DEV Community: JustinK

How to Pick a Personal Domain?

JustinK — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 17:17:02 +0000

Hiya Friends! I'm going to be starting up my resume/portfolio/blog site soon and I need to get a domain, but what's the best kind of domain for me?

firstname.lastname?
lastname only?
initialsLastname?
.com? .net? .pizza?

How did all you folks pick yours?

Daily coding exercises to build momentum?

JustinK — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 21:58:57 +0000

Looking for suggestions for some "warm up" type coding tasks that are good for 20-60 minutes a day to practice just writing code. Not solving algorithmic arithmatic or CS problems, but actually building quick little widgets to keep me writing actual code.

For me, kata-style practice is like waking up and doing 100 pushups then a 200m sprint before even brushing my teeth. Too much too soon and not conducive to the type of routine I want to build. What I need to do is develop the momentum to put me in a place where I know enough of the language (MERN stack in my case) to be able to focus on the meat of a problem without immediatly wanting to look at the solution because I can't think of how to actually write a solution.

I'm trying to come up with enough quick little projects to keep my fingers on the keys instead of just bookmarking articles I forget to read on dev.to. I'm not necessarily looking for larger projects like "Build a Trello Clone" or "Create a ToDo List", etc, because I have projects on the horizon I will be doing for class work. I just want to start small and simple.

How do you all keep your momentum and skills sharp when you're not in the middle of a project?

Learning to code so I can ditch my dead-end job, but I'm overwhelmed, under-rested, and my brain is full of bees. Plz halp?

JustinK — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 21:00:54 +0000

I'm learning MERN stack, I was enrolled in a 6-month "flex" bootcamp that I should have graduated from in June but I haven't finished yet and now I'm on a more "self-guided" trajectory. I'm 38, have a full-time job, 2 kids at home and I'm currently in the middle of a divorce from my wife of 12 years. Needless to say, I don't have a lot of free time to devote to coding. With my commute included, my job sucks up the hours of 7:30 am - 6:00 pm every weekday.

By the time I get home from work, I've got about 4 hours to do dinner, be with my kids, take care of housework, etc, before my body and brain give out and I have to sleep.

Weekends in which I can set aside multiple hours alone to study are rare.

When I do get a multi-hour chunk of time to study I'm so scattered and panicked that I can't focus on single tasks.

Do I...

Try to make progress in my bootcamp curriculum?
Watch one of the video courses I've bought to help me through the curriculum?
Practice katas and algorithms?
Work on some of my portfolio apps?
Work on my resume?
Practice pair programming?
Practice tech interview questions?
Do some freeCodeCamp lessons?
Scream into a pillow?
Pass out face-down in a hedge?

I feel a tremendous pressure to get a dev job by the end of this year, not just because I hate my current job, but because the pay and benefits of a dev job would help me find a place I can have my kids stay with me, cover them on insurance, pay off debts and improve my work/life balance.

But I'm adrift. I'm stumped by seemingly basic algorithms that I used to be able to solve. I'm finding React difficult to get a handle on. I have no idea what to focus on. I have no real mentor or teacher or anyone I can count on to keep me accountable and on track.

What do, Dev.to? What do?