DEV Community: Issa Jean Marie

Hooray!

Issa Jean Marie — Sun, 02 May 2021 03:30:23 +0000

Determined to support, motivated by helping, and proud of other’s improvement and growth. Friendly, caring, understanding and empathic, that’s how I saw Awesomity Lab and Code of Africa teams!

Building one’s career and experience isn’t that easy, is it?
And we won’t get experience without experiencing things, will we?

Most of the people don’t care about what someone is capable of but care about what the experience that person has!

Different story when it comes to Code of Africa and Awesomity Lab!
It all begins with a simple challenge, and they rise a dead phoenix from ashes!

From basic skills like understanding your values to communication skills and then to building a massive web/mobile app!

I had no experience in working with teams and integrating my frontend with secure APIs, I had no idea of how to manage huge data and track the process of the data procession!

But two months changed me! Took me from count-down and to-do app to the level where I can build and manage data of medium social media app! Two months took me from one level to another!

My heart is full of thanks! I wish I could do the same to others, InshAllah!

I highly thank Awesomity Lab and Code of Africa, everyone from their team and my intern mates who were there when I messed things up!

I really take those two companies as a great motivation and example to other companies out there!

I take Awesomity Lab, specifically, as an inspiration to all of Rwandan youth!

Words can’t explain things the way there are, but at least express our inner feelings and happiness, mine at this point is gratitude, inspired, and surprised!

Thank you again, Awesomity Lab and Code of Africa, You are my heroes now and always!

God bless you!

The implementation

Issa Jean Marie — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 18:17:32 +0000

In my previous post, I talked about how it is doing nothing when you read a book and just implement nothing.

Someone complained, and she was right, in her point of view!

You are driving to somewhere, and you just read on street plate, DON’T TURN LEFT! And yet you turn left, what was that read for?

Literally you did something because you read the plate, but practically you did nothing because you didn’t do what that street plate was telling you.
Who knows, maybe you will have trouble when you turn left!

But that’s not big deal, I just wanted to mean that it’s better to implement something you read/learn especially when it can improve your life, skills or experience in something.

Speaking of implementation, this week was full of a lot of implementations and improvements.

We (interns) enrolled in final project, we implemented feedback from the client I talked about in one of my previous posts, I had another side project to work on, what can I say? It was just reaping what we sow.

You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been. Maya Angelou

When I evaluate myself for this time of Bootcamp, I just see no changes between before joining the Bootcamp and being in Bootcamp.

I am like, you know what, I am not learning anything new!

But when I compare my codes, my presentation, my communication, and the way I handle situations now, that’s where the difference comes, the real difference!

“I have this small principle, every word before but, is bullshit!”

We see the difference we made by seeing what we have built, and we build from what we have learned/experienced!

Try to make difference by doing not saying, and compare your before and after actions!

Reality engagement

Issa Jean Marie — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 03:26:17 +0000

Learning and building something are totally different stories.

You can read book of 10,000 pages, but if you implement nothing, then you did nothing

It’s been a month and 16 days since I started Task Force Bootcamp.
I learned a lot, both technical and soft skills. But never have I learned how to implement those skills in real life until this week.

Understanding what client needs, building prototype and demonstrating the prototype to the client. That’s what the real business is, isn’t it? Maybe not, I am not a business man, but I hope they are sort of.

This week I and other interns engaged in real life project (wordpress project).

We had to understand what the client needs, develop the prototype and demonstrate it to him.

Do you know what the hardest part was? The demonstration, you are right!

I had to sit properly and not move, which I don’t like, I had to speak proper language and to convince the client. The client has to accept or reject your prototype, it’s his/her choice.

But here are few things I learned from this complicated experience,

Don’t blame yourself, you have done so much, don’t blame yourself if the client doesn’t accept your prototype.
Don’t build what client asked, add some related additional features he/she didn’t ask.
Accept the challenge, if he/she asks to change then change he/she is the king!

We all learn from mistakes, and you can’t learn how to walk without falling down.

My tip is, if you are learning something new, try to implement it.

Maybe you can make one of your team members a client and build a product for him/her and demonstrate to him/her. That will slowly make you experience how to handle the real-life clients.

Client is the king, remember.

