DEV Community: Nicole Archambault

The joys of creating a dope community

Nicole Archambault — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 05:23:15 +0000

I hosted my monthly freeCodeCamp meetup today. The first Saturday of the month is seriously my favorite day!

I created the MetroWest MA freeCodeCamp Meetup in Summer 2016, because I didn't want to drive into the city for a good Meetup experience. I generally get about 3-6 folks that show up, and everyone clicks pretty much right away.

I have my regulars, and that group of regulars is growing! People who show up tend to keep coming back. And I've encouraged to be a bit of a mentor for new folks who come in and are interested in the same technologies and languages.

We talk about everything: what we do, what we're learning, the problems we're facing, and how we're getting help from others. That last part, "how we're getting help", is particularly important to me, because I really want to help the folks in my group—but I also recognize that I don't know everything. 🙃

Because of this approach to the Meetup culture, we've been getting great reviews on Meetup and generally becoming a go-to group in the suburban Boston area. I've had folks drive an hour to come hang out and learn with us.

I apparently do a great job of bringing out everyone's strengths, creating a sense of community and family, and providing a comfortable, safe, and friendly environment for the people who attend. And it's really validating as an instructor, even though this isn't my "class". It's 100% what people make of it.

Creating a Meetup group has hands-down been one of the best decisions I've made for my career.

I struggle with being a social person in general, but creating a supportive group that modeled the safe environment that I wish I had as a new coder was a decision I made in a split-second. The Meetup culture around freeCodeCamp is powerful, and gives coders an opportunity to leverage a free e-Learning platform while also maintaining personal connections with other humans. Learning to code can be isolating at times.

FCC creator Quincy Larson and I have become great friends, and he even awarded as freeCodeCamp Top Contributor in 2018! 🥰 It feels amazing knowing my work in the community is being recognized, and I'm really helping people change their lives.

I've provided him with a lot of feedback on our little group because I truly feel like I maximize the experience by addressing as much of the group as possible. I had no idea what to expect when I first started hosting the Meetup, but it's been valuable not only to myself, but the people who take the time to show up.

If you're considering starting a Meetup, I highly recommend you just jump in and create one on Meetup. Choose a location—and I can tell you, it doesn't matter WHERE it is. People will show up. Meetup has great exposure, and you can also pop in to mention the Meetup in other groups (I'm shameless haha)

This group has given me such joy, and I can't wait for another 3 years of hosting it! ❤️

What are your impressions of your self-taught co-workers?

Nicole Archambault — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 17:46:08 +0000

Do you have a self-taught coder as a co-worker?

What are your impressions of them?

What are some of their strengths?

Where could they improve?

Do you think those things are tied to their self-taught experience?

Are they confident?

What's your job title? What do you do?

Nicole Archambault — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 22:18:34 +0000

Hey #DEVcommunity folks out there with tech jobs:

What's your job title?
Could you summarize what you do in your day-to-day job?

I originally posted this as a tweet (which still has some great responses coming in!) but figured this is a good group to consult as well :)

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Thanks and looking forward to learning from the responses!

ELI5: The role of Discrete Mathematics in programmatic problem solving

Nicole Archambault — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 19:47:19 +0000

I've run across this question like 3 times in the past month and I'm curious as well. It gets discussed a lot but my NVLD ass don't get it. 😂❤️

What advice would you give a CS student starting their freshman year?

Nicole Archambault — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 13:02:39 +0000

The school year is starting, and freshmen everywhere are taking CS101 (or some equivalent) in their respective universities!

It's an exciting time, but it's also the beginning of a 4-year struggle for some. Like 17 y/o Wellesley freshman me, who dropped out after DS&A, later referred to as a "weed-out" course. :(

What advice would you give to a freshman CS student on their first day of classes?

5 Ways to Avoid Disappointment While Learning to Code

Nicole Archambault — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 19:41:27 +0000

There's nothing worse than being disappointed in yourself while learning to code.

Not even just the coding experience itself—there are so many places where you miss things or make a mistake in your process, and it can really affect your ability to get a job quickly.

I want to emphasize "disappointment" as opposed to "discouragement", because disappointment leads to discouragement. And discouragement could lead to dropping off of your coding entirely.

But disappointment happens when we have unrealistic expectations. And I had pleeeenty of those. 😅

So, here are 3 ways you can avoid disappointment:

1. Allow yourself to be new, and remember that everyone was new once

I went through, like, two phases when I first started to code:

Total euphoric bliss and pride that I was learning all these new things and creating with them
Fear that I didn't know enough, and that I was supposed to know more

Number 1 kind of gave way to Number 2 about 3 months into the game. It was fueled by wandering into Dev Twitter more deeply and seeing all the huge things people were working on.

As a result, I started to feel ashamed of being new. But, I often forgot to remind myself that literally everybody was new at one point.

Constantly expecting yourself to know more than you do is counterproductive, because it stresses you out and makes it hard to learn. We start to panic. I definitely panicked, and kind of isolated as a result.

Disappointment in myself for not being further along, or having a job yet, gave way to that discouragement.

Honestly, it was only the support of my communities that kept me on track. And about 10 months in, I did get that job.

Anyway, don't do this to yourself. You're new—just accept it.

Celebrate your newness, and enjoy that you can make mistakes without any repercussions. Everything is a learning experience!

2. Build and maintain at least project to keep up your confidence (and attract employers!)

Ooooooomg, I hear so often from students that they lack confidence in starting projects, or tend to abandon them after they create an MVP.

