DEV Community: Brendon

Annoying Cookie Consent

Brendon — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 23:06:16 +0000

This is a fun project I created with HTML, CSS, JavaScript. The idea is a mock of all the countless phishing scams out there that ask for your data, only to steal your information and then turn around and sell it to other information buyers. This project will offer you an UNBELIEVABLE LIFE-CHANGING opportunity, but FIRST you must provide your name and email. It won't even give you an option of declining, using a toggle for the accept/decline buttons. Once you enter your information, you will then be alerted to your mistake of trusting anyone!!!

Cookie Consent

A New Version of ME

Brendon — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 23:04:02 +0000

I have come to the conclusion that I need to be more outgoing and active in life! That includes posts on here as well. 4 years ago, I had never even used LinkedIn or any blog service. Didn't really see a need for it, since I already had a great career in Finance and had been there for 9 years. But life has a way of changing on you, and the opportunity to re-invent yourself doesn't come up very often, but starting in 2020, that's exactly what I decided to do!!!

I had always been excited to develop and create things, and computer programming seemed like a great opportunity to do just that! I enrolled in 2021 into a boot camp through Thinkful Engineering. Full-Time immersion program that gave me a great foundation of the industry and best practices. Since graduating, I have also done a half a dozen self-study programs and earned certificates. ALL GREAT THINGS!!!! But I have yet to find that first job position. It will happen!!! I know that. But in the meantime, I want to focus on getting to know everyone on here better!!!! So many new friends out there, and all I gotta do is say HI!!!

SO this is my first attempt at being more outgoing! It's going to be a great year!!! PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME TOO!!!!

Twitter Style Clone Project

Brendon — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 23:02:24 +0000

This was a great project that allowed me to stretch my javascript. I studied and implemented

textarea
.forEach()
data attributes
conditionally rendered styles
NOT operators (!)
CDN's

Lots of good information, and gave me the ability to create a project that mimics a Twitter comment page. Fully functional comment box, replies, likes, retweets, and profiles.

Twitter Clone

First Hackathon Experience

Brendon — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 01:54:21 +0000

So, close to the beginning of my bootcamp tenure, I was introduced to the idea of a Hackathon. A group of people that come together to help create and deploy a website or app as a collaborative effort. Everyone bringing their own individual skill sets to the table and contributing where they can. Although this idea sounded fascinating to me, I have also been highly intimidated by participating in one. When it comes to the world of software development, I feel so incredibly inadequate. Yes, I have always been told about the power of Imposter Syndrome ever since beginning my programming path, but I really do feel like I know nothing useful. Sure, I can put together simple concepts and follow along with what other coders are doing. Definitely have done a few dozen instructional videos, but it still left me feeling like I was in Tutorial Hell. But what could I contribute to an entire team of other programmers when it comes to building a website?!

Despite all my fears, about a month ago, I stumbled upon a posting for a Hackathon taking place in the middle of Nov, 2022. Not really having a clue how one works, I decided to take the plunge and signed up to attend. The week finally arrived, and the remote introductory meeting launched. But, what did I do??? I didn't even attend! I chickened out and instead spent hours talking to myself as to why I wouldn't be able to join. However, those few hours, I wrestled with my emotions and eventually, came around and convinced myself to at least reach out to team project members and see if I could just pop my head in and get to see what the organization structure was. I was warmly welcomed to the program and assigned into a group project.

I had a 1 on 1 meeting with one of the team members, and became a bit familiar with the idea of what they wanted to accomplish. However, I also let them know that I could not commit to being very useful or take on much in this whole process. That I had taken a bootcamp a year ago, but my skills were not very well developed. I was assured that wasn't a problem, and if all I wanted to do was to watch and smile with a few comments here and there, that would also be more than welcome. I met the other 3 members of the team and listened as they discussed the way they feel things should be organized out and what they can work on. Some were assigned Frontend or Backend tasks, while others were in charge of presentations and a mock-up of what we would build. I sat quietly and barely said a word... We ended that day and arranged to meet the next morning to check in with were everyone was.

That night, I busied myself with personal study. One thing for sure, I was more motivated to really dive into new topics that I wanted to learn. I felt so useless in my skills, but knew that I just needed to focus. Ended the night thinking that, even though I couldn't really add much to the project, at least I could take another chunk of knowledge on my own and digest it.

