DEV Community: Haley Elder

2024 Recap; 2025 Goals

Haley Elder — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 00:23:00 +0000

2025, yup, that is weird to type.

Happy New Year and all that; I've had this post outlined, drafted, and reworked for a few weeks now so here it is! I was looking back on my last year's goals post and saw I didn't really pick any specific goals. As a big plan-ahead person with numerous to do lists, I felt a bit out of place at times without some of the guidance I have set up for myself to work toward. This did not mean grinding for "hustle culture" and "if I'm not productive, I'm not worthy" thoughts; I'd prefer to have something set to work toward, even if it's a crafty project or fitness goal.

We're back with more structure this year!

For most of the year, I'm glad I was able to keep a somewhat consistent running routine and hiking to get outside, but had struggled with some career direction in the latter half. At one point, I thought it was a burnout phase, but kind of shifted to personal resentment? It might be a different term, but I've had feelings of self criticism to my past self for some career based choices I could have made.

The feeling continue to circle back how I've felt I’ve “missed my window” to get into a certain career, but it hasn’t stopped me from inching to the end goal. Past me was just starting out in a tech role, needed something to pay the bills, and other factors to work around; there’s no way to know if an alternate choice would have put me in the "right" place either. So, what is the end goal now?

I'm going to continue working with Python and Javascript for future projects. Lately, “the media” or whatever hot social media thread has been saying it's not a great market for entry level roles as it once was. Honestly, it sounds pretty similar across the board, not only for technology based roles. For now, I'll keep doing what I'm doing, see goals below, and building in public. If I can't stop brainstorming random project ideas during the day that excite me, it should be worthwhile to pursue, right?

I can't not mention 2024 goals without showing off my reading goal. I raised my annual goal to 25, and hit 40 again! I’ve raised the number to 30 this year and may get a bit closer. I've joined Storygraph for the fancy graphs, but won't be updating as frequently as Goodreads.

2025 Goals n' Things

Sorta Big Three/some things coming up this year:

8k race (already paid for it, so I gotta try)! The ultimate goal is still 10k, at some point, and 1/4 marathon stretch goal (after I found they're .3 mi farther than a 10k, why not?)
Complete at least 2 CS50web projects. Ideally, complete the entire thing, but I need a big refresher since starting 2 years ago.
I have a list of crafty projects to get back into. At least 2 in-progress embroidery kits, a mystery knit, a sweater, and a bomber jacket pattern to sew. 🧵

Average Reads and PyLadiesCon 2024

Haley Elder — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 00:42:43 +0000

Average Reads version 2!

Version 1 of this project was my final for CS50Python. The write-up can be found here up here.

For the project's next iteration, I wanted to move the functionality to a web-based framework to practice building a Python-based fullstack application. This would make it easier to use, read, and share what I have been working on. This version is much closer to what I had envisioned when starting! The application is now using Flask and SQLAlchemy to add, edit, and update books across the three reading lists and you can download all three lists in one CSV file to your computer.

The trickiest part, besides deploying a Flask app for the first time, was once again the CSV download portion. I was able to carry over most of the code from my past version to run the "save to a CSV" function, but it had to be set up in a slightly different way for the web app. I had not realized to use the function "send_from_directory," the folder had to be created first to save the file, then download it to your computer. It was a good feeling figuring that one out though 😄

I was able to keep most of the title formatting and error-checking functionality but was easier to show in a more visual way with on page warnings. Such as letting you know if a book was already on one of the three lists, if there were no books to download (lists are empty), and title case any entered book titles. There are a few more enhancements I'd like to do with this one but needed a bit of a break. I want to update the styling a bit more, update the book editing functionality, and add a graphic I had sketched for the header.

PyLadiesCon 2024

Since my reinterest in Python, I searched for the next date and location for the next PyCascades (spoiler alert, Portland, Oregon, February 2025) and came across PyLadiesCon! This free online conference occurred from December 6 to 8 in multiple timezones and languages. I couldn't make it to listen to all in real time, as there were side chats, questions, and conversations happening in tandem on their Discord server. I'm now going back through some of the recorded talks I was interested in.

PyLadiesCon Video Playlist

Some of the talks I was most interested in were How to Stop an Epidemic using the Atomica Python Tool, Empowering Sustainable Agriculture: Quantifying the Impact of Water Resources Management Practices with Python, and PyLadies in Open Source. I plan on researching and hopefully participating in a bit more open-source work starting next year and Python seems to be the community to lean into.