OR, they never finish anything because they don't know how to create a true MVP and expect it to be perfect then give up because I'm disappointed myself. 😂

Y'all, you don't have to create a whole lot of projects. It might take a few different projects to find something you REALLY want to stick with, but you will find something you're passionate about.

It amazes me that some folks don't have the creativity that I have—no gloating there whatsoever, it's just the way my brain works. I literally can't stop thinking up ideas. I can't keep up with them all!

Start ONE project that you're excited about, and create an MVP. But don't abandon it—there are always new features that you can add to a site.

Get feedback by sharing your project at every step, and if you're unsure what to add next, ask other people their thoughts! You don't have to listen to them, totally build what you want. But, it'll give you some ideas at the very least.

I mentioned the word "confidence" in the first paragraph of this point, because that's what you're going to be lacking if you don't maintain at least that one project.

Also, if you're not getting interviews, maintaining a project will only help you attract the attention of employers.

BONUS TIP: Leverage your readme.txt file to tell the story of your project's process. Explain why you decided to add a particular feature, and the challenges you faced in implementing it!

3. Adjust your expectations on how long it will take you to learn to code (and/or get your first dev job)

Especially if you're teaching yourself!

Don't compare your progress to that of, say, a bootcamp grad. They did a super-rigorous, guided program with high expectations of their students. (If you want to learn that way as a self-taught student, work with someone to build a plan for yourself and dive in!)

Everyone learns at their own speed. Sometimes I learn fast, sometimes I learn slowly—especially when things are challenging or super-abstract.

If you don't have a concrete plan for learning to code, you can't move as fast, either. Take that into consideration, because you may be spending time in the wrong places like I did.

If you're lacking time due to outside obligations, you're going to move slower, too.

Be kind to yourself! Whatever amount of time you have, you can learn to code. Just create your own individualized pace, and stick to it!

4. Practice your practice

When you learn something new, the first thing you should do is use it.

Now, I'm not talking about ONLY using it in that little code challenge you were given. If it was a small something you learned, then that might be sufficient.

But it's only one example. Smart, deliberate practice requires mixing it up, and giving yourself a variety of examples to solve that are somewhat different.

This is particularly important for things that are challenging for you. If you struggled to understand it, don't just move on once you solve it once.

You're going to become disappointed in yourself every time you can't remember something you need (especially if you know you learned it at one point).

You're going to be disappointed in yourself if you don't see measurable improvement.

Building strong practice skills will increase your confidence, because you see how far you've come!

5. Pay attention to your own education and progress

This kind of ties into #3. You're setting yourself up for disappointment if you're paying attention to others' educational progress more than your own.

A Twitter connection posted a really awesome project using a framework or library you don't know.

So what?

It's entirely possible that you don't need to know it for the type of job you're going for. Or even if you do... if they learned it, it probably took them a little while.

The difference between you and them is that they started earlier. They're not inherently better at it than you are.

But I can tell you one thing: you'll both have started at the exact same place: the beginning.

So, keep your eyes on your own lane, and focus on seeing measurable improvement in your skills. There will always be someone who knows more than you. Get used to it! :)

Psssst... check out my new course, Newbie Coder Problem Solving School, now available for pre-order at 50% OFF!

How long did it take you to get comfortable with the command line?

Nicole Archambault — Mon, 13 May 2019 18:04:35 +0000

I'm curious:

Experienced devs:
How long did it take you to get comfortable with the command line?

New devs:
What's the biggest challenge you've faced learning to use the command line versus graphical interfaces?

Autistic in Tech

Nicole Archambault — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 17:17:01 +0000

I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in early 2018. It wasn't a massive surprise, as I'd already been doing some digging around to figure out the real roots of my lifelong social anxieties and fears. But still, the entire process from realization this was a thing to actual diagnosis only spanned about 3 months.

Asperger's Syndrome is marked by significant social deficiencies, enhanced perception of the world around us, and special interests that can drive us to focus intensely in on a single task for hours on end without even noticing.

Like coding!

Over the past 6 months in particular, I've discovered that there are so many of us in tech, and in the world at large. A lot of DMs I get after posting something with an #ActuallyAutistic hashtag, or talking about it openly during a Twitter chat. But tech is a very appealing industry for Autistic people who are fascinated by all kinds of things... data, patterns, automation, structure, and more.

The weird kid that struggled silently

I began to notice that I was "different" when I was young, probably around 6-7 years old. I was the girl running around the playground on all fours, oblivious to the weirded-out expressions of the kids observing me.

I often ate lunch by myself. One of my first real childhood friends was a girl who sat with me and took interest in a project I was working on by myself on the lunch table. It was a map of the social hierarchy of my schoolmates.

She had artistic skills, and offered to draw it out for me. I was delighted... she was willing to help make it something real?

We decided to draw it out as a building, with some outside fire stairs and a hole in the ceiling on one of the floors or something. We worked together for days and talked about how people became "popular", what was redeemable social action and what was not, and how one could navigate the different levels.

I did not have very many friends, but the few I did have, I was extremely invested in. Friendship in and of itself is a little bit of a confusing concept for me, and I had to work hard to understand the ability to have a close, meaningful relationship with someone.

The social results that came from emulating others' behaviors in such types of relationships became more natural for me over time. I kind of learned to be a human.

