DEV Community: Brian Bethencourt

#100DaysOfCode Redux + Week 1 Review

Brian Bethencourt — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:31:28 +0000

Hey all 👋

Like many of you, I took on the #100DaysOfCode challenge, and yes, I fell off. The first 30 days were fun, but as life got busier, the commitment became more challenging. Twitter isn't the same as it was back in 2017 in terms of programming motivation. Have we all fully changed names to X, by the way? Asking for a friend.

Rather than talking about the hundred personal reasons for my hiatus, let's just acknowledge that life happens. We all face obstacles, and that's okay. What matters is the determination to get back on track, right? So, I'm excited to announce that I'm gearing up to restart my #100DaysOfCode challenge!

Here's how my first week back went...
Day 1, I decided to revisit CSS, wiping my CSS Practice repo clean to refresh my memory. Those commits didn't show up on my GitHub calendar – wonder if I messed something up there...

Days 2-4, I delved into customizing Linux, explored Git for Windows, and started learning GDScript for Godot game development. Why Godot? Well, I'm all about open-source, and having the flexibility to tinker with the engine itself is a game-changer (pun intended). During this time, I also finished my foundational CSS exercises.

Days 5-7, I faced my fears and created my own landing page. It took effort, but overcoming that challenge was worth it. Check it out here. If you want to see the repo, you can find that here. The page might be a bit rough, but I'm proud of it for a first attempt with flexbox.

Next up, JavaScript – the heart and soul of web development. I'm excited about it! DEV's core audience seems like it is mainly JavaScript-focused, so it feels like unlocking a new level in the coding game.

So, what can you expect from my upcoming #100DaysOfCode posts?

Progress Updates: Documenting the highs, lows, and everything in between.
Challenges & Solutions: Sharing the challenges I face and the solutions I discover.
Code Snippets: Offering bite-sized code snippets to showcase my learning.

I'll be posting weekly on DEV so I'll be posting about 15 times over the duration of my challenge. Instead of posting daily updates here, I'll keep my daily #100daysofcode posts on my development Tumblr blog. Might be a strange choice of platform, but I feel like I can spam freely there without issue and it's a bit more introverted of a community.

I'm grateful for the support during my first attempt, and I can't wait to continue this coding adventure with all of you! 🌟 Let's crush those 2024 coding goals together! 💪

#100DaysOfCode - Week 2 Review

Brian Bethencourt — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 21:06:42 +0000

Hey all! I'm going to keep this review relatively short. It has been a really tough week for me. I've had a lot go on in my personal life. Everyone in my family is either suffering a health issue or some other stress factor and it has been a lot of emotional juggling for me. Though somehow, I've been able to dedicate some time each day to code.

I've paused my daily #100daysofcode updates to Twitter because that place is not very friendly to my mental health. I've instead been keeping a personal journal of my daily efforts on Obsidian and that has been going well.

While week 1 was all about the basics of CSS and the box model, week 2 has been a lot about cementing those foundations and bringing them over to Flexbox. I've had a great time learning Flex because it really empowers and motivates me to learn CSS. Once you type in display: flex, everything changes all at once before your eyes. From there, the rest of the algorithm just helps you position things where need be. It feels really straightforward and engaging and that's what I like the most.

I've been doing well on the CSS exercises, though the Flex ones are the ones I've been having the most trouble with so far. The others have mostly been a breeze. Currently working on a company landing page, hope to have that ready for you by next week's update!

#100DaysOfCode - Week 1 Review

Brian Bethencourt — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 23:39:15 +0000

Howdy there 🤠

I've been lovin' that cowboy emoji recently for some reason. Also this combo is great ☝🤓 - gives me "uhm, actually..." vibes.

Anyway, welcome to my first week in review! It's amazing how much can happen in just a week.

Day 1 & 2: Setup, Git, HTML

The start of my week was mostly administrative work. I decided to take TOP's advice and make the switch from my bloated Windows 10 OS to Ubuntu. I've been trying to steer clear of video games because they tend to devour my time, so I went for a single boot option. It's only been a week, but we'll see if I come to regret that.