Although JavaScript is a recommended language for newbie coders to pursue in web development, it can be a bit scary to venture to other languages or even know where to start. CS50Python helped me get a leg up in learning Python and what can be done with the language, my interest has grown again in the past few months. Even though the fundamentals are generally the same, for some reason, I've enjoyed working with Python and seem to understand it a bit more than JavaScript. I'll still be working with JavaScript (and React) but I'd like to shift a bit more to Python projects. More to come in a future 2025 goals post.

2023 Recap; 2024 Goals

Haley Elder — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 19:35:00 +0000

Welcome to 2024! We may be a few weeks into January but it’s an odd transitional month and I didn’t feel like setting (or sticking) to a hard set date to post this. Especially with a week of a damaging winter storm stalled me finishing this 💀.

I had taken some time at the end of 2023 researching some different blogging platforms to convert my WordPress site to something else. I tested out some Astro templates and their tutorial, but haven't picked out a design to build out yet. Once, I get a design closer in mind and see how to set up my custom domain it, I’ll be posting here!

For the past few years, I have decided on picking a few main goals to focus on for the year. It keeps the process a bit more manageable and specific enough to follow.

As an example below are my 2023 Big Three and results:

Keep a consistent form of exercise or movement (hiking, paddling, walking, yoga, eventually running again) for mental health and stress relief.

Success: but primarily in the last half of the year. The first third, I was feeling the glum effects of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Once the better weather started peaking out in the spring, I restarted the None to Run plan (way better for beginners than Couch25k!), did a fun run to benefit the Humane Society, took a break for summer, and completed the entire 12 week plan in the fall!

Joined up with some more local group hikes to work on a hike challenge for the year, met some new folks, and new locales.

Continue learning in public:

Partial success: I'd post what I was working on and had some in progress projects but had started and stalled quite a few times. My other two goals got a bit in the way; in a good way.

On mentality: be kinder to myself, practice meditation more consistently, and improve warding off imposter syndrome

Partial success: This one was a bit tough. I do feel more confident in some of my abilities but have trouble applying them or lack some guidance at times. Comparison is the thief of joy, they say, and is quite true. Working on it! I was able to leverage my fitness goals to help with this thinking a little bit. Not only getting literally outside physically and mentally, but saw a possible difficult hike which was a bit more difficult but doable. Figured as long as you put one foot in front of the other will get you to the top!

Other Notable Tidbits:

Cooking 🍴

I enjoy cooking for myself, trying out new foods, and decided to expand my repertoire of recipes. I picked 10 new-to-me or copycat type recipes to complete once a month. Most turned out okay but there were a few I'll leave to keep ordering from a restaurant. 😅 The full list of recipes are: crunch wrap, ramen, tortellini soup, pop tarts, pad see ewe, monster cake from Breath of the Wild, General Tso’s chicken, gnocchi, eggs benedict, and wonton soup.

Reading 📚

Crushed my Goodreads goal of 12 and reached 41 books for the year ! Joining some in person and online book clubs helped usher this along 😊

Car paid off! #Adulting 🚗

Looking to 2024:

The phrase I kept would tell myself going through 2023, whether it was running training, following a painting tutorial, or hiking, was “trust the process.” What is the process? Not sure! In the moment it was trusting the next steps would get you to your end goal and trust your gut it will work out or you will find a way.

2024’s focus will be around consistency. I’m not quite sure what my Big Three will be this year, or if I even pick any, but I’d like to keep up with my fitness goals, building in public, and learning new things.

That’s it for now, I have a backlog of blogging topics I’d like to cover this year and we’ll see what happens 😎

2022 Goals Recap, Looking to 2023

Haley Elder — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 03:18:09 +0000

The 2022 recap and 2023 goals has lead a bit into the new year! The draft has been sitting for a few weeks or so to see how the end of 2022 would be and it was pretty stressful due to travel issues so this is a bit later than planned. I found my past post where I picked a few goals for the year and looks like I made about 1.75 to 2/3 of them? Sort of? I’d say that is mostly okay with me working on my Big Three and felt like pretty realistic goals to reach and work toward. The recap and outcomes as follow:

1. Get a Real Developer™ Job

Not necessarily a developer role but did get a new job! Still applied for some developer roles, attempted some code assessments (failed a couple), and were passed over. I had a second run at an internship and did not feel it aligned with my goals at the time and began to look elsewhere. I will still find my growth in my current role, help people, and continue to work on side projects as usual.

