DEV Community: Paidamoyo-Janet aka “Myles”

TN21D: Day 1-The Blogs I Wish I Wrote

Paidamoyo-Janet aka “Myles” — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 04:07:56 +0000

Day One. Usually you'd think of new, fresh. Not today. Day One starts with a problem confusion and regret. I regret not having written this blog sooner.

Every time I have ever decided to write a blog about my journey into tech I end up spending 6 hours jumping down rabbits holes of projects I should write a blog about starting and of course I start the project and I forget to write the blog.

Today, I am going to write the blog. No more excuses, no more rabbit holes.

First things first, I told Twitter I would do it (because that's how I start things in tech I guess?)

• I would like to start making YouTube videos
🦚 P2: SOLUTIONS
• I decided to write this blog post.
• I will write another blog about going through @freeCodeCamp Basic JavaScript course for my @TechtonicaOrg application.
— dev_advocate_myles (@advocatemyles) November 19, 2020

Next I cloned the repo for this project:
https://github.com/erostribe/classsed-graphql-mern-apollo

At this point I desperately need a break. I know that this project is going to take 6 hours and I only have 4 free hours, so I pause. I decide to get lunch and go on a 30 minute walk. This is something I never do, but I also end up tired, frustrated and feeling cooped up and boxed in.

I have 3 work hours left, so I decide to build the landing page for this project in my portfolio. The Landing Page generally gives every project a space where I hope to add technology I learn later. In the code its where I explain exactly what I hope to put there. On the user side it has links to the project.

I ended up taking a nap and there went the remaining 3 hours of work time before I had a JavaScript meetup. In the end I'm glad that I slept, because I managed to eat during the meetup and now I'm ready to look at this with a clear(er) head.

My purpose for today feels complete. I wanted to find something that would add substance to my portfolio and blog about it. Day One COMPLETE. I'm going to schedule some time to work on completing the project (Saturday or Sunday most likely)

"The Next 21 Days"

Paidamoyo-Janet aka “Myles” — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 21:39:27 +0000

I'm giving myself 21 Days to jumpstart my career in tech.

That's such a blunt statement but the truth is I've been looking at a very short list of things that I need to do to feel ready for a job as a Developer Advocate.

In the back of my mind, this list of things contain the things I need to do and skills I need to have (despite any disability or shortcoming I might face) that I need to be able to have or show at any given moment. They are the things I've held on the back-burner or overcompensated for.

The first thing is my portfolio. I never really finished or made it live. I always came to a point where there was always a later and later never came for so many things. Ultimately I want my portfolio to have these things:L

6 projects that show my all my talents.
3 blog posts that talk about tech.
3 YouTube videos (1 featuring me live coding original code)

When I look at it...this list is daunting. I've never finished a project I started on my own, building the portfolio has always been frustrating, and I know that I don't know how to edit videos.

Over the next 21 Days (November 19, 2020 to December 10, 2020) I am going to get this portfolio done and gain the skills I need to be job ready.

How to be a Productive Night Owl

Paidamoyo-Janet aka “Myles” — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 06:03:43 +0000

All my life I've been a night owl. As a child I would study deep into the night and nod off at my desk in the daytime. Both my parents had professions where they worked nights, my mom was a Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse, and my step-father ran a security company. Since being a night owl seems to run in my blood, when I decided to teach myself to learn how to code, I started studying late into the night. I've developed a few habits that have given me a lot of success at getting things done while the world sleeps.

One of the things that inspired me to change was an essay I read by Paul Graham titled "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule.". I think as a creative (before learning to code I was a circus performer/artist/model) I think the notion of using my days in half days like Paul speaks about inherently is the reason I like to code at night. The world is quiet, and there are so few things that can switch me out of "makers mode." The small things that can ruin the flow of creation don't exist at night. The multitude of choices that can lead to 10-15 minutes of mental contortion don't exist.

In Paul's essay, he speaks about a time when he was starting his startup where he would code from dinner until 3am everyday and then sleep until 11am. This schedule enabled him to have two workdays in one which doubled his productivity.

Another reason I started coding at night is that during my 20s before I became a circus performer, I had a period of time where I became a bit of a hermit. At the time I was living in Manhattan, Kansas during the Bush Jr presidency, and I developed a fear of being in public spaces. I am a liberal Black woman and my neighbors were staunchly Republican. Leaving the apartment often resulted in heckles telling me to go back to where I came from, I'd gone outside to slashed tires more than once, and I wanted a way to be able to study and live my life to the fullest in safety. I switched to the nightshift, took online classes and learned to live during the times when the world was sleeping.

I love the nighttime, it feels like there's more space for my brain. My nightly schedule is very simple.

I start my first task at around 5:00-5:30PM after a cup of matcha tea.
Next, I take a break around 6:30-7:00PM where I spend some time on Twitter/FB/IG.
I get back to whatever task I was on until around 9:00-9:30PM to eat dinner. After dinner I try to either gather my thoughts for a blog post or watch a tutorial, just something to give my stomach time to digest.

I try to keep it simple, take breaks when I need to. The biggest reason for this is because of my time at Lambda School. The 3 hour lectures never seemed to help things click, and I felt my attention slipping after 30 minutes to an hour. When I began my self-taught journey, I wanted to do it differently than my time at Lambda. I use their curriculum, but I wanted to do it in a way that was conducive to my lifestyle.

At the end of my night I like to sit quietly, no TV music or anything. It gives my brain time to relax after everything I put it through during the night.

#100DaysOfCode D???

Paidamoyo-Janet aka “Myles” — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 22:49:16 +0000

Hi! My name is Paidamoyo-Janet Azehko aka Myles. I'm a newbie web dev on my journey through 100 Days of Code, and this is my third or fourth attempt. I'm not even sure what day that would make this. But the best thing about learning to code is that you never stop trying, so I'm using this as a way to document my journey a little more in depth in hopes that I can keep up and learn something along the way. I hope you'll join me.

A little about me, I started learning to code through Jessica Livingston's Summer Hacker's Program. (https://foundersatwork.posthaven.com/why-i-started-the-summer-hackers-program). Now that the program is done, I'm still continuing on my journey to learn to code. I didn't get far in the program, I learned some HTML, some CSS and got to JavaScript which is where my brain couldn't keep up, so today that's where I'll start.

JavaScript, its not the name of the font that your barista writes your name on your morning cup of coffee in, it is a robust and amazing programming language that the internet is built on and it's the foundations of the coding language React. Everything in JavaScript is an object because it is an object oriented programming language.

Let's start with Variables. Variables are defined by using the var keyword. Variables can different types like numbers, strings or booleans. Number variables can be either integers (whole numbers without a decimal point) and floating numbers (numbers with a decimal point). Variables can also be a boolean, which is either true or false.

Variables can be either undefined or null. An undefined variable is a variable that is a variable that has been used without declaring it first:

var newVariable;
console.log(newVariable);

A null variable is a variable that is empty meaning that it hasn't been given any value on purpose.

var emptyVariable = null;
console.log(emptyVariable);

This variable will print null.

Alright, that's all for today on my who knows what day this is of #100DaysOfCode.