Along with the Asperger's diagnosis came a Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD) diagnosis. Basically, I already knew I sucked with mathematics, and basically anything that wasn't verbal or auditory-based. If I didn't have a mental model for it, it was lost on me.

I was a little angry at first that they'd been overlooked all of these years—like the academic system had totally failed me. I had even been picked up by the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins at a young age, their program for gifted students.

My verbal skills were through the roof—the top 1% of their program. By 5, I could rattle off lists of words while playing with a toy—my mind was fixated and it amazed everyone who witnessed it. I remember most of the lyrics to a song in about 4-5 passes. I could probably use that brain space for other things, but at least I'm good lyrically. 😂

But my math and more non-physical, abstract sciences like chemistry and physics? Oh lord, it was abysmal. That discrepancy was what caught the attention of the program, who then passed the process off to my grandfather (my guardian). I wrote this story called "Blue Blocks" about it as part of my "Late Diagnosis" Medium series, and it's still heartbreaking for me to read.

As a result, I struggled through school all my life, and put SO much pressure on myself to perform to others' expectations of me... and most importantly, the impossible standards I put on myself.

I had managed to get through 4 years at Wellesley College, but the experience was grueling, and it didn't come without costly mistakes. I abandoned a Computer Science degree in 2004 when I hit Data Structures and Algorithms, which I later realized was considered a bit of a "weed out" course. The material was just too much for me.

How I experience tech

Being in tech is a wild experience for me. On one hand, I feel like I'm in my comfort zone. On the other hand, I feel like I'm always going to be a newbie.

But now that I know the hand I was dealt... I can play the game differently. I can let go of the things I'm not good at, and the shame that comes with their associated challenges. Instead, I embrace those I excel at.

First, we'll start out positive. It's one BIG positive.

I have superpowers

People on the Autism Spectrum are amazing. Like, everything I've talked about above is negative, but now I want to highlight the really incredible parts.

I recently watched Umbrella Academy, and I felt it on so many levels as an Aspie.

SPOILER

Vanya's realization that she had superpowers that had been suppressed for years was in direct alignment with my own experience. She was angry, naturally. And so was I... but I didn't go destroying the world over it. 🙄

SPOILER

Specifically, my superpowers are: empathy, compassion, communication, and pattern recognition.

Say what? Aren't those the things that Autistic people struggle with, and that I just said come difficult for me?

It's nuanced, for sure. All of these questions are questions that I had, so I get it. But people on the Spectrum can have incredibly deep connections with others. It kind of filtered through my entire life, but never got a chance to really shine until my diagnosis. It was mostly that debilitating anxiety that brought me to the neuropsychologist that kept me from feeling confident.

It's important to note that because people on the Spectrum feel and express all three—empathy, compassion, and communication—on such a deep level... it's absolutely heckin' draining. I'm definitely a cannon, not a machine gun.

There's a misconception that people with Asperger's/ASD are always socially poor. This isn't the case, especially with women who apply "masking techniques".

In fact, I had no idea there were so many differences between men and women when it came to the Spectrum. All we see is white boys being diagnosed, right? I'm a woman of color.

Girls and women are socialized differently, especially in societies of color. We're expected to be nurturing and understanding. Caregivers. If you don't fit this mold, you might be a social outcast. I learned this early on, and worked really hard to build those skills from an early age.

As a result, I have these amazing caregiving skills. They've helped me keep my family together, support my 87-year-old grandfather, and build deep connections with others.

It's also what's allowed me to organize and engage in communities. I feel deeply for every single one of you, especially if you're reading this. I want to see you succeed. I'm invested in your outcomes. That is a fact.

The pattern recognition one has always been a thing in my life. In fact, I never realized it was atypical for people to quickly recognize and identify patterns in things. I was intrigued by music and the structure and repetition, and how different chords evoked different emotions in me. The feeling it evoked was exciting to me.

So, this is obvious all good stuff to bring to tech! Y'all are blessed with me, tbh. 😘🤣

Math still sucks for me

With so much focus on "hard tech skills", it was easy for me to feel like a massive imposter at first. In the beginning, without my diagnoses, I just blamed myself for my struggles. I wasn't able to apply mathematics to my code easily, even for basic functions, and that was a blow to my ego.

There are lots of math-savvy people in tech, and I've had to accept that I'm simply not one of them. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I feel now like that's totally OK—because I'm me, and not those other people.

I'm not as strong with socializing as I come across on Twitter

Ok, so this might seem a little weird, but you know the Sims? When one Sim interacts with another and the interaction goes over well, there's little plus signs and your relationship level goes up?

That's how I see social interactions. Always.

I've learned that Aspies don't usually tell people this. Because it makes people feel uncomfortable, or like our interactions aren't actually genuine. But you need to know if you want to understand how people with Asperger's work.

Additionally, if you notice me kind of zone out during an in-person conversation, it's because I'm kind of mentally shuffling through some pre-existing perspectives and responses like a catalogue of slides. If the slide fits, I use it.

I hope to glob I get the right slide for the right situation. I wasn't good at this as a kid, and I upset a lot of people. Double Sim negative points and angry Sim grumbling and stomping.

I often can't remember people's names or faces. Please don't think I'm rude for this. It takes me a few times. If you tell me something interesting about yourself, or a joke or something, and I'm more likely to remember you. This is really embarrassing for me a lot of the time, so I just ask for your patience. ❤️

This is just the way I have to work, guys. Pay attention to the way I make you feel, and what I'm saying. Don't worry so much about the intention behind it.