2. Run a 10k Race

HA, nope. I started the Couch to 5k/10k interval plan early in January and two weeks in got a knee tendon/some sort of other injury that took a while to initially heal and lingered for some of the year. To take it’s place, I was able to SUP (stand up paddle board) and hike more than previous years.

3. Read a Book A Month (12 books total):

This one had a slow start until I tried to find some local book clubs to chat about books; in the end my Goodreads had me at 14 read! A couple were nonfiction audio books which helped those along. The rest of the summer and fall, I became a frequent visitor of my local library :) I’ll be keeping this up into 2023.

Other Odds and Ends

CS50P (Intro to programming with Python) started up in May of this year and I was enamored with the course. I had tried CS50x last fall, but could not keep up with C programming concepts and did not feel they aligned with my coding goals. I have done a little bit of Python in the past and enjoyed this style so much more. Over the summer, I took a bit of a break and currently working on my final project.

It’s not all code around here! This year, I was able to reclaim my weekends back and join some hiking groups on the weekend to experience some new trails and meet new people. It’s refreshing to see bands visiting the area again so I can see some I’ve been waiting for a while! Despite getting sick after one, I was able to go to see three of some of my favorite bands Royal Blood, Odesza, and Big Wild.

✨ 2023 Goals✨

These may change a little but it’s a good starting point for 2023 with Big Three style again:

keep a consistent form of exercise or movement (hiking, paddling, walking, yoga, eventually running again) for mental health and stress relief
continue learning in public, and maybe even more at some point this year?? more to come… ;)
on mentality: be kinder to myself, practice meditation more consistently, and improve warding off imposter syndrome

-- H

CS50P Weeks 6 - 8

Haley Elder — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 21:10:59 +0000

Github tracking repo -- here
Crossposted on my blog Craft && Code -- here

It’s here, I’ve made it! Honestly, this is one of the first courses I have started and just about to complete since learning to code years ago (yes really); I definitely fall for “shiny object syndrome” and would get easily distracted. This one definitely made an impression and kept me engaged for this long. This last recap does not include final project notes quite yet (one last post) and is the last third of CS50P now that I’ve submitted all problem sets (41!).

The last post was published right before a little break and adventuring for my birthday on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington and also gearing up to to another batch of interviewing for a new role. I felt a tiny bit more at ease this time around and confidence as I knew what it felt like on the other side interviewing people 😁. The down time wasn’t all spent twiddling my thumbs. I was able to get out a bit more this summer, even if ours started a bit late, which meant more paddling, hiking, and got back into reading.

This last section included one of my favorite weeks of this course, practicing using more python libraries and CSV file and image manipulation. I was first attuned to the capabilities of python when someone at a meetup had mentioned the free online book and Automate the Boring Stuff which also included these concepts and the basics of python.

The last two weeks definitely ramped up complexity of incorporating previous weeks knowledge of libraries, testing, and newer concepts. For example, I have used regex before with JavaScript, and it is very useful, but can get complicated very quickly. Once again a time formatting problem popped up (working.py) and took the longest of all the problems, but felt quite accomplished finishing that one!

The last week was where I struggled the most and definitely felt some burnout at this time; it covered Object Oriented Programming concepts. I had watched a few videos on the basics, blogs, tried to find some exercises to help supplement and practice these concepts but it was difficult to apply it. From the first problem to the second on OOP, it took about four months to get back into the swing of things, but felt really great to get back into it and finish this problem. As in previous difficult problems I had to work through, best is to break it down bit by bit, test, and keep slowly inching forward. I had gotten closer than I thought by the end where finding how to test the class functions was the most confusing, and once discovered how, submitted and done!

The very last problem was similar to a past image manipulation problem but with a different library, most of that one was trial and error until it aligned😅, see the results below.

