DEV Community: iqraraza

So far, so good !

iqraraza — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 11:26:43 +0000

So far, so good. The software testing bootcamp with QA is quite full on with a lot of self learning through digital content.

Saying that, right now, that suits me. We covered test cases in the live session. The differences between detailed, vague and no script was explored.

I'm also planning to attend an event with 'Meetup' tonight. It's on current software testers' experiences.

I've joined a weekly mindfulness arts and crafts session. This week I'm making a mosaic art piece. It's a great escape and break for me.

Considering it's a Wednesday hump day, I'm feeling good !

One door closes & another opens

iqraraza — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 13:07:45 +0000

I never got a chance to write up a goodbye on the Northcoders bootcamp course. It did give me an in-depth insight into the world of code.

Moving on, I'm starting a non-tech bootcamp with QA, studying the realm of a software tester.

Here we go again...

The one about 'breaking down' - WEEK 11

iqraraza — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:01:06 +0000

Week 11. The week I will NEVER ever forget.

As expected, the week began with the solo project for Frontend. I used HTTP requests using react to interact with my Backend project and HTTP response codes to update my UI accordingly.

Lectures were delivered to help scalability and reuse of code using React hooks. I used Figma to help plan the project and so I thought everything was going well...

Wednesday hit and it hit hard. I struggled to form any kind of logic with my project. I had my components all set up, added some functionality with a couple of GET requests, played around with the styling and then everything got a little too much.

It was a difficult week, as almost everything that could have happened, HAPPENED !

Kid's school trips, assemblies, end of year exams, parent's evening and so on all happened this week. The house project resumed with 101 unresolved issues from re-wiring the whole house to plumbing issues. Alongside Eid preparations for the following week with the dreaded PMS. Appointments, family drama and all the rest of it all happened this week.

I reached out to a Northcoders tutor about some concerns with the upcoming project phase and so the call ended up being a half hour counselling session. I truly and finally had reached breaking point. The tutor was brilliant and identified that I'm 'mentally exhausted'. My body was shutting down on me as I felt like I'd been run over by a train and it was not over yet.

I had a review on my project which wasn't as bad as I thought considering how I was taking steps, day by day, hour by hour.

The weekend was hot and NOT relaxing. We had a family (more like 'tribal') BBQ at my mums then decided to take the kids to the beach on Sunday, which resulted in standing on the M60 with three kids, as our car broke down.

I had reached the pinnacle.

Heatwave & Brexit - WEEK 10

iqraraza — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 09:25:42 +0000

The second week in Frontend exposed the concepts of Data-fetching, styling, routers, react context API and optimistic rendering. All concepts that are completely new to me and will take a little time to understand and implement.

It was the usual drill this week, pair programming to prep ourselves with the solo front end project, next week. The fear of that was looming over me all week, not to mention the project phase was something everyone was anxious about. I had to keep reminding myself to take one step at a time.

This week flew by without me even realising. House renovations were at a stand still. Thank you Brexit ! No windows, no frames, no builders, no work.

Also the uninvited heatwave hit and studying in 30 degrees heat is no fun.

The one about the button - WEEK 9

iqraraza — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 08:12:18 +0000

I can now say that I am 100% fully comfortable with NOT being uncomfortable.

Seems like the common trend on the Northcoders bootcamp is to expose to you different ways of doing the same god damn thing. Of course, for the obvious reasons.

First sprint of the week was to create a mini-app using the DOM to extract the information. I proudly, and wholeheartedly admit that the outcome of a two day sprint was a bloody button. Needless to say, there was a lot going on behind the scenes and lot of trial and error implementing other features, but the final output was this beautiful button. It was, in fact, a very good button.

Later in the week, we created a matching cards game and had a shot at form validation using RegEx. I still hate RegEx.

React was the meal deal of the week. Kicking off with a 'pizza parlour' app. Since I am a master at creating buttons now, this app had maybe one to many. It was fun though, creating add pizza buttons, delete pizza buttons, clear basket buttons, add to order buttons. Buttons, buttons, buttons.

Careers Week - WEEK 8

iqraraza — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 08:23:22 +0000

Kicking off the week with CV writing, portfolios, interview techniques and tech tests lectures..it made the whole journey a little too real.

I still have unfinished business with the the API project from Backend so I took the opportunity to squeeze in 1-2-1 tutor time to get some issues ironed out too.

I've never made a portfolio before so it was as though I was trying to swim without armbands for the first time. Thanks to the big wide web, I got those armbands strapped on tight by downloading a template and worked with that. We were also offered a 121 session with the careers team.

I did however use WordPress to make a website once upon a time whilst running a a short lived fruit carving business. Sometimes a hobby, should stay a hobby.

https://fruitpalette.wordpress.com/
It probably does need revamping as it was created over 5 years ago.

My porch was fully constructed too this week and embarrassingly, I caught myself looking at other people's door handles and exterior lights.

Overall, not a bad week. Next week is Frontend, watch this space...

The one about API's and boobies - WEEK 7

iqraraza — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 09:26:51 +0000

Good vibes, well...it didn’t last long. I moved onto creating an API. Lo and behold, we are all in the same boat. Even those who have a lot of experience, were feeling a little on edge.

Using supertests, error handling with Express and creating routers, controllers and models was like exploring a new planet and writing a map to navigate, both at the same time.

There was a lot of support from tutors via zoom calls and some absolutely amazing, selfless friends to help me along the way.

Simple GET requests, took a sharp turn to the dark side quickly, when queries got involved. Again, its all new territory. I had to remind myself, that this what I signed up for and to keep going. Sure enough, with some guidance, I was hitting my goals.

