousands of no's to get the door.

That one yes comes from a lot of pain, sweat, and tears and breaking one's self down in many ways unimaginable to the human language,

All for an entry-level job.

So I ponder, I sit and wonder when would there be change. When would what is said to be broken by design, would be adamantly challenged and pushed. I wonder who or what would it take to have the push for a system that does right by the people instead of succumbing to the system that continues to dim one's bright soul each time a meeting is set up and posted.

Or is it just balm glossed over wounds for one to have false belief they just have to do what they can and succumb to the monster of the process, thinking by the sweet honey-laced words of others who got in before it got this bad, that it will be taken care of, never to be addressed and soon bloom into a festering boil?

I truly wonder about it all.

I am exhausted, and I am still continuing fighting the good fight to be where I want to be,

In NYC, as a Software Engineer.

Though some days, my light dims in despair.

I am tired.