With all problem sets complete, I’ve kept a notepad of possible final project ideas, and I think I’ve settled on one and started to plan an outline. There are not too many restrictions, so having it so open ended is tough to figure something out as well. Should have it all set by end of year like my estimate, stay tuned. 😀

Nearing the finish line!
-- H

CS50P Weeks 3 - 5

Haley Elder — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 03:51:36 +0000

Github tracking repo -- here
Crossposted on my blog Craft && Code -- here

Did not expect to get to write another one of these so quick, but here we are: weeks 3 to 5 covering Exceptions, Libraries and Unit Testing. As expected, the learning curve for new topics and subjects grew with each new week and problem set to test our knowledge and how to approach and solve a problem programmatically.

I’ve noticed a possible trend of the send to last problem set has been the most difficult of the bunch, at least to me. For the week on exceptions, it was outdated.py FOR SURE. I’ve known the pain of working through timezones, formatting, and date types from a past JavaScript Slack bot projects but this was a whole new approach. Eventually got it, even had to write out the pseudocode on paper to process the flow since I was brainstuck trying to test directly in the editor. Took a few stabs over a couple days, but eventually got it, I was stoked! 😁

For the libraries lecture, I knew of python packages before and the helpful power behind them, or past examples using node packages to limit ‘reinventing the wheel’ of work. There were the useful smaller ones to generate and sort random numbers or letters...or an ASCII cow or dino with speech bubbles 😂 Once again, second to last, ‘little professor’ was a pain problem for me! I admit I got impatient with a test case and moved on, the only one so far (more on this later) I have missed in this course.

The last bit of lecture and problems I recall from attempting to use during my watchlist data analysis to using API calls. The specifications for the final project was also posted during this time, and most likely, mine will be incorporating at least one API. Not quite sure what it’s going to be yet, but have some time before building it; there’s a note on my phone of random ideas :)

The last week was the shortest but the most rewarding. We had to take past problems, refactor them to pass unit tests that we wrote, and make sure those passed as well. One of these I knew I was going to dread redoing was plates.py from week 2; I had previously missed a test case because it felt too difficult at the time. Instead, went back to fix that test case, submit for 100%, and got through all unit tests as well! Double win 😁

It’s been a pretty busy month with full time work and keeping up with this course, things may slow down now that the weather is getting nicer to do outdoorsy things, updates may slow. Especially next week with taking a much needed week off to go do aforementioned outdoorsy things and relax!

– H

CS50P Weeks 0 - 2

Haley Elder — Sat, 21 May 2022 17:52:58 +0000

Github tracking repo -- here
Crossposted on my blog Craft && Code -- here

I might've fallen into shiny object syndrome once more, but I’m feeling a bit more confident in this one! I had attempted CS50 last summer and fall but eventually dropped it; I thought I was understanding enough but didn’t seem quite relevant at the time and my confidence fell flat. Winter had a bit of downtime and worked on a separate project (watchlist data analysis) to freshen up some React skills.

Fast forward to this year, specifically April 1st, CS50P (Intro to programming with python) was released and I started it about a month after it was released. I was surprised how much of the basics I could recall from last fall. I finished the first three weeks of course work in a week and a half!

These first weeks covered user input and handling different use cases utilizing functions, variables, and conditions to test your skills with a few problem sets per week to work through. I’ve been keeping track of my code submitted at the Github repo above; it’s also a good tactic to keep track of what was completed when since my imposter syndrome gets pretty high pretty quick. Also, time is still funky and weird nowadays and this is an easier way to internalize it. There were a few days I was feeling out of it and felt I was falling "behind," but that was because I was sick and took the time to recover.

My goal is to complete the course around mid to late June and continue on to CS50web, but now that the Final Project link has been released, we’ll see if the deadline might need to be pushed. I have no idea what to do quite yet and will need to brainstorm some ideas.

My plan after this is possibly running through the freeCodeCamp Python certificate or jump right into CS50web that expands on more Python, Django, databases and more.

Have a good weekend, all!

-- H

Rapid Goal Setting; Making Flexible Changes

Haley Elder — Sun, 01 May 2022 22:04:40 +0000

May?? It’s MAY?? Okay, it’s May.

Many of us have lamented over the past couple of years how we think about time and experience it, 2022 has been no different. It's been almost halfway into the year, so I think it’s fair time to do a personal goal check in and see how things are going.