I'm easily overstimulated, especially at social events

Like I said, social interactions just get weird for me. If it's really intense and I'm not expecting it or otherwise don't have control of the conversation... I might start crying.

Seriously. This has happened at conferences. I had people complimenting and "fangirling" (their words!) over me at Codeland, and it got to be a little too much for me. They didn't do anything wrong. It's just a lot to process.

It's not that I'm sad or upset, I'm just overwhelmed and overstimulated. You might find me crying in a dark conference room after a talk. Please don't be alarmed, I'm just giving myself some sensory deprivation.

Autism acceptance, not awareness

I've read a lot in my online Autistic communities about April, which is often known as Autism Awareness Month. There's a lot of issue taken with the word "awareness".

We have enough data by this point to know that Autism exists. That's not the root of society's issue with us. The root of the issue is that society's norms don't accommodate or look favorable upon those area in which we lack. All I ever really wanted was to be accepted for who I am, social quirks and all.

Now, at 33, I feel like I can finally express myself and be accepted. But it's really sad when I think about that lost, confused, and lonely little girl that had no idea what she was doing wrong. I just want to give her a hug and let her know that it'll all be okay. That she's not broken, she's just different.

Unique.
Special.
Powerful.
Beautiful.

It's really hard knowing what I know about myself, and hearing people in the world calling for a cure. I wouldn't change my experience in the world if you paid me. I experience the world vividly.

Tech excites me, because I see all the patterns and structures, and patterns excite me. They make me flappy... which I can now do publicly because I literally don't give a shit anymore and it's liberating as hell. 😂

This whole picture of me as an Autistic woman culminated in a lifetime of struggles and difficulties for me. I simply can't identify with anyone who came into tech naturally. Without extreme adversity.

I didn't even have a name for any of it until last year. Now I do. So I can tell people what I went through, because I realize that they haven't gone through it themselves.

I normalize things pretty quickly anyway. On D-day, I was just like "cool!" and skipped off to process and connect things. I never gave myself a chance to feel shame about my experience. I mean, why would I do that to myself? I accepted that part of myself pretty damn fast, because it wasn't a shock.

If you want to celebrate Autism Acceptance Month, there are some things you can do.

DON'T:

Do NOT donate to Autism Speaks. I cannot encourage this enough. The organization as a whole is run by non-Autistics, and they encourage finding a "cure" to Autism over encouraging social support of our gifts. Lots of reasons here and I recommend you read about them.
Use blue ("light it up"), or those damn puzzle pieces. Apart from being originated by Autism Speaks, there are other reasons for this that I linked. I recommend reading them if you're interested in learning why.
Ask Autistic people to do a lot of labor to explain themselves to you. We really are out here writing, and like I found articles to link with a simple Google search.
Assume that Autistic people are white boys. We're not, and I'm proof.

DO:

Educate yourself with resources written by actual Autistic people
Donate to organizations that help Autistic people thrive, like:
** Asperger/Autism Network (AANE)
** The Organization for Autism Research
** The Autism Society of America
Focus in on the brilliance of your Autistic friends, and make sure they have what they need

Final note

I want to say that individually, each of my expressions of Autism can be applied to a lot of different disorders and syndromes, like ADD/ADHD and general high sensitivity.

I tell people now, I thought the same thing. You read these lists of symptoms and feel like "oh, I'm like that!" But really, it's the whole picture. When you read or hear it, you just know. That specific combination of symptoms perfectly explains all of your soul-crushing experiences throughout your life. Experiences that cause deep trauma for anyone on the Spectrum. Being diagnosed is freeing.

If anyone has any questions about my experience, I'm an open book. Seriously, just go ahead and post in the comments. Someone else probably has the same questions, or a misconception to be restructured. At the very least, I'll point you in the direction of some resources. 😊

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A Guide to Teaching Yourself to Code (and getting a job!)

Nicole Archambault — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 22:53:19 +0000

Like most people, I had no plans whatsoever to teach myself to code. The decision came when I lost my Customer Service job in 2015.

The transition came as organically as falling in love with a soulmate. We were old loves-I had tried to make it work in college, but the timing wasn't right. Not to say it was easy! But, it was so much easier with so much emotion to drive the experience.

I got my first job in tech in about 10 months after I started teaching myself web development, after an incredible amount of work.

And please believe me when I tell you that if I can do it… you can, too.

I'm quite sure there are lots of guides out there on this topic-how to teach yourself to code and get your first coding job. But this one is written by me, so it's different. I think you'll appreciate my perspectives. :)

Now, I think it goes without saying that condensing the entire process down to 5 steps is over-simplifying. I'm going to give you the general sense of what to do. You have a couple of options for filling in the gaps, and honestly… you should do both!

Option 1: Lean on your communities for support
Option 2: Get some dedicated help and guidance

Both are actually my specialty! I'm a heckin' passionate community builder, and I understand the importance of seeing and hearing from people who are trying to do what you're aiming to do.

Option 1 is an important part of your growth as a developer. You'll need a network of people. This industry is actually particularly awesome, and a ton of fun. We grow along with the tech-and each other. We see each other at conferences. We participate in weekly Twitter chats. It's dope.

Option 2 has some barriers to access. Essentially, it involves having someone-ideally an experienced coach with deep understanding of your situation and goals-take your hand, get to know you, explore your dreams with you, and plan out your journey from where you are, to where you want to be. Then, you delve into the skills with an actual map and pathway to your destination. At that point, the hard work is yours and yours alone.