The strongest hearts of Rwandans

Issa Jean Marie — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 18:10:11 +0000

2 decades and 7 years are gone after Tutsi Genocide happened in Rwanda. The very horrible tragedy!

We Rwandans were never held back by our history!
We moved on!
We remember, unite and renew!

We see the light after the darkness!

This Friday, I had a session about resilience and stress management.

But let me talk about resilience!

Resilience is the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events.

Good definition, isn’t it? It’s about keeping your head up in hardship.

Frankly, we all face hardship but few of us withstand.
Being resilient doesn’t mean that a person won’t experience difficulties, it simply means that a person stays strong and calm in situation.

Those people who are resilient are adaptable, optimistic and pragmatic.

You can become a resilient too by building your connection (relationship), fostering your wellness, finding your purpose and seeking for help.

You can be resilient in stressful situations and other hardships.
It’s not that is, is it? But it helps of course, it makes you move on and continue living your life instead of being held back by your past.

Losing your husband/wife, children, brothers, sisters, parents, entire family and still can be able to forgive the person who took them from you is not easy thing to manage.
Saying that that person is resilient isn’t enough, He/She is a hero, no maybe other term.

It wasn’t imaginable that people will live as they live today in Rwanda after what happened.

But with their strongest hearts, they moved on.
They forgave their neighbors who slaughtered their families and accepted to live with them again in peace.
It’s not resilience science they studied, it’s just humanity!

What other example could be better than those people?
You can overcome any hardship as Rwandans did!

Twibuke twiyubaka!

Working under supervision !

Issa Jean Marie — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 11:59:45 +0000

We always want to get good feedback from what we did, but we forget that bad ones help us improve in what we do.

After project I talked about in the last post, I then got feedbacks. Most of them were about improving something.

I have been working on them this entire week, but not alone, with Galdys, my supervisor.

I want to mention how it helps when you have someone to guide you.

With many things I had to work on, the most challenging one was setting up Redux on the standard level as Awesomity Lab.

I couldn’t set anything up alone as I had no reference.
But within few days, I was almost setup with both Redux basics and other workflows.

But how?
Galdys told me to work besides her.
Every step and every move were supervised.
She showed me how to do it and she corrected me whenever I was wrong.

I not only learned how to set up Redux basics but also learned the other parts of best practices at Awesomity Lab.

I remember when I started learning to code, I wanted to learn PHP, Java, C, C++......
And that’s not possible. It’s because I had no one to guide me.

With no guidance, it’s just like walking in a strange forest with no map.

As far as I can tell, it is better to have someone to guide you, even a virtual person can be important.

When you are learning something new, please find someone to guide you!

By the ways, my feedbacks were challenging that I reached Thursday overloaded.

But what happened on Thursday? I played damn good game. I enjoyed with other interns as well as guys from Awesomity. I never wanted to go home!

Reach out guys, find someone to help you!

How I kicked sleeping to meet deadline!

Issa Jean Marie — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 18:50:54 +0000

9:00 AM or 10:00 PM, my bedtime.
Yeah, I sleep early but I wake up early too, 5:00 AM.
It’s better to sleep 6 to 8 hours, that’s what doctors say.

The beginning of health is sleep.

Well, what about meeting deadlines?

Something that builds trust in people is keeping promises you make with them, promises begin with deadlines.
If you can’t meet me at the right place in the right time, I can’t trust you will deliver my money to someone I send you to.

I had a deadline, to be presenting a demo in 4 days and I lost 1 because I forgot my cable at the office.

I tried to meet my deadline though it was tough with only 3 days to work.

But here is what I learned from that experience:

First intend to meet your deadlines. (Don’t plan to postpone)

Eat your ugliest frogs first. (Begin with the most challenging tasks)

Ask for a help. (My friend @niyodusengaclement helped me a lot)

Don’t panic. (Just take it is, you are not God, you will do what’s just possible)

Prepare in advance. (Don’t learn to dance at the show time)

Well, I was intended to meet my deadline, that’s why I spent whole night working to meet it.

It was amazing how I spent 24 hours + 1 day working straight and I was just me (Super)

But I can’t wish to spend other nights.
Instead, I will make sure I will meet my deadlines without that hardship, by preparing myself in advance like studying things earlier and having all requirements.