I had forgotten to mention how I set up my goals and how to achieve them in my original post, it's similar to creating SMART goals but tweaked a little bit. I have borrowed some of the structure from a friend of mine while we were reviewing possible goals from last year to work through and keep track.

The first step is to pick one or a small set of goals, the more succinct, the better. For mine, I picked three that would benefit a few facets of both my personal and professional life. Once these goals are chosen, there are smaller actionables that can be completed over a quarter of the year to continue progressing to the main goals. To keep them even more exact, is picking which month they should be completed by, bonus points if there's a specific deadline to complete during the month.

Some of these monthly goals I’ve jotted down are not always related to the lofty goals, but some I’ve wanted to complete, such as replacing housewares or sorting my closet (still not complete 😅). The other half of flexible goal setting by quarters is they don’t always have to stay exactly as you first placed them. As it’s been a little bit after the quarter has ended from the original goals, some things have already had to be tweaked.

For the first goal I noted, I knew was going to be the most difficult to reach especially when you see most postings are for senior level developers; as well for juniors is difficult and can take quite some time, I have continued my self study. I did apply for a few places and interviewed realizing where my weak points were and how to adjust. Not all was lost in these practice interviews as I did get promoted to a team lead role and began a part time engineering internship! Nothing is guaranteed for a role, but it's been a good start being able to broaden my knowledge, work on a different team, and continue learning.

For the second, I did start a couch to 10k interval schedule mid January until a couple weeks in, I went for a run and encountered some halting knee pain I thought I could push through, but went more south than I had thought after finishing. I could hardly walk for a week after and have taken a couple months off from most any exercise with that fear it will occur again. Since then, I now have bought some probably more suitable shoes, found a different schedule, and tried again briefly, but soon became overwrought with worry it will happen again whenever I felt some sort of pain or soreness in my legs. Instead, I’ve reframed it to possibly even just completing a 5k this year at some point or more consistent exercise in general to pass this goal. Exercise has been a way to expunge some anxious energy and has been a hit to my mental health not having this outlet and working to get around it in a different way.

The third goal on the list was reading one book a month and so far have completed 2 and on my third book; slow going and knew it would but I know by years end it will be more read than years previous!

So, we’ll see how the next couple of months go with goals and reaching them, maybe even further tweaks, but that is no issue with me. It’s not fair to your mental state to stay rigid with specific goals set months or even years ago, as long as you are moving forward inch by inch. Some days are rough and you need to take that day as a break too, not everyday is productive.

The below quote pops in my head when thinking of diversity in schools of thought how to work through a problem but also working to be flexible in life situations. I’ve felt pretty stagnant these past few months and I'm ready for some little celebrations to come. It’s okay to be flexible and changing priorities, since life is always changing.

“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale " - Iroh

(yes, it's from The Last Airbender, it's one of my favorite shows 😁)

2022: New Year && Goals

Haley Elder — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:52:45 +0000

The first few drafts of this post were rehashing the last two years in a bit more detail than I’m sure anyone would ever want to read about again. Instead, it’ll be a high level overview of what happened and future goals for this year!

2020 had started on a high note of pushing my introvert tendencies to be more social and connect with others and was quickly shut down; we all had to think of different ways to connect with others. Despite the doom and gloom of the year (pandemic, protests, wildfires), some good things did happen: meeting new friends, frequent walks/hikes, visiting family, attending my friend’s wedding, and others but 2021 is where it all went sideways.

Last year had felt like life had stagnated and it became more difficult to pull out the positive moments. A few of those positive notable events were moving to a new place, adopting my own cat pal, Tycho, planned out a solo vacation, and was featured in the CodeNewbie spotlight. To add onto the stagnation were some personal and professional events that had shattered my self-confidence, trust, increased my already bad imposter syndrome and really took a hit to my mental health and ongoing burnout.

To give myself the proverbially kick in the pants and pull myself out of this funk, I’ve envisioned my top three goals list for this year:

THE BIG THREE (ish):

Get a real developer/engineer role! (stretch goal: maybe even do some open source work?).
Run a 10k race! Aiming at Bridge of the Goddess 10k in September or so.
Read a book a month (maybe get into more audiobooks)! I hope to keep my Goodreads list updated and looking for recommendations.

I took the first week ish off to regroup and ponder how to write this out as the tail end of the holidays were a bit stressful and needed a break. On to 2022!

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started”

Mark Twain