I LOVE working one-on-one with newbie coders, but of course, with the level of attention and expertise required… it's not free. Most of us do what we can to support newbie coders via blog posts, podcast episodes, books, and more-but some of us are willing to give more of our time and presence than others! As such, Option 2 is an investment in yourself.

So, this is indeed an over-simplified, but still pretty thorough overview of the process of teaching yourself to code, and then getting your first dev job!

Step 1: Figure out what the hell you're doing

I created an entire 14-page guide to this really early part of the journey, because it's the most easily-overlooked part. It's also why a lot of people sputter out-they simply didn't do their initial homework.

If you're looking for your first job and a total career change, go ahead and download my guide, "10 Things You Need to Know BEFORE Learning to Code".

First, why do you want to do this?

Have you been dreaming about coding since you were a little kid? Or maybe you just heard that coding is the future, which makes sense to you since technology is growing so quickly, so you'd like to get on the train. Regardless of your reason, you'll need to establish that early on. It will be what pushes you forward when things get really challenging.

You'll need to create a budget for yourself, which I know sucks because I, too, hate budgets. If you're changing careers, you need to be sure you'll be able to make your transition with as little stress as possible. Coding is tough enough as it is… do your due diligence to not make it harder on yourself.

Is there even a web development industry where you live? If so, tap into it, and start talking to folks. Attend Meetups. Get to know people who do something similar to what you're wanting to do.

Ask questions about companies hiring in the area. Do people like their dev careers? What are their salaries like?

If there isn't a lively dev industry in your local area, you'll need to get creative. Remote jobs could be an option, if that's something you're open to. Alternatively, if you have the resources and the flexibility, relocating to a new city could be an exciting change alongside your new career.

The entire point of Step 1 is to ensure that if you're looking for a job, you're not just jumping into things without scouting the territory first.

If you jump in, you may find yourself feeling unprepared and stressed out when bills come due, unexpected events come up, and generally speaking… life happens.

Step 2: Choose a job title, and work backwards

Alright, so I approach this differently than a lot of people out there. When people start learning to code, one of the biggest questions I hear is "what should I learn?" (also, "where should I learn it?").

Keep in mind, you're not even coding yet by this point. Or maybe you're just poking around, learning the basics, but you're not actually building projects. You're still laying the foundation, and learning about your tools and the purpose behind them. This is a super important phase!

With all those tools out there though… how do you know which are going to align for an actual job title?

Wouldn't it suck to learn a bunch of fairly unrelated skills and language to a basic level, and then realize they don't actually get you a job? Or that you'll need to flesh just a few of them out with additional learning, in order to even be competitive for jobs in your area?

Yeah… that's what ya girl did.

Quick, relevant side story

I learned HTML, and then added on CSS. I kinda hated CSS at first, but we worked it out and we cool now. So far so good, yeah?

Then, I got to JavaScript. Basic tools like variables and even loops and some basic data structures, I was fine with. But, in general… things started getting tough for me.

I have a non-verbal learning disability. It's kinda funny-that wasn't diagnosed until after I struggled through gaining the required skills to get that first job 10 months in. My struggles made so much more sense.

At this point, algorithms scared the crap out of me. freeCodeCamp's algorithms were super challenging. A lot of my past learning trauma came up. I cried a bunch out of frustration when I simply couldn't contextualize a mental model for my neuroatypical brain to "make it click".

In a panic, I went off the rails. Or perhaps "on" the rails, as I started learning Ruby. Got to the same point. Panicked again.

Switched to PHP and WordPress. Actually, I really liked them both and primarily use them nowadays along JavaScript. But, I got to that same freaking point, and finally basically collapsed in exhaustion. What the hell was wrong with me?

I took a break around the time I wrote this article, because I had had an existential crisis, wondering if I was even fit for this.

That story kind of serves as a cautionary tale, to show what can potentially happen if you do things out of order, or without an initial structure. You gotta be able to build these skills for a job, if you want a job.

So here's my question: why not just take the guesswork out, and figure out what kind of work you'd like to do first?

And of course this is going to change over time! We grow and change not only as developers but as human beings over time. We learn more about ourselves, and we want to change up our goals. But starting with some kind of compass direction REALLY helps.

How do you figure this out? You'll want to take a really deep inventory of your dreams, passions, and existing skills. Often, it helps to evaluate this with the help of someone else (ahem, like me). We have skills and talents we bring to the table that other people don't… and that we ourselves often overlook.

Look at what's available in your area. Search on job search sites like Indeed. Ask in local online fora.

But the important part here is to pay attention to the skills that are listed: both tech and interpersonal.

Yes, interpersonal. We have enough problems with lack of interpersonal skills like effective communication, empathy, compassion, and inclusion. Don't come here bringing more.

But those coding skills are going to give you guidance and a path to your destination, so that if you change your goals, you at least know what you're deviating from and to.

Step 3: Build your skills

By this point, you have a good sense of your local development industry, and you've done your research on job titles. You have an idea of what kinds of skills you'll need to build on your way to your first dev job.

Now, it's time to build your skills.

It's important to note that you'll be doing this alongside Step 4, and alongside anything else you may be doing (we want to keep those things limited). You always need to be learning and building your skills while also building projects with them.

