DEV Community: Mel R

6 Month Update: The best one yet...

Mel R — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 23:23:02 +0000

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FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT

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April of this year... I discovered that I had found my sweet spot. My greatest passion, had finally met my greatest talent. I had discovered programming! I found Treehouse by searching for great learning platforms and was immediately drawn in by the teachers and teaching style, the quizzes, and the supportive community of students. I taught myself as much as I could cram into in a day (But I felt like I was missing something important).

Suddenly, A wild July appeared and Treehouse announced that they would be having a festival! Attending the festival changed my entire outlook on many things. I did not think I could love Treehouse as a corporation more... this festival proved that wrong. The lineup of talks alone made me realize that this company walks it's talk when they say their mission statement is to diversify tech and making learning more accessible, and empowering people to achieve their dreams. Treehouse immediately rose to the top of the list of companies that I wanted to work for.

One of the biggest takeaways for me was the importance of networking in the tech industry. Networking was such a scary unknown territory for me, but I was ready. The League of Feminist Coders was born. I started networking by creating a space where I felt safe and wanted others in tech to feel the same. A space for womxn, poc, and lgbtq+ folks in tech to just exist. The friendships I have made through this group have turned into friendships that I hope last forever. My mission is Treehouses mission. Today, I received the incredible news that my journey is now to work hard for the company that I believe in. To work hard for the students that are sitting right where I was just 6 months ago. All the while, sticking to the mission that we all have in common... making this world a better place by celebrating diversity.

Do I Have Coder's Block?

Mel R — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:36:16 +0000

We have all heard of Writer's block... A writer sits down at their computer ready to write a masterpiece. They have their steaming cup of coffee next to them as they open up Word. They see that flashing vertical line staring back at them in anticipation of what will follow. Then... the writer takes a deep breath in and... nothing. Words don't flow easily from their fingertips like they always have before. They feel like something is wrong with them and as they doubt themselves, they get farther and farther away from their potential creation.

This has happened to all of us in some form or fashion. Today, as I was sitting and preparing to write my 5 month coding update, I realized that for the last couple weeks I have been experiencing what feels like writer's block but with coding. I felt like it would be appropriate to call it "Coder's Block".

While I am still completely in love with my career choice of Game Development, lately, I have been staring at VSCode with a blank mind just as the writer stares at their blank page. Fear and self-doubt settle in and I get distracted.

Signs and Symptoms of "Coder's block"

Charlie Jane Anders of i09.com came up with the 10 types of writer’s block... They seem to fit well into the "Coder's block" box as well:

1.) You can’t come up with an idea.
2.) You have a ton of ideas but can’t commit to any of them, and they all peter out.
3.) You have ~~an outline~~ your pseudocode written but you can’t get through this one part of it.
4.) You’re stuck in the middle of the project and have no idea what ~~happens~~ to code next.
5.) You have a terrible feeling your ~~story~~ code took a wrong turn a hundred ~~pages~~ lines back, and you only just hit a dead end.
6.) You’re bored with ~~all these characters~~ the current project, ~~they won’t do anything~~ it seems pointless to continue.
7.) You keep imagining all the reasons people are going to say your ~~story~~ project sucks, and it paralyzes you.
8.) You can’t think of the right ~~words~~ code for what you’re trying to ~~convey~~ accomplish in this ~~one paragraph~~ function.
9.) You had this incredibly cool ~~story~~ project idea in your head, and now you’re turning it into ~~words~~ code on a screen and it’s suddenly dumb.
10.) You’re revising your work, and you can’t see your way past all those blocks of ~~text~~ code you already wrote.

I didn't have to change much from this list... Coder's block is just >writer's block for programmers. So how do we deal with this?

Curing "Coder's block"

1.) Find a community that lifts you up Be vulnerable and transparent about your struggles. You will be surprised by how many people have experienced or are experiencing what you are going through now. People want to help.

2.) Get yourself inspired! Watch uplifting videos, read inspiring books/articles, or listen to podcasts/music that boosts your spirit up. Sometimes coder's block is just a lack of creative inspiration. Again, reach out to your community for inspiration and ideas as well.

3.) Work on a **fun project** What do you like? Star Wars? Anime? Dogs? Do a fun no pressure project based on your interests that makes you smile. Sometimes just going back to the basics and remembering why you started coding in the first place by doing a fun project will get you back in the groove!

4.) Take a break from it If you are feeling burnt out, step back a bit and do something else for a little while. Sometimes when we are learning something new, we can over-do it a little because we are excited. This can lead to burnout and over exhaustion. Take care of yourself. Do something away from the computer for as long as you need. When you are feeling refreshed, try again!