I felt I still needed to write actual code each day and not just tinker around with Linux configs, so I jumped at TOP's first mini-project and built a recipe site inspired by "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." You can check it out here:

dev-encourt.github.io

I've grown fond of having a small project I can put together in a couple of hours and experiment with something new each time.

I also spent the first few days to read man bash and actually learn how git worked. I'm gonna be in the terminal a lot, might as well make it my friend and not my enemy.

Days 3 - 7: Literally just CSS

Something must have happened to me in the past when I learned CSS. I think I learned about selectors, colors, fonts, and then thought, "Okay, CSS is easy; let's move on." However, the box model, which now seems simple in hindsight, definitely baffled me for a while.

The past five days have been dedicated almost entirely to CSS. I've been determined to ensure that my sheet is indeed stylish and cascading. I had my eureka moment that made CSS finally click for me. It all started when someone said, "Everything in CSS is a box."

That was the key, but I still didn't quite see it. It wasn't until I stumbled upon an ancient wizard in the Tubes of You who revealed the magic words to me. With just one line, all the mysteries of CSS unfolded before my eyes:
* { border: 1px solid red; }

That one line of code turned the tide. Now, I'm excited to dive deeper into the world of styling and design. There's so much to explore, from animations to responsive layouts, and I'm ready to tackle it all. I just needed to visualize it in the right way.

Part 3: What Lies Ahead?

Switching to Ubuntu was a bold move, and although it brought its fair share of challenges, I'm starting to see the benefits in terms of a more streamlined development environment.

I'm hype to rush to JavaScript, but I'm going to thank myself later if I have strong HTML and CSS fundamentals now. I just can't let myself get bored. My recipe site project was a small but significant step and it's really satisfying to have a tangible result of my efforts.

Much like a cat, boxes are now my best friend. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I hope you'll continue to follow my progress! 🚀👨‍💻

My #100DaysOfCode Challenge

Brian Bethencourt — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 23:04:01 +0000

Past

I have had a really long, bumpy relationship with coding. I'm a naturally fast learner, so when I run into something with as many hurdles as coding, I've never had enough grit to make it through. Or at least, that's what I tell myself.

At the earliest stages of my journey, I had online profiles on chat sites that I customized with HTML and CSS before I even really understood what those were.

When I was in high school, I traded my Physics courses for Computer Science courses. I got to learn web design and make my own games instead of doing math on paper, what a dream! At the peak of my high school tech career, I used a Logitech webcam and my own API to design something similar to a Ring doorbell before those really got popular.

Nowadays, I know enough about these technical topics to hold a conversation, but if you actually pressed me about some of them and held my feet to the fire, I probably wouldn't be able to give you solid answers. For my fellow Americans, if you had Spanish classes in high school and haven't spoken the language since, you'll know how I feel: a stuttering, bumbling mess.

Future

So, I want to make an effort to fix that. How are things going to change?

I've always struggled with motivation, but I've never struggled with passion. That, I've got buckets full of. So, let's take all that passion and turn it into something fruitful.

You all may have heard of the recent round of layoffs at Forem last week. While I was unfortunately one of the unlucky few impacted, I'm not going to let that stop me from connecting with over one million of you amazing people each and every week.

I'm feeling motivated enough to do 100 Days of Code this October, so let's see how it'll turn out. With this post, I'm committing myself publicly to the challenge. Maybe a true developer will be born out of this venture.

#100DaysOfCode Official Website | #100DaysOfCode

100daysofcode.com

I think this time, I have a few major motivations that will make the difference:

I'm already at the best place to be a CodeNewbie: dev.to
I have dream projects I want to be able to turn into reality.
I'm willing to take it slow and understand that there are going to be a lot of things that I don't get the first go around.

You can follow along with my daily progress on Twitter:

twitter.com

I'll post weekly here so I don't spam you too much - and just to make it easier on the ol' wrists. 15 posts is a lot less than 100 posts.

If anyone has been waiting to make the effort to learn how to code, this is your sign! I'm following The Odin Project, so you can feel free to learn along with me at your own pace. I'm inspired by all of you and hope that I can inspire some newbies myself along the way.

