DEV Community: Mandy B

About that time

Mandy B — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 19:55:30 +0000

You already know what it is

So when people say once you find a job and start working at that job, little things you did to GET said job stop. Lol. In my case, keeping up with this blog, continuing to build little personal projects, you get the idea. I am still at that job from my last post! Since then I've been on 2 project teams - creating a marketing website using React, TypeScript, Next.js, Material UI and a headless CMS called Contentful and a short stint on a project working with ETL tools such as Informatica and MuleSoft.

So what are you doing now?

I enjoyed working in different areas of a full stack application but I wasn't "web dev is life" or anything like that. My job has a career matrix that gives you a list/path to take for promotion. Some of the items on that list include completing 2 formal trainings in a different tech, internal hours and completing 1 Associate Level certification of my choice. My first choice was Azure. I started the training and just well, fell off. I think it was because I was nearing the finish line with my first project and we just didn't have the time to focus on anything else.

Eventually that project ends, a new one begins but I'm in a holding pattern. I managed to get 1 of the 2 formal trainings knocked off the list though! So I figured let's try this cloud thing again. But this time, AWS. So that's what I did. I used my downtime (and after work hours time lol) to study for AWS Cloud Practitioner's Course. I looked at my calendar and picked a random Wednesday about 2 weeks away and scheduled my exam. That Wednesday was yesterday and I passed. :)

Now I am using what I learned in that Foundational course to tackle my 2 formal training!

Future Plans

Once I complete that second formal training. I plan to go ahead and start studying for the AWS Developer Certification and work through the Cloud Resume Challenge. So here's to updating this blog in 6-8 months with news of completing all that and a promotion or new gig. :)

Peace

Oops ...

Mandy B — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:02:24 +0000

So ... I've been busy

I didn't realize it had been since August 2022 that I'd posted in here!? What the what. Let me try to catch all four of you that read this what I've been up too lol.

First off.. I GOT A JOB! That's right, ya girl is a developer! But let's put it in reverse Terry.

After August of last year I started putting feelers out. Going to meetups and just networking online via LinkedIn, Twitter, Discord, whatever. I am a member of a local Discord for Developers here in my town. I noticed in the "Introductions" section one gent was working at a local company. I'd heard of this company before but didn't realize that they were an IT Consulting Company. And just a few days prior one of my good friends sent me the job description for an Entry Level- Software Developer at the same company. Talk about here's your sign. I reached out to the developer on Discord and we agreed to meet for a drink. At our meeting I asked him about the company, what he enjoyed and didn't enjoy, career growth for a young developer and especially the chances of a self/community-taught developer. He was honest, reviewed my resume and portfolio on the spot and provided feedback. After I made those tweaks I sent it over to him thinking well if he does anything with this, cool. If not, I've got to keep applying.

He did something with it. And forwarded it to the internal recruiter. Next thing I know I've got a recruiter screen, a first interview and a second interview. By November 2022, I was offered a position as a .NET Developer (I didn't know .NET or C# or any of that lol). I accepted.

Now what are you doing?!

Fast forward to Jan 2023, I start the new job. This sector of the company does something called "Bootcamp". You are in a simulated environment, with a simulated client. You are on a team of developers but you each must build and deploy an application for the client. I don't wanna give too much away on the bootcamp but it was a wild ride. I just finished up Mid Feb just in time for Mardi Gras, and man did I celebrate haha.

Now I am awaiting assignment, and working to learn TypeScript and Angular since that looks to be what I'll be working on for my first project. I just wanted to come through and update my little blog. It is crazy to see just how far I've come. I can't wait to continue to grow in this career and hopefully help others just like me get their foot in the door.

We outside and online yall. :)

A little MVC training I put together!

Mandy B — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 21:45:00 +0000

We were tasked with making a little presentation of MVC. Here's a short and sweet lecture of how I see MVC :)

MVC SS - Google Slides

docs.google.com

Coding podcasts and music!

Mandy B — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 21:35:51 +0000

Are you an animal who codes in silence?

I have searched and reached all realms of Spotify and YouTube looking for the best coding playlists and podcasts. I can't work (especially not code lol) in silence.

I found that while I'm doing my normal day to day job, Today's Top Hits on Spotify works but I lean more towards The Fantasy Footballers Podcast or my new favorite Front End Happy Hour.

Tell me more about the Front End Happy Hour Podcast

Man oh woman. It is fun, it's a bunch of engineers from Netflix, Twitch and Atlassian who get together over drinks to discuss not only new tech stacks but the interview process, work culture and more. They bring in guests from other tech companies like LinkedIn on the show as well. I don't want to give away the best part of the show, but when they set it up and you listen through a whole show it's pretty fun. :)

What about those playlists?