5.) Clean up your workspace or go to a calm and relaxing place I love to code at coffee shops. I feel like I focus better. If you are struggling to stay focused or are feeling distracted due to coder's block try either cleaning up the area around you or packing up your laptop and going to a chill and quiet place. The energy around you can make a big difference on your ability to focus.

Thank you for reading! If you can think of other ways that you >have fought off Coder's block please mention them in the comments!

Is it Social Anxiety or Introversion?

Mel R — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 18:43:26 +0000

~~~~~~~ Vulnerability Alert ~~~~~~~

During this pandemic I have discovered something life-altering about myself:

Since learning what an introvert was, I believed, without a doubt in my mind, that I was one. Recently, I have discovered otherwise. When I think back to my early childhood, I remember myself as cute little genderqueer kiddo that wanted to be a comedian because they LOVED to make everyone laugh. They were always surrounded by friends and teammates, and would never turn down an epic birthday party or sleepover.

That all changed after my parents split up and we moved over 1700 miles away from my dad, my friends, and my life. If you have seen Inside Out, you'll know what I mean when I say, ALL of my emotional islands shut down, and I built a new one called Social Anxiety Island (Woooooo sounds fun right!?). Event after event built this 'island' inside me, into a massive fortress: one that I realized I felt safe in as long as no one came in. I found myself avoiding social situations that made me feel that gut wrenching stress. Friends became harder to make and keep.

Into adulthood, I found myself scared to even make eye contact walking down the street. I never saw it as social anxiety until recently. I saw it as, "Oh, yeah I am definitely an introvert!". But deep down, my energy really came from being around others, uplifting people, and making them laugh. I was just surrounding myself with the wrong people which made my social anxiety worsen. The day that I was about to meet my wonderful partner, we were going to hang out at a coffee shop and she was going to help talk me through some personal things that I was going through. It was a miracle that I reached out for help and an even bigger miracle that I said that I would love to meet her. The day came that we were going to hang out and I got that old familiar feeling. That fear in the pit of my gut. The one that hopes the plans get cancelled so I can stay home and shut it all out. I even reached out to her nonchalantly and asked "Are we still on for today?".

Say no, say no, say no...

"Of course! I'll see you in an hour!!"

Shoot...

Going against that fear, and meeting her was the best thing I have ever done.

I started to notice that the more I pushed past that anxiety and just went to the social engagements anyway... the better I felt. I started to say no to the fear and say yes to more socializing. My partner has so many amazing friends and family members, that I have been given many opportunities to heal my social anxiety. The best way for me to heal it is to push forward THROUGH it. I may be socially awkward at times, due to shutting myself in for so long, but I know that it will get easier.

I have been trying to find the perfect metaphor to describe how my social anxiety feels. Let's say we all have a little white candle that we are holding that represents our emotional energy. Some days it burns brightly, other days we struggle to keep it lit. I had a lot of people in my life who kept trying to blow out my candle when I was growing up and into early adulthood. So, I kept holding onto it tighter and closer. Anytime a person would come around, no matter who that person was, I was scared to expose my candle for fear of getting it snuffed out. Little did I realize that the tighter and closer I held my candle to myself the more I suffocated the flame. Lately, I have been trying to hold out my candle a little farther, and a little more, and a little more...

I give a smile to someone walking by me, both of our candles get brighter.

I compliment a girl at the grocery store on her epic Slytherin bag, our candles get brighter.

I share a vulnerable story, both of our candles get brighter.

I learned that sharing myself with others and letting people in does not deplete my emotional energy, it increases it.

That being said, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, if you have social anxiety it can be crippling. But I am sharing this story with the hope that people can see the difference between being an introvert and having social anxiety. I acquire energy by being around others, therefor I am an extrovert. Being an extrovert with social anxiety is extremely challenging and some days it's harder to say yes than other days. One day at a time, one event at a time, one connection at a time.

Thank you for reading!

Teaching Myself to Code: HORRIBLE BOSS- Oh Wait, That Was Me...

Mel R — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 21:00:05 +0000

The schedule from Hell

June 11, 2020 I sat down at my computer at 9am ready to start the day. This would be my first full day of teaching myself to code full time. I remember being so excited that I filled out my calendar for the next month jam packed with a strict schedule.

6am-9am: Exercise and eat Breakfast
9am-12pm: Code with Treehouse
12pm-1pm: Drive for DoorDash (Lunch)
2pm-5pm: Work on coding project
5pm-8pm: Drive for DoorDash (Dinner)

I knew that if I would