The next day, I totally ghosted the group meet up. I felt that they would be better off without me. Half way through the day however, I began feeling really guilty and decided I really should check in and thank everyone for the opportunity to become involved. That's when every changed for me. Only then, did I realize that most of the group felt the same way that I did. No one really knew how to proceed and even start the project in any forward direction. My courage slowly building, I threw out ideas and things that I COULD do. I have HTML/CSS and JavaScript knowledge and could at least build up a layout page. Perhaps I can do this after all!

The more I focused on the things I could do, the less my fear became. Over the following 2 days, I had built up a webpage and presentation that I could be proud of. I had Frontend skills, even though I didn't know the backend side of things. Continue to do the things I could, and when I hit obstacles, I would google and search for solutions. What happened was a complete transition to the team members looking to me for help and understanding and I in turn was helping them!!! By the end of the Hackathon, we had at least a functional project that we could present, and I had grown as a person WAY MORE THAN I EVER IMAGINED I WOULD all within a short few days. Only being a little sleep deprived :-P

Attending this Hackathon was monumental for me in confidence building, skills enhancing, team camaraderie and overall practice of what work will be like in the future! I’m actually a bit in awe at my own accomplishments lol!!! Really didn’t think I was going to be able to figure so many things out in time. Although, when groups presented their final works that took place today, it was quite noticeable that their websites/mobile apps were far more professional looking and polished than my own, I also recognize that they have multiple years and hackathons under their belt already. This is a journey for me! And at least for now, I can hold my head up high and be proud of my accomplishments!

https://cityneighborhoodproject.netlify.app/

Creating a Styles Conference Website

Brendon — Sun, 06 Nov 2022 08:28:58 +0000

Been a while since I created anything, so I decided to put together an HTML/CSS website with multiple pages to continue practicing my skills and enhance my abilities.

I enjoyed creating this project, since it gave me the opportunity to work with the box-model, column usage, CSS gradients, organizing data with tables, building forms, iframes, creating lists and practicing best code.

The more I build projects that are similar in style, the more I feel these principles are becoming ingrained in my memory and more able to recall it at a moments notice. It really becomes fun when it all comes together.

https://stylesconferencesite.netlify.app/

A Portfolio

Brendon — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 21:56:16 +0000

So I have been feeling a little frustrated lately on how to proceed and learn more in order to make me more job-capable. I have been going through many tutorials, codewars, projects, and networking...but still felt, well...stuck. So to get myself out of this funk, I decided to work on polishing up and publishing a Portfolio page of all my projects. Also update my resume, and ultimately become more connected.

I am proud of the work that I have accomplished now and basically have my Portfolio page the way I want it to look! I love being able to learn how to read and write code better to organize my thoughts into something presentable.

https://myportfoliojacksondynamics.netlify.app/

A Travel Journal using React

Brendon — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 05:15:58 +0000

After every creation of a new project, I feel more and more confident that I will become a good programmer and someone that is highly valuable to a company and to myself. I am still unemployed at this point, but I know my skills and building portfolio will eventually shine through and employers will notice that. Of this I am sure! In the meantime, I continue my learning journey.

This project was a fun one, and incorporated HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and React. I was able to create a personal travel journal of places I have been and show it off, which was a great joy of mine, since travel is something I have always found happiness and excitement in!

Part of this project was to create all this data in a data.js object file, which represented a database, like in the real world, in order to populate my webpage. My project includes components for each part of my site and is then referenced and in my App.js file for the final presentation. A primary focus was to incorporate the map function to populate my data, which provides reusability, rather than hard coding information. The data.js file can easily be populated, added to or deleted, for ease of information to be updated.

Another thing I am proud of in this project is my ever-building skills of css design and layouts. I also utilized new fonts and icons, which I found online in fontawesome.com and google fonts. Referencing additional libraries is a great way to add style into my project and will be a lifelong benefit in all my future endeavors! My project can be seen using the link below to my Netlify page.

https://myreact-travel-journal.netlify.app/

React Airbnb Clone Page

Brendon — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 22:06:50 +0000

I recently completed an Airbnb clone page using HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and React. Things that I learned on this project was the ability to scale every text using rem instead of pixels, and to also create individual components so they may be reused. Specifically a card component, that did not have any of the data hard coded in, but rather was able to fetch the data from a separate file that I had saved locally, to represent fetching real data from an API database. That information then was populated into my card component using the map function.