We learnt how to host a Psql Database and express server using Heroku. This will allow YOU, to see what I’ve been up to, and it not just running my own computer.

I reached the HALF WAY POINT !!!

Admittedly, up until now, there have been times where I’ve turned off the video during a lecture to have a little cry, burnt the chicken Jalfrezi whilst thinking of '.then blocks' and forgotten to brush my teeth. However to think that my journey as a complete novice started on the 12th April and it is the 18th June now, I have come so so far in such a short space of time.

Juggling a top to bottom house renovation, bringing up three children aged 10 and under, living at my inlaws, family commitments, challenging cultural taboos and having developed two breast lumps within these 7 weeks ohh and the usual drama of life...I can STILL sleep soundly knowing I've reached half way.

Oh and yes, after numerous scans, thankfully, I’m clear of cancer. Fibroidema it is..and what’s the first question the consultant asked ? “Are you under any stress lately?" My facial expression, well, I’ll leave that to your imagination.

The one about Aysnc and Await - WEEK 6

iqraraza — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 08:56:38 +0000

You can only go up from the bottom right. That’s what they say.

I did solo sprint on Monday morning and got a couple of green ticks in my tests. I was back again !

I’ve never been a quitter. Life has taught me so much. Getting engaged at the sweet age of 18, married at 20, three miscarriages and now blessed with three beautiful children at the back end of extremely difficult pregnancies is one small chapter of my life. I’m in no position to be ungrateful or feel sorry for myself. I have to be a role model… I have to rock on.

Sitting through a lecture about Async and Await, my confidence levels were rising. I understood it. Its an easier way to read code, compared to promises and blocks but slowly but surely, the lines start to blur. I had to remind myself to take baby steps. Slow down and work with what I know is better than moving forward too quickly and mushing everything up.

I am confident that soon enough, with more practise, I can go back and refactor my code.

I’ll feel dead clever then too.

Advanced error handling using pg-format for formatting query strings was a little intense, theory wise, but implementing it was much easier. It makes sense to create default errors to keep the code tidy. So far, this was one of the toughest weeks, mentally.

The one about being dumped - WEEK 5

iqraraza — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 08:35:50 +0000

Going into the second week of Backend, we had a Bank Holiday. Spending the whole weekend running around finding bathroom fixtures, flooring and whatever else I needed for my home renovation was a refreshing but at the same time, I was itching to get back to the crux of coding, out of fear of forgetting.

Tuesday onward, we were exposed to Express.js, Sql and MVC and Insomnia. Moving from Node to Express was a wobbly transition but it surely did mould the code in a neater way. Sql is fun ! I feel like I’ve dipped my toe in the ocean however, there’s a lot yet to explore. MVC patterns were a little mind boggling but when putting it into practise, it came together...she says.

Insomnia was cool. It allowed me to send and get information from my laptop and it was a really easy way to do it.

I learnt a value life lesson this week through pair programming. My partner unfortunately, didn’t have much patience and was I was dumped in the first 5 minutes into the sprint. Admittedly, this did knock my confidence alittle...ok, ALOT. However I came out much stronger. The weekend was spent rethinking life. So far, my experience on the course has been a self learning voyage. Not just coding wise but finding more about myself. Re-evaluating my choices was terrifying. Can I do this mindset kicked in !

The one about backend - WEEK 4

iqraraza — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 23:20:20 +0000

WEEK 4

Week 4 opened the side door to the land of backend. Was I worried ? No. I had no idea what back end meant, unlike some of my cohort friends who knew what was to come. Ignorance is bliss...sometimes.

I was just happy, I made it this far. Information overload ?, maybe just a little but it is a bootcamp after all. We covered Aysncronous code. It took me some time to understand the concept but on the course, thankfully, the topics are revisited a number of times.

I had a dabble in API’s and Promises. Northcoders provide notes as a reference which is super super helpful.

The one about Pikachu - WEEK 3

iqraraza — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 23:09:05 +0000

WEEK 3

Recusion, recursion, recursion, recursion.
It has bad reputation but there is no smoke without fire I guess. Theory wise, it is as simple as ‘a function that calls itself. Watch this space...

This week’s project was based on a Pokemon project. Admittedly, apart from the yellow monster, I know nothing about Pokemon. Creating a Pokemon game was a challenge, however I was lucky that my partner was clued up on pokemon. Pokemon GO, well they had been there, done that, got the T-shirt and I was so grateful for that. It was one less thing to worry about.

The one about TDD & the Ukulele - WEEK 2

iqraraza — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 22:49:06 +0000

WEEK 2

JEST was my new best friend and TDD my new enemy. It was natural to write code, THEN test it. Suddenly, I had to do it the other way round. There is method to the madness though.

Red, green refactor...red, green, refactor... was all that was running through my hippocampus whilst washing dishes.

Mock functions and COVE (closed over variable enivroment) was the meal deal of the week.
Sounds complicated ? Is it ! For me anyway. It’s like setting a timer, waiting to go off, and then its times up.

Using the terminal was like my new home. I had become a lot more comfortable with paired programming and making new friends on my cohort. I soon came to realise how important it is to be able to communicate well and have good chemistry when partnering. That being more important than the coding aspect itself.

Everyone I partnered with were on the opposite side of the spectrum to me, however, they were all extremely kind and helpful. I never was made to feel inadequate or stupid.

So grateful.

One of my partner's even played the ukulele during our short lived pairing session. He set the bar too high !