DEV Community: Bryce Freshwater

Work From Home Life!

Bryce Freshwater — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:10:27 +0000

My work station at home is my gaming desk. It has been hard to switch between my developer/apprentice hat and off-work/gamer hat! Because while I'm trying to work, or blog like this, or do assignments, all my favorite games are urging, "play me, play me!" I've noticed my work time and free time are blurring. I will work for an hour or two, and then play a 40 minutes game of league of legends while eating lunch, then will go back to work tasks, and then back to gaming. I'm not doing well with separating my time and sticking to a schedule. Some days I'll game most of the morning and do more of my programming work at night. Other days, vise versa.

I have been doing well at keeping the physical space itself organized! My desk is clean and by a window so I can get sunlight despite being indoors most of that day. I do thoroughly enjoy my workspace and enjoy spending most of my day in this chair! Today is my first day working for g/d/n/a in Charleston, SC. (Though I'm still working at home as far as I know) I think having a boss and more work to do and having more of a set schedule is going to help me out!

Here's to me hopefully staying on top of all my tasks and not getting overwhelmed!!! Because what I know about myself is when I get overwhelmed, I can find myself in a rut and get buried, but when I stay on top of all my obligations, I stay motivated and feel unstoppable! I'm going to keep riding this momentum!

A New Experience

Bryce Freshwater — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 21:24:09 +0000

Beginning this apprenticeship is unlike anything I've ever done in the past. After one week in, I'm both nervous I'm not an equipped enough developer yet also confident this journey is going to be what I need to get there - to get where I want to be career-wise, to connect my current reality with my dream future. I love the people I'm doing this journey with. I can already tell there is so much to learn from my peers and my instructors from Build Carolina! I am thoroughly enjoying connecting with these people on a personal level as well. It's not all just computer science. I feel a sense of belonging with these people because we're all nerdy and tech savvy, so we inherently have interests in common. And we all have the common goal of longing to be successful in the tech industry. I feel like these are my people, and I'm blessed to be journeying with them! It's such an uplifting and confidence boosting experience so far, and this new found confidence and spark is igniting my independent studies! I'm watching more coding videos and practicing more than I ever have. And it's all for fun! No professor telling me to do it by this deadline for this percentage of my grade. No, I'm studying out of genuine interest after mentally stimulating zoom meetings! It's refreshing, really!

Beginning my Build Carolina Apprenticeship

Bryce Freshwater — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 19:01:16 +0000

My name is Bryce Freshwater, and I am starting an apprenticeship with Build Carolina. This opportunity means a lot to me because I long to be a successful software developer! I am 1 of 7 people who were selected for this cohort, and I don't take that lightly.

In early December, I graduated from Trident Technical College. I have an associate degree in Applied Science Computer Technology-Computer Programming. I have struggled getting my foot in the door with local tech companies because I lack experience. This apprenticeship has paired me g/d/n/a (global digital needs agency), and for the next 6 months, my work days are going to be split up with both classroom time with Build Carolina to further develop my craft and with g/d/n/a to get real world work experience!

My goal is to be a sponge! I want to soak up as much knowledge as I possibly can! I'm ready to learn. I can already tell I am surrounded by extremely knowledgeable people (my Build Carolina instructor, and also my peers!) I am excited to share my journey here on DEV because other developers inspire me to keep pushing and bettering myself in this industry! I'm excited for what the future holds :)