If I get anything wrong, feel free to leave a helpful comment! See you soon! 💕

Hacktoberfest 2023 for Maintainers

Brian Bethencourt — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 21:54:37 +0000

If you're planning to maintain a project during Hacktoberfest this year…

Your dedication and hard work won't go unnoticed. It's time to set aside any impostor syndrome feelings because you're about to make a significant impact this coming month.

Preparing your Repo 🛠

We want you to get the most out of Hacktoberfest, and a good part of that is going to be based on how you set up your repository to take on these new contributors. If at any time you have questions or concerns during the event, you can check out this page: https://hacktoberfest.com/participation/#maintainers

First, you'll need to opt-in to Hacktoberfest. If you don't take on these basic steps, contributors won't know if your repo is Hacktoberfest-eligible.

Here's what you have to do:

Add the “hacktoberfest” topic to your repository to opt-in to Hacktoberfest and indicate you’re looking for contributions.
Apply the “hacktoberfest” label to issues you want contributors to help with in your GitHub or GitLab project.
Add a CONTRIBUTING.md file with contribution guidelines to your repository. Include details like how to fork the repository, make changes, and submit pull requests.
Adopt a code of conduct to create a greater sense of inclusion and community for contributors. It sets the tone for respectful and inclusive collaboration.

That's all you need to get started!

During the month of October, you will want to be ready to review pull/merge requests that are submitted from Hacktoberfest contributors. Any that are valid can be accepted by merging them, leaving an approving review, or by adding the “hacktoberfest-accepted” label.

We dislike seeing spam pull/merge requests just as much as you, so please give them a spam label and close them. Pull/merge requests that have a label containing the word spam won’t be counted toward Hacktoberfest, and participants with two or more PR/MRs identified as spam will be disqualified.

Please handle any other invalid contributions by closing them or labeling them as “invalid.”

Here are some additional tips to ensure your repository is Hacktoberfest-ready:

Project Goals: Make sure your repository has a well-defined purpose and clear goals. Document these in the README file so contributors understand the project's objectives. A well-maintained README, along with guides and examples, can make it easier for contributors to understand the codebase.
Useful Issue Templates: Create templates for various types of issues (e.g., bug reports, feature requests) to ensure that contributors provide necessary information when creating issues.
Useful Tags: Creating labels like “good first issue”, “beginner-friendly”, and “help wanted” are also good ways to draw attention to issues you’d like taken care of.
License Information: Ensure your project has a clear and open-source license. Without a license, contributors may be uncertain about how they can use and distribute the code.

Let it Shine 💫

Once your repository is set up and ready for new contributors, you're going to want to let them know that you exist.

One of the best ways to do this is on DEV! When you post about your project, use the official Hacktoberfest tag (#hacktoberfest23) to increase visibility. This would be a great time to share your project goals, values, and areas that you'd really like help from either beginners or veterans. You can use this Maintainer template to get started.

By sharing about your repo on DEV and being active during the month of October, you'll be eligible to earn the Hacktoberfest 2023 Honored Maintainer Badge.

Here are some other tips to boost the visibility of your project this month:

Update Project Activity: Keep your project active during Hacktoberfest by regularly merging and reviewing pull requests. An active project is more likely to attract contributors.
Use Socials and Email: Share announcements about your Hacktoberfest participation on your social media profiles. If you have an email list or newsletter, send out updates about your Hacktoberfest participation and any related events or opportunities.
Collaborate with Other Maintainers: Partner with other open-source project maintainers to cross-promote each other's repositories during Hacktoberfest.
Highlight Contributions: Acknowledge and celebrate contributions made during Hacktoberfest. Consider creating a "Contributors" section in your README to showcase the names or GitHub profiles of those who participated.

Remember that the goal of Hacktoberfest is to promote open-source collaboration and provide opportunities for people to contribute. Creating a positive and inviting environment in your repository will encourage participation and foster a sense of community among contributors.

Leave any other prep ideas or questions in the comments below!

Trending Discussions of the Week - 9/19/23

Brian Bethencourt — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 20:21:30 +0000

Each week, we curate the most engaging #discuss posts on DEV to bring them to you in one comprehensive list. From coding tips to career advice, you'll find a range of topics that are buzzing in the DEV community.

Why do we get frustrated when learning something?