I generally recommend that web developers start with the front-end, since all roads lead to the user's experience. But this really varies based on those initial goals. See where it was helpful to identify them first?

For example, your starting point will be different if your goal is to work with data. Perhaps your goal is to learn, say, Python, since Python is natively very efficient with data management. You'll naturally lay out your skills-building journey differently depending on your end goals.

The important part here is that no matter where you're headed, you have a roadmap. You want to avoid getting caught up learning things you don't need, because they will get in the way of you getting a job ASAP.

You should have a list of resources that you know work for you. Knowing how you best absorb information is absolutely integral to this part. Don't waste time with books if you learn best from videos. Again, time is of the essence, so you need to not just learn, but learn intelligently, efficiently, and effectively.

Spend a good amount of time on this section. You're adding tools to your toolbox, and you'll be using them every day once you start working to build your portfolio.

Step 4: Build your portfolio and resume

Remember, Step 4 is happening alongside your skills building. You're learning daily, and applying what you learn. And of course, there are a couple of really important parts here that I find coding students overlook. So let me hit on those real quick!

Hot Tip™️ #1: Projects get you The Edge™️ as a self-taught coder

You don't have the long resume dating back to your Computer Science major at MIT. Neither do I. But, like… woe is us?

Nah.

As a self-taught coder without the CV to back up your skills, you're going to need to show whatcha got. So, even though you will be focusing on your resume as well, you REALLY need to put time into that portfolio. If nothing else, your resume will grow along with your portfolio as you add skills!

Hot Tip™️ #2: You don't need a ton of projects!

First, you don't need a ton of projects. I think a lot of newbies get overwhelmed at the thought of having to build tons of projects in order to show what they know.

This is why we're aligning those skills toward the actual job description. If you build even ONE project, but maintain it intelligently-you're going to be leagues ahead of your peers.

Ok, so you created one project, you've been posting some commits on GitHub, and you're already feeling you need to jump onto the next one. Hold it right there, pahdna.

Did you make the absolute most out of the project? Because you're learning skills toward a job, they'll probably come together as a stack. And you can more than likely apply many of your newly learned skills to the same practice.

Let's say you're working toward becoming a front-end web developer. You just built your first website.

Can you turn a website into a web app, so maybe users can log in?

If you didn't build your page mobile-first (you should have!), how about refactor it as mobile first?

Take the time to look at your projects as not only an asset, but a glimpse into the inner workings of your brain. This is INCREDIBLY important to hiring managers. They want to know how you think, so they can determine if it brings something valuable to their company and team.

So, to piggyback off Hot Tip™ ️#2…

Hot Tip™️ #3: Become a storyteller, not just a coder

What better way to show people the inner workings of your brain than to document your journey?

One of the most slept-on resources for getting a job is… drum roll… your README.txt file.

This shouldn't just be where you tell people how to run your program. This is where you should be telling hiring managers:

Why you added that feature
Why you abandoned adding that other feature and removed it
Your next plans for expanding
What you'd like to see in terms of feedback
What you learned at each step
What you feel proud of, and what you could've done better

Why are we ashamed of writing our stories? We don't have time for that-we need to get you a job!

Make it funny, even. Make it epic. Your journey is epic.

But yeah, leverage your README.txt file, and you'll seriously be so much more attractive to the people checking out your portfolio and considering you for employment.

Step 5: Apply for those jobs!

There's SO much to unpack in this step, it's just not possible to cover it all in a single post! 😆 So, I'll go with just dropping a bunch of value bombs on all y'all.

Hot Tip™️ #1: Just heckin' apply already

One of the most frequent questions I get is "when should I start applying for jobs"? My response is something along the lines of "yesterday".

Seriously. Go ahead, apply. The worst they can tell you is "no".

So, here's the thing about applying for jobs as a newbie self-taught coder. You want to do it right, and really demonstrate:

Your willingness to learn
Your growth so far
Your enthusiasm for the industry (and specifically, company!)

When you communicate with hiring managers, you're going to want to be honest with where you are, while showing what you've done. Those two components will put you on the radar. You're being vulnerable, and you're still retaining some control over your perceived image.

Another important thing to remember: when you apply to a company, it's not a one-shot deal. Many newbies make the mistake of thinking it is.

Ok, so let's say you're rejected for an interview. Now, you have a window to ask for feedback. If they respond, that's a really good company. 👏🏽

If you really like the company, and they know you're self-taught (they'll know from your resume anyway, so just be transparent), tell them that you'd like to grow your skills in their direction and re-apply in the future.

Boom. You just formed a connection with hiring managers, and showed how determined you are to improve your skills in order to meet their requirements.

Hot Tip™️ #2: You need to develop solid tech interview skills

Alongside building your portfolio, you'll need to grow those interview skills. But not just any interview skills-tech isn't like every other industry out there. We're edgy. We like you to prove what you know.

This is especially important for self-taught coders. You're going to need to know how to do things like:

Explain what different tech concepts are
Solve algorithmic challenges-while explaining your approach
Write out your steps to the solution
Read your interviewers
Do a bit of a dance to maintain control over the interview (this is my specialty haha)

There are lots of resources out there for this, like Gayle Laakmann McDowell's "Cracking the Coding Interview". Plus, it doubles as a blunt weapon.

You'll need to be yourself. They need to want to hire you. It's hard to be yourself when you're not sure what's expected of you, but why get hired as someone you aren't? That just sounds like fodder for a whole lot of Imposter Syndrome.

By this point

By this point, you have a growing toolbox of skills.

You're learning every day. You're building projects, but making the most out of them instead of just ditching them and moving onto the next thing. You're telling a story with your GitHub README.txt.

But most importantly, you have an idea of where you're going. That internal compass, alongside a supportive community (like #CodeNewbie!) is going to be what saves you when you get lost.

Build on, grow, and gain confidence in yourself. You're a total warrior, and you can do this! 💪🏽

💣 If you want more value bombs like these join my newsletter, Life in Code!

March 26th #CodersTeach chat roundup: Salary negotiation!

Nicole Archambault — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 15:14:38 +0000

Hey everyone! Your favorite dev community ray of sunshine here! ☀️😊 I hope you're all having a fantastic week, learning and growing in ways you never imagined. If not—it's never too late to change things up!

So, I'm trying a new thing on here. I've been hosting the #CodersTeach Twitter chat for... hm... 26 weeks! (On March 26th, ha!)

#CodersTeach chats happen weekly on Tuesday nights at 8 PM EST, under the #CodersTeach hashtag!

Saron really inspired me to use my platform and steadily-increasing visibility to help others learn from each other. #CodeNewbie chats have been such an integral part of my developer growth AND community inclusion. I've met people through #CodeNewbie that have made me a better person—people who inspire me to make this industry the best it can be. ❤️

In #CodersTeach, we talk about all kinds of stuff, and we have a blast! Some of the topics so far have been:

Lifelong learning
Problem solving
Learning resources, including e-Learning platforms, books, podcasts, and videos
Learning skills and hacks
Kids and coding
Conference talks
Self-discipline
Code, of course, but language-agnostic... just conceptual! :)

So, I'm going to start doing a quick recap of what we talked about, to share participants' responses with the community. Hopefully, it provides some valuable insight into these super important topics, so enjoy and engage in the comments if you have thoughts!

This week's topic was salary negotiation.

This is such an important topic we need to be addressing as early on as possible, because there were a lot of common themes of low sense of self-worth.

It really reminded me of why I dedicated a whole week to career-based topics like this in my online course + career change coaching program for self-taught coders, 30 Days to Web Development. This shit is big. We literally leave money on the table unless we know what we're worth, and how to communicate it.

Q1.1: Have you ever negotiated a salary?

We started out with a quick poll, with some interesting results!

Out of 23 respondents,57% said they HAD negotiated a salary, and 43% said they had never negotiated a salary before.

Q1.2: What comes to mind when you think about the process of salary negotiation?

I think I have a very unique outlook on the salary negotiation process. We're just usually too nervous or uncomfortable, or lacking confidence:
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Lauren went right in 🤣🤣:
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But then made a really valid point:
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Some of our other responses:
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As one of the highlights of the night, our resident Rabbi on Rails, Yechiel dropped some experience and knowledge bombs on us in this amazing thread 💣💣 Go read!

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Q2: Let's play pretend!

In this question, I challenged y'all to put on your imagination caps.

You're a hiring manager. You really like a candidate, and make them an offer to join your company.

They ask to think on it, then come back with a counter-offer that's significantly higher than the initial. What do you do?

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Q3: If you could ask a salary negotiation expert ANYTHING, what would it be?

"No stupid questions" time! Well, it's always that time, because there are no stupid questions. They don't exist.

So, this part is particularly important. Real devs have questions, and I'd love to hear responses from some folks in the community with salary negotiation experience!

Here's what our folks are wondering, starting with me:

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I was leaning toward "definite red flags, run away!", which seemed to be confirmed by others:
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Sarah would like some tips on negotiating salary as an introvert. This sounds like a great La Vie en Code podcast episode! 🤩
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Shout outs!

Here's what's going on with our #CodersTeach fam:

Yechiel is doing his first Meetup talk! 🕺🏾
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I'm doing a giveaway for 30 Days to Web Development, my online course + career change coaching program for self-taught coders! It ends on March 31st at 11:45 PM EST, so be sure to enter!
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Andy has a tutorial for IndexedDB in the works!
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Lauren wrote about her first hackathon!
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Jacob shared a dope new podcast called 2ndCareerDevs, hosted by software engineer Kyle Shevlin!
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Dave is building an API!
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John is killing it!
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And Jerami wrapped it all up with some BIG LOVE! 💕
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Join us for #CodersTeach chat next Tuesday at 8:00 PM EST!

Then, join us all for #CodeNewbie chat on Wednesday at 9:00 PM EST!

Special thanks to my #CodersTeach regulars! 🥰

Yechiel
Andy
Lauren
Sarah

And welcome to our new participants! ❤️

Jerami
John Best
Dave
Jacob

Hey, before you go... sign up for the Life in Code newsletter!!

How to properly practice what you learn

Nicole Archambault — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 11:49:53 +0000

Hey everyone! First post on dev.to, even though I've been lurking and sharing stuff from here foreverrrr. I've told Ben for two years now that I'll post something when I see him at Codeland. But better late than never!

So, I want to let you guys in on some really critical skills I picked up early on in my self-teaching. I'll go through them one by one over time, but in this post, I want to highlight one that literally changed the way I learned.

A lot of us learn via videos, books, podcasts, blog posts. But what do we do with that information after we encounter it?

Using what we learn is both a skill AND a habit that we can build. If you don't build that habit early, you'll start spinning your wheels like I did. People kept asking what I was "working on", and I thought they meant what videos I had watched, or what lessons I had finished on Treehouse.

And yes, you can tell them you're watching videos and working through freeCodeCamp, which is a perfectly acceptable response. But what they're really looking for is to find out how you're applying the skills you're learning.

Adding to my anxiety while I was learning was the feeling that I was never quite "doing enough", or at least not The Right Thing™️. And maybe I wasn't, but I never quite gave myself a chance because I wasn't actively, regularly making a point to apply what I was learning—in the form of projects... or, more importantly, "deliberate practice".

Characteristics of deliberate practice

So, what the heck is deliberate practice?

I mean, you just sitting down practicing is deliberate, right? You made the deliberate choice to sit down and practice.

Well, that's a part of it, but deliberate practice has some set characteristics.
Deliberate practice, generally speaking, is like regular practice, but with a specific goal of improvement.

When you do something with a specific goal, it makes sense that your approach would change.

If you want to prepare for a marathon, you'll train and practice differently than you would if you were training for a 100m dash. Similarly, if you're practicing with a goal of learning JavaScript in order to be a front-end developer, you'll need to focus in solely on JavaScript, and break your goals down even further than that.

Also, working on anything that isn't a particular area of JavaScript that you need more comfort with is a waste of your time. Perhaps not a complete waste of your time, as it would be to study Spanish instead of FE dev. But still a waste, nonetheless. You'll never reach your goals that way.

Deliberate practice also requires focus and attention, as well as sustained effort and energy. Focus... attention... energy... these are all limited resources that we possess as human beings. (Buuuuut I really can't think of a better way to use your energy than on improving yourself, right?)

Deliberate practice favors quality over quantity

First, deliberate practice focuses on the quality of the practice, not the quantity.

If you look at most resources and writings out there about practice, they encourage consistency—showing up every day, ready to learn. Showing up is indeed half the battle. And you can't get better without practicing the information you encounter, which is why you stress when the training wheels are taken off.

But just showing up and doing "some stuff to get better at coding" isn't going to cut it, because it isn't sustainable.

I've been hearing the "10,000 hours" quote popularized by Malcolm Gladwell for years now, and I honestly think it's a load of crap. What happens when you practice for 10,000 hours?

What if you focus on the wrong things, or find that you still can't recall related or prerequisite information between sessions? 10,000 hours of unfocused work is meaningless, which is why I also have strong feelings about established industry folks touting their years of programming experience.

Often, they're looking things basic things up and referencing them as often as newbies are, because they never took the time to really master their work.

Mastery is rare, folks. It's not as common as we're led to think it is, since a lot of the noise comes from the folks who claim to know what they're doing.
Just remember that low-quality practice sessions are poorly structured, and lack clear goals or desired outcomes.

High-quality practice sessions, on the other hand, have a greater chance of the student emerging with understanding that sticks.

Deliberate practice is highly structured

You can't just kind of wander into a practice session with a loose goal to get better.

Get better at what?
How much better?

Once you get to that goal, what's your next small step to reaching the bigger goal?

Without structure, you're not likely to stick with it, either.

Deliberate practice gives immediate feedback on your progress

Fortunately, for web development, errors serve as excellent learning tools.
Also, a lot of e-learning platforms like Treehouse and freeCodeCamp that integrate practice on their sites with test-driven development environments provide instant feedback to satisfy this criteria.

But even with feedback like errors and TDD, there are other considerations. Is that everything involved in meeting your goal of being a really good developer in this particular area?

What about things like technique, style, and approach to problem-solving? We still mostly need humans for that, since it's humans and not machines that ultimately use our code.

We also need that feedback to be super-informative, with specific information regarding how and why you were right or wrong, and guidance to learn more as needed.

So, human and computer feedback is a critical part of deliberate practice as we're learning to code.

Deliberate practice requires repetition

The best practice involves doing the same task or related tasks repeatedly. Practice is not watching videos or reading tutorials. Those are learning activities.

And even simply repeating the same actions over and over won't produce improvement.
Think of it this way: if you show up to deliberately practice a specific action like writing a function from scratch, because you're not comfortable doing it on your own yet, you'd set up multiple challenges to write a function from scratch.

If you know your weak area is writing functions, but you decide to write things that aren't functions... you're not practicing deliberately, because deliberate practice requires exposing yourself to the same challenges, in order to bring you comfort and familiarity with solving them.

A lot of new developers think that all expert developers program from what's commonly called a "flow state". They think the developer just naturally knows how to overcome obstacles. In reality, they practiced that task frequently enough that they recognize all the obstacles on their path to their goal.

And, deliberate practice can lead to more relaxed, natural programming and problem-solving ability.

But you cannot achieve expertise without deliberate practice. It's just not possible. You'll sustain in mediocrity, at best. And that's ok for a lot of folks, but I want to help people become the best developers they can be, so if I have anything to say about it—you're adding deliberate practice to your toolbox today!

To recap:

Deliberate practice is different than what's commonly referred to as "practice", because it focuses on the quality of the practice over the quantity.

In order for practice to be deliberate, it also needs to be highly structured, provide detailed feedback and guidance for improvement, and involve completing the same or similar tasks repeatedly.

That's it! Now you know that there's basically a practice++ available for you to take your learning to the next level.

Learn more helpful skills like this! 😊

If you'd like to learn more about learning, as well as other often-overlooked but critical skills in tech, join the Life in Code newsletter! ❤️