When I code, I don't want any music with words. I'm a huge fan of LoFi Girl and Code Pioneers on Youtube. Both are super chill with fantastic animations. I could watch a Code Pioneer "Midnight Coding Sesh" on YouTube all day lol. :)

Spotify has some good ones too but right now I've been listening to developer_focus()-concentration | programming | coding. Very chill but kinda trippy. I get lost in the sauce and find myself in my office working on my web app for 3 hours before I even realize it.

What about you all? What do you listen to? Do you like 90s Country while you code? No judgment here. You do you! Just curious what others out there are listening to while they code/study/work.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Resist the Mist: Bouncing From Topic to Topic

Mandy B — Tue, 24 May 2022 04:03:52 +0000

What coding language should I learn first?

I don't know about you but I am a frequent flyer of the r/learnprogramming subreddit. One of the posts I see the most is "What coding language should I learn first?" While I'm by no means a professional, my answer to any and everyone is the same,"the one you start with it". I actually had to take my own advice this week. I have an amazing fellow at my work who is hosting a little Python class biweekly. To include homework and all. When it first started I was so pumped. I was like OH YEAH, I'm gonna learn JavaScript and Python at the same time.

FULL STOP

What I am doing? It only took a few lessons to realize, that advice I was giving others, that advice I'd hear and read over and over again was so true. I need to slow down and learn the first thing I started with. JavaScript. Python isn't going anywhere right now, and it'll be easier to get a grip on once I learn my one language first. So I call my "instructor" friend and tell him what's up. He already knew I was trying to learn to code and was concentrating on web-development. He wholeheartedly agreed.

What HAVE I been learning?

We just started touching on Node.js, an asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime. I learned that computers don't translate JavaScript directly, but there is an engine inside the browser, the JavaScript V8 engine, that is written in C++. The V8 engine compiles our JavaScript into machine code. Net Ninja on YouTube has a great little Intro to Node course if you want to learn more. I'm chipping through it now.

I can create a server with simple HTTP and FS requests listening on a port channel. And even managed to manipulate the DOM for a coin flip server side with some help from a GREAT 100Devs stream team member Mayanwolfe.

Even on days where I feel like I'm not making any progress, I just have to look at how far I've come. I'll continue to build small apps to practice what I'm learning and review my ANKI cards. Pushing through that "what am I going to build" has been hard. I know what I like and enjoy but I want to make something that helps not just me but others too. I want to do a little series on what I'm building when the time comes. For now, you get to see me for me. Just a girl trying to learn to code and make it in this world!

Rubber Ducky You're The One

Mandy B — Thu, 05 May 2022 03:00:42 +0000

You make coding...make more sense?

While teaching myself how to code, all the videos, blog posts and more say you gotta talk it out. And the best way to do that is with a rubber duck or just anything really. These past few weeks, I've really been speaking my thoughts aloud but not to a duck. And I've got like 100 ducks around here (I drive a Jeep, it comes with the territory). Instead I have a little POP figure, it's Poca, short for Pocahontas. She listens to me answer my own questions or confuse myself even more on the daily. But man I'm glad I've got her.

Take debugging one error at a time

Since I've started working with APIs in my projects, those CORS errors are out in full force. I'm slowly breaking them down by copying them and directly posting them in Google. Because let's be real, every error has occurred at least once and SOMEONE (Lord bless 'em) has asked about it. One thing that helps is being familiar with your browser. Google Chrome is where it's at for me. I tried FireFox Developer Edition. It looks super flashy and shiny and new but Chrome Dev Tools chef's kiss. Both show you exactly what line your error is coming from but sometimes FireFox gives me too much info. I'm just not that advanced YET, so chill FF.

What about you? What do you use as your rubber ducky debugging tool? And your browser of choice? Why?

Road Trip, Sorta?

Mandy B — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 22:16:45 +0000

Feels like I'm on an extended road trip

And if you know me. I hate riding in the car. I just want to get there. Do I appreciate the scenery along the way? Yes. Do I always get to my destination and think, "that wasn't so bad." Yep. Well this is how I've been feeling about my coding journey. It's a long and I MEAN LONG road trip. Stopping to see (ahem..learn) new things along the way. Just constantly checking my GPS on when I'll get there.

Where's There?

Yeah my GPS is on explore right now. And honestly, that's alright. I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Would you believe I'm on Codewars? Solving problems and all? Do I look up things when I have a question? Absolutely. My go to is looking at other people's solutions after I submit my own. It is so interesting to see how others think. I find myself saying ooh, ahh that's smart. If I can talk through their code, I know I can talk through my own.

Still excited

I know I'll look back on this blog and and see how far I've come. I've made a portfolio site and even a little webpage as a project for said portfolio. This time last year, I was up to my eyeballs in texts, emails and phone calls for work. I didn't have time to breathe, let alone learn to code. But I'm in such a better headspace and job that I DO have time. I will be sure to make the absolute best of it.