Jait Ramadandi Jeke ・ Sep 16

#beginners #discuss #productivity #learning

@jaitramadandij knows how much it sucks to struggle in learning something new, but some pain is required to get those gains. How do you get past these obstacles in learning?

I hold back on job applications, compensating with tech dev blogging and ongoing side projects – this ain't effective innit?

Retiago Drago ・ Sep 15

#discuss #career

@ranggakd tells an honest and common story about having a wide skillset. What would you do in his position?

Follow-ups to the “Streets” series

Taylor Hunt ・ Sep 17

#webdev #discuss #performance

Here, Taylor does a follow-up post on his goal to make a meaningfully fast website. If you haven't read @tigt's Streets Series, you might wanna check it out.

What are the super powers of programmers?

Gabor Szabo ・ Sep 13

#discuss #programming #beginners

Superpowers allow you to do something unique or something beyond what people without those powers could do. @szabgab asks, what superpower would programmers have if they were given them?

🧭 Navigating the Open Source Landscape: ⭐Finding Your First Contribution

Nathan Tarbert ・ Sep 13

#opensource #webdev #discuss #github

The challenge often lies in finding the right project to kickstart your open-source journey, so here's @nathan_tarbert to get you started!

📚 Explore More in Our Code Chatter Series

Want to dive deeper into the world of developer discussions and insights? Check out our Code Chatter Series and join us as we explore the coding world, one witty question at a time.

What's Your Ideal Coding Environment?

dev.to staff for The DEV Team ・ Sep 18

#discuss

#DEVDiscuss: JavaScript Runtimes

Brian Bethencourt — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:41:15 +0000

Time for #DEVDiscuss — right here on DEV 😎

Discover Bun - A Faster, Modern JavaScript Runtime

Vinit Gupta ・ Sep 10 '23

#javascript #codenewbie #opensource

Inspired by @thevinitgupta's Top 7 post, tonight’s topic is... JavaScript Runtimes!

You might dread another JavaScript tool, but there have been a lot of modern changes that caused JavaScript runtimes to become lighter and faster, such as: common use of JSX, yearly new releases of ECMAScript, and the popularity of TypeScript.

Questions:

How does the choice of JavaScript runtime affect web application performance and user experience?
What have you noticed about how JavaScript tools have changed over the last five years?
Are there any emerging JavaScript runtimes or technologies that developers should keep an eye on?
Any triumphs, fails, or other stories you'd like to share on this topic?

Trending Discussions of the Week - 9/12/23

Brian Bethencourt — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 19:49:03 +0000

Each week, we curate the most popular #discuss posts on DEV to bring them to you in one comprehensive list. From coding tips to career advice, you'll find a range of topics that are buzzing in the DEV community.

What Inspired You To Became A Coder? 🤔

Soumyadeep Dey ☑️ ・ Aug 30

#watercooler #discuss

Sharing your dev journey will certainly inspire others, so @soumyadeepdey asks, how did you start your craft?

Dev's, share something you know that most don't

Shrijal Acharya ・ Aug 29

#discuss #programming #beginners #opensource

There's so much knowledge out there to learn that you have to know at least one niche or esoteric bit. Here's where to drop that strange trivia -- share it with @shricodev!

More Than Money: Finding Deeper Value in Coding

Jimmy McBride ・ Sep 8

#codenewbie #discuss #career #programming

A lot of people, younger @jimmymcbride included, came into programming with the promises of huge six-figure salaries. So, the question is: what do you find valuable from coding outside of the pay?

What to look for when hiring a new engineer for your team?

Gregor Ojstersek ・ Aug 25

#hiring #discuss #career #interview

@gregorojstersek normally looks for engineers that can reasonably articulate things and can demonstrate drive, motivation for learning, as well as being a good team player. Tell us more about your team's hiring standards in the comments below!

Mastering Conflict Resolution: 8 Expert Tips to Transform Challenging Interactions into Opportunities

Aidas Petryla ・ Sep 7

#beginners #career #discuss #management

@apetryla shares some great ways to turn interactions into opportunities with conflict resolution! Share some strategies you use to navigate conflicts in the comments of this discussion!

