DEV Community: Margret Mauno

Silence vs Speech

Margret Mauno — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 15:57:57 +0000

Sometimes I am torn between moving in silence and posting my progress for accountability's sake. More often than not I tend to choose the former. Then I end up doing nothing in silence.

Any-who, this dilemma is the reason behind my disappearing (from posting online) tendencies. Now that I am already creating a post, I shall just share what I did today instead of being silent about it.

Today I used AI again to understand a basic express server. In addition I watched a YouTube Video on Operating Systems since next semester I take a course on the same. A course I sat for last semester called Computer Organisation has really helped me grasp the concepts in OS. Earlier this year I wasn't understanding OS concepts, but now I am. #Progress! I am honestly so grateful, to God.

I have also enrolled for an AI course offered by IBM. I hope and pray that I will align my schedule well enough to finish it. No pressure to me though :-) But it would be nice if I finished it.

If I fail to finish it it would probably be because I am super focused on learning JS and DB's (Databases). But I shall attempt to add the AI bit onto my schedule as well. Hope this works :-)... <3

Been a while

Margret Mauno — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 17:19:13 +0000

Hi there viewer :-). I am back to posting my tech progress after a long hiatus from not doing so. I am back partly because I realised it does help to post your progress; and partly because I know "If nothing changes, nothing changes". By that I mean that if I don't tweak my daily routine to align with my goals, then I will remain stuck in the position where I am at today. Not that I hate where I am at today, but I know there is more; I know I can be better.

About where I am at today tech-wise- I feel like I should dedicate time to practical learning. I did do a course on full stack web development but after I finished it I felt a bit blank. It was like the training wheels off my bicycle had been removed and I had to ride on my own for the first time. Like I said, as much as I had gathered much knowledge during the course - from html to even motoko for cryptocurrency development- I felt blank starting out on my own.

Tutorials really helped when I got my first clients. I worked on the front-end and got help with the back-end. At the moment I feel comfortable working with html and CSS. As for JavaScript I am still re-familiarising myself with it on w-3 schools. I am also working on a project that will help me re-learn how to work with node JS, Express and MongoDB. After I am done with the project I hope to be skilled in working with databases.

As much as my tech journey has not been as smooth as I envisioned it to be, I choose to speak life into this career path I have chosen. Granted, there's a lot to be learnt. But I have also learnt a lot. I just need to do a little bit of reminding myself. Like today collaborated with chat GPT in order to understand what node JS and express is. I also used the same tool, AI, to understand the package.json file a bit better.

I believe if I do what I have done daily I will move from amateur to guru in no time :-). My one true prayer is that I remain consistent.

How to code faster for beginners.

Margret Mauno — Wed, 29 May 2024 16:01:11 +0000

Speaking for myself, as a web development beginner, I love seeing results display on my screen. At times I care little about the behind the scenes, what is required to display a particular result on the web browser. That is where the problem begins.

To solve this problem, I have of late been asking myself a crucial question: do I have a knowledge gap or do I have an execution gap. In most cases, my answer is usually the former, since I am a beginner.

After answering the stated question, you will know how to proceed. If you have a knowledge gap, you need to dedicate a good amount of time learning the concept you want to execute before you go ahead and execute it.On the other hand, if you have an execution gap, go ahead and build the app. Lucky you!

I used this technique yesterday and today and I have made massive progress in a next js app I am currently building. Two weeks ago I knew nothing about next JS and tailwind. At the moment, I have built a website with map display and chat capability. It even has a dynamic header and footer. This to me is an achievement worth celebrating.

So the next time your project is progressing slower than usual and you have countless bugs in your code, ask yourself this question: do I have a knowledge gap or do I have an execution gap?. From there proceed accordingly.

Welcome to my Dev Diary.

Margret Mauno — Tue, 28 May 2024 16:26:00 +0000

Heyy there, welcome to my tech progress diary. I shall be posting my progress here, instead of LinkedIn. LinkedIn will be for important and major announcements, God-willing.

Today, Tuesday 28th May 2024, has been yet another good day. I have been working on a next JS application and I managed to add a header and footer to the project. I also understood how to work with tailwind. The website is not looking cute yet though. Once it does I shall upload it over here :-).

In addition, I was researched on how to build an AI chat bot. I hope to work on the chat bot tomorrow.

I usually read for a school unit as well, computer organisation. Today I read ahead, on number systems. The topic touches on binary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal numbers and conversion from one form to the other. I have learnt the unit before in a mobile app development class I took in Strathmore. But it was still really interesting to me revisiting the topic.

If I get time tomorrow I shall upload a coding tip that has really helped me today. Thanks for reading :-).