I like how this info is clean and clear, and able to present my desired results, all while using React. Now onto my next project!

https://react-jackson-airbnb.netlify.app

Running up a down Escalator

Brendon — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 02:41:55 +0000

I am at a point in my life where I have been applying my skills to things and creating projects, but am still lacking actual employment. That is a hard thing to swallow from time to time. I have been applying to places constantly, and have also gotten a few interviews here and there. Tech challenges really are a struggle at this point though more than anything. Some of the challenges are so complicated that I feel completely overwhelmed and fall flat on my face. Like no matter what effort I put into learning these skills, I am still getting nowhere. That being said though, when I take a step back and look at where I was vs. where I am now, I am able to see progress.

A few months ago, I was not able to pass a single tech challenge question. I got easily flustered and lost. But as of today, I took another tech challenge. Had 4 problems I had to solve within an hour that got progressively harder per question. I solved the first question within 10 minutes and felt great about it. The second question was much more challenging... but I was able to solve it eventually. Although it took up the entire rest of my time, to the point that I couldn't answer the other 2 questions at all. Although, ultimately I failed the challenge...I still consider that a win for getting farther than I ever have in a challenge in my past. I AM SUCCEEDING!!!

I have thought a lot about this experience and am developing a game plan on how I can become better at these challenges. I plan to dedicate a few hours a day to online coding challenges to build up my confidence and problem solving skills. In the past, I have not done well with these, but I have signed up with codewars.com and have already begun this process. Ideally, I will overcome my weakness and make it a strength!

Digital Business Card

Brendon — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 04:20:11 +0000

This weekend was a milestone for me, which gave me more confidence than I previously possessed. I had a fun roadtrip from Utah to California, where I was the passenger in the backseat of the car. Since it was a long roadtrip, I decided to make the most of the time by creating another project.

A digital business card, complete with a basic layout, profile pic, hyperlinks to other sites I've created and added to, like my LinkedIn, Github, Portfolio page, and even this Blog page with DEV. This was all created with HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and React.

What I am most proud of is the fact that I was able to build the entire project from scratch, all within a few hours while in an environment that was not a normal programming desk. A few times, I was a bit stuck on how to do something, but my skills at searching on google for answers to my questions has definitely grown, to the point where I didn't get permanently stuck. Finding my own solutions, while also creating my desired layout and functionality is a LOT OF FUN!!!

Feel free to check out my work below.

https://digbusinesscard.netlify.app/

I finished a complete course on HTML and CSS and am happy with the results!!!

Brendon — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 01:31:00 +0000

So a great instructor that I have been learning from for over a year now is Mosh Hamedani. His courses are easy and fun to follow along with. A while ago, I decided to go through his HTML and CSS full course, which consisted of 3 parts, all totaling around 14 hours of material. The skills I have learned in that time have been absolutely critical for me as a developer!

We started with the basics, but quickly moved into great techniques and tips and tricks to make my developer skills shine above the average programmer. I have since been referencing the guides from his course in all other projects I have been working on, and plan to continue moving forward.

As the final project, we built a static example webpage as if we were a company selling Cloud Hosting for customers. From navigation bars, to main content, to testimonials, and footers. I also learned styling skills, such as animations, SVG files, importing new texts from the web, creating components that can be re-used as often as necessary.

I am discovering a real passion for front-end web development I never really knew about till recently!

https://jacksondynamics.netlify.app/

First steps into Learning React

Brendon — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 01:03:00 +0000

I was first introduced to React during my Thinkful Engineering Immersion program last year. We built a Digital Flashcards project, which really opened my eyes to the potential React has. I found it perhaps my most favorite subject in my entire program and always wished I had more time to delve into it. Well... the time has now come where I can do just that!!

I have now completed a very basic static webpage using React. I do love React and look forward to enhancing my skills much further than this, but here is a launching point!

The main principles I worked on was learning how to utilize components, style my page with CSS, add images using the correct relative paths (which by the way was a lot different in React than I had experience before with just basic HTML/CSS files). After my project was complete, I also delved into a new way of deploying my site that I had not utilized before, using Netlify.

react-info-sitefacts.netlify.app

Although this is just a static webpage, the foundations are now set and I plan on building on top of these skills very soon!