📚 Explore More in Our Code Chatter Series

Want to dive deeper into the world of developer discussions and insights? Check out our Code Chatter Series and join us as we explore the coding world, one witty question at a time.

Code Pet Peeves: What's Yours?

dev.to staff for The DEV Team ・ Sep 6

#discuss

DEV Community: Brian Bethencourt

#100DaysOfCode Redux + Week 1 Review

#100DaysOfCode - Week 2 Review

#100DaysOfCode - Week 1 Review

Day 1 & 2: Setup, Git, HTML

Days 3 - 7: Literally just CSS

Part 3: What Lies Ahead?

My #100DaysOfCode Challenge

Past

Future

#100DaysOfCode Official Website | #100DaysOfCode

Top 7 Featured DEV Posts from the Past Week

Hacktoberfest 2023: The Complete Guide

Saurabh Rai ・ Sep 22 '23

NUNit and C# - Tutorial to automate your API Tests from scratch

Alicia Marianne ・ Sep 18 '23

🥳🥳Congratulations! You have not been hired

Dumebi Okolo ・ Sep 18 '23

Can self-taught programmers get jobs?

Programming with Shahan ・ Sep 22 '23

What is Strict Mode in JavaScript?

Ekaterine Mitagvaria ・ Sep 21 '23

Supercharge your Repository with Code Owners

Nick Taylor for OpenSauced ・ Sep 21 '23

Sharing Code Snippets on Social Media, the accessible way! [Quicka11y]

GrahamTheDev for tota11y.dev ・ Sep 19 '23

Hacktoberfest 2023 for Maintainers

Preparing your Repo 🛠

Let it Shine 💫

Trending Discussions of the Week - 9/19/23

Why do we get frustrated when learning something?

Jait Ramadandi Jeke ・ Sep 16

I hold back on job applications, compensating with tech dev blogging and ongoing side projects – this ain't effective innit?

Retiago Drago ・ Sep 15

Follow-ups to the “Streets” series

Taylor Hunt ・ Sep 17

What are the super powers of programmers?

Gabor Szabo ・ Sep 13

🧭 Navigating the Open Source Landscape: ⭐Finding Your First Contribution

Nathan Tarbert ・ Sep 13

📚 Explore More in Our Code Chatter Series

What's Your Ideal Coding Environment?

dev.to staff for The DEV Team ・ Sep 18

Top 7 Featured DEV Posts from the Past Week

Update your dev.to articles into your Github profile

JackTT ・ Sep 14 '23

Tech Events are NOT as cool as you think (from an organizer perspective)

Keit Oliveira for DevRel Brasil ・ Sep 13 '23

The 5 principles of Unit Testing

David González Rueda for One Beyond ・ Sep 14 '23

Use Cases for IIFEs

Adam Nathaniel Davis ・ Sep 13 '23

Bringing more sweetness to Ruby with Sorbet types 🍦

Cherry Ramatis ・ Sep 18 '23

Why I quit open source

Artem Sapegin ・ Sep 14 '23

How I Got Feedback After Every Tech Interview

Abbey Perini ・ Sep 14 '23

Top Featured CodeNewbie Posts (9/14/23)

It's Time to End the Biggest Programming Myth

Grace Harders ・ Sep 8 '23

If I Could Start My Dev Career Again: Essential Tips for Newbies

Barry Michael Doyle ・ Sep 11 '23

✨ This is how I contributed code to open source as a beginner 🚀

Bap for Quine ・ Sep 5 '23

The Spectrum of Developer Entrepreneurship

Ivan Novak ・ Sep 8 '23

🍃 What Happens When You Let Go in Programming (Surprising Results)

Cherlock Code 🔎 ・ Aug 17 '23

#DEVDiscuss: JavaScript Runtimes

Discover Bun - A Faster, Modern JavaScript Runtime

Vinit Gupta ・ Sep 10 '23

Questions:

Trending Discussions of the Week - 9/12/23

What Inspired You To Became A Coder? 🤔

Soumyadeep Dey ☑️ ・ Aug 30

Dev's, share something you know that most don't

Shrijal Acharya ・ Aug 29

More Than Money: Finding Deeper Value in Coding

Jimmy McBride ・ Sep 8