Don’t work over night. Sleep early, wake up early. "Work is half of health". (But no life without work)

Again, my thanks goes to Awesomity Lab and Code of Africa.

Task Force 2.0 Third Week Sessions

Issa Jean Marie — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 12:13:19 +0000

Telling what someone really wants could be so difficult, especially when that person didn’t explain clearly.

Being software developer comes with learning how to figure out what the client really needs.
You not only have to develop the running application but also to develop the user requirements matching application.

To have the ability to read the client’s needs without being told everything, you have to know about user story development.
You heard me right, user story. It is just a story. But the one telling/showing you what the client needs.
Well, you have to create that story on your own.

During this week, I learned different new things but my main key takeaway of the week is user story development.

Here you have to put yourself in client’s shoes and see what he/she could need. Then build the story accordingly.
Start from the smallest steps to the biggest ones.

User stories help development team track the project progress and communicate with client efficiently.

Here is short user story of the Instagram feed post feature.

As a:
Main user
I want to:
Post feed post (Image, Video)
So that:
I can get likes, comments and get more traffic.

As:
A visitor
I want to:
See the posted feeds
So that:
I can like, comment, share, and repost it.

That’s a short story, isn’t it? You can develop an entire application’s user story based on the previous one.

You will not need to have a board with stickers to post those stories, there are good tools to use like Jira.

I hope you will enjoy developing your next application’s user story.

You can see more information on developing user stories on Jira here.

All I learn I thank them to Awesomity Lab and Code of Africa.

THEY ARE MY HEROES, MY MENTORS.

Task Force 2.0 Second Week Sessions

Issa Jean Marie — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 13:00:02 +0000

There are only 19% women in tech industry, and the number goes lower as you go to the senior levels!

Well, I was very surprised by the one I met in tech. The dream interface builder, very impressive!

Oooh, I was about to talk about my second week in the boot camp.
My second week in the Task Force Boot Camp was really amazing, surprising, challenging and teaching.

Not like the last week, we focused on the technical sessions especially building interfaces (on my side as frontend developer).

I was introduced to the new concepts of design and tools to optimize and speed up my web application.

My new mentor told me that it’s not about building something, but how you build it.

How other teammates can review and feel comfortable with your codes. I liked this part though it was confusing.

I was introduced to new tools such as:

React Ant Design

Formik

Yup

It was my first time using those tools and I was totally confused,
don’t laugh :(

Briefly, Ant Design is a library that gives you pre-built components, Formik allows you to take in and out the data from your inputs, validate your form and handle submission of your data. Yup works like Formik but it is very rich in features. And they can be integrated together (Yup and Formik).

I was surprised by how those tools can boost up your development.

The soft skills were surprising too, I learned body language tips.

Speaking of surprises, my mentor was woman. Not just a woman, the front end developer woman.

I have never seen a woman doing what she does anywhere. Her designs really inspired me. I wish she would keep coaching me!

I really thank Code Of Africa and Awesomity Lab, once again.

Task Force 2.0 First Week Sessions

Issa Jean Marie — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 10:06:57 +0000

During this first week task force boot camp, I have learned a lot of things including; Knowing my values, communication skills, presentation skills, and technical skills such as pipelines and workflows used in AwesomityLab.

My first day was as confusing as playing chess. This was because I was not used to working with many people at the same task. The very beginning session taught me how to figure out what my values are and respecting other people based on their values. I learned to create team's values techniques which are as simple as these:

Write very big list of values

Ask everyone to choose his/her five best values

Choose the common values from each one.

Write them down.

Ask if everyone agrees with them

The second day I worked on codewars challenges, but the most important part is that I never worked alone, like I mentioned earlier, we worked as a team. So, the challenges become much more easier as I never worried about missing someone to help me.
Working as team, or solving problems together, helps everyone become open both for receiving and giving.

Third and fourth day, I had already become used to working with others.
I started sharing my problems in coding with them, and started receiving their experience which I think I need to experience too. We have become open team though we still have more time to know a lot about each and everyone, but we are at the good stage.

Lack of Contents list and less resources are the most challenges I met during my first week sessions.

As we learned something new, I expected getting more resources especially in technical sessions.

I would ask the team to be providing them in future sessions.

Thank you Awesomity Lab and Code Of Africa.