What did you learn this week?

Mandy B — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 19:30:43 +0000

Fundamentals of JavaScript

This week and a little of last week, I began learning JS. Starting with variables, how they are little boxes or buckets that store items to memory. The 100 ways (it seems that is) to write a function. Some things need () and some do not. Still working on loops though.

The biggest takeaway so far for me is JS is a human language. So we have to be really specific when we want to use it to tell a computer what to do. I didn't understand the syntax or logic right off the bat. That is frustrating but I'm not supposed too. It's new, I'm new to this. But everyday I delete and rewrite my little exercises until it makes sense. Those little A-HA moments are so precious right now. I wake up excited to get back to my computer to code. That feeling might not last forever but I sure hope it sticks around for a long, long time.

What day am I on since I started this learning to code journey?

Well my Habit Tracker tells me I've been at this for 100 days! I'll take that. Can't stop, won't stop now! If only I could workout that consistently we'd be getting somewhere. I'll add working out to my Habit Tracker.

If you're just getting into this like me, don't stop. Watch a few YouTube videos if you need an extra push. Check out Code Newbie's podcast. They've got some really good ones in there about people just like us who made it.

I'm still here :)

Mandy B — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 21:06:16 +0000

So what have I been up too?

I can't believe I started with the Odin Project at the end of October 2021. I'm still working on it btw haha. I got to JS and just needed a little more, guidance. Their discord community is top notch but I wanted a more "bootcamp" kind of feel without spending bootcamp money ha. I found this post on Reddit and said, why not?! So I joined #100Devs. It's been really good. We're learning how to code and network all at once. The HTML/CSS have been really good practice to help what I'd learned with TOP and Colt Steele in my mind. I don't think I'll ever stop learning HTML/CSS lol.

Hiccups along the way?

For me, CSS is the bane of my existence. How people make these mockups of an iPhone completely from HTML and CSS BLOWS MY MIND. I'm just over here using decade old attributes like float to make my little layouts. And then they don't always float like I want them!

Highlights?

I found that when I help others in Discord, I gain a better understanding of the concept or they show me a better way to approach a problem. I can't make my code look like someone else's but while reviewing and reading their code I can find their specificity issue in their CSS cascade and pinpoint why they are having troubles! But look at my own CSS? I can't see a thing lol.

Just happy to still be here and doing this. Still got a long way to go. One of these days, my post will be hey, check out my portfolio!

Oh now we're talkin'

Mandy B — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:49:45 +0000

JavaScript

I've made it through both The Odin Project and Colt Steele's Web Developer Course- HTML and CSS portions. I just started JavaScript and now I see. Now we are talking. I am nervous but excited. I've found a few Discord communities I can hop in to ask questions or just network!

Web Dev or Bust?

I am really glad I started here. While I'm enjoying building single page websites, I know that's not what I'm going to want to do forever. I want to be more on the "backend" of things. I plan to finish The Odin Project Fundamentals Course and really reflect on my journey up to that point. I've found myself drawn to Network Security and protocols. But hey.. right now everything is shiny and new and I want to learn it. I know this chapter of my life is just beginning.

50% uploaded

Mandy B — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 17:19:18 +0000

The Odin Project: Foundations

That's right, your girl reached 50% completed on The Odin Project: Foundations Course! Hey it's the little things alright? I am in the CSS portion learning about the box model. I already know, hold on to my bootstraps, it's gonna be a ride. I'm not trying to fly through this thing. I want to be sure I'm retaining the information. Sure I still have to google/check back every now and then but who doesn't? I know WHERE to find what I'm looking for because I remember seeing it and how the syntax goes for the most part. So that's a win in my book.

Projects

Yeah I don't really have a one just yet. I have been thinking of some things I'd like to do along with the course's projects. I'd like to do something with Fantasy Football. Like a tracker or ticker that people can use during a live draft. Maybe even have the previous season's player's stats/ADP in there? I'm also open to suggestions people so lay it on me. Gently please, remember I'm still learning what the padding, border and margin is. :)

Happy coding everyone! I'm about to wrap up studying for the morning and watch some college football with the family. But not before I go check out a few articles on here :)

Mandy B...out ✌🏾

Happy Holidays!

Mandy B — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 01:06:01 +0000

Learning through the holidays

Start learning to code they said, it'll be fun they said. They also said if you're doing this on your own, self-taught that is, you have to be disciplined enough to study when your friends want to do other things. So this week, I studied, even on Thanksgiving day. I find that if I wake up and go straight from my coffee pot to my office. I can get a good amount of study time in. No I'm not out here doing 4,8,12 hour YouTube study with me ha ha but I feel the time I am putting in is valid and useful. Well that's it for today.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and an even better rest of your Holiday Season.

Now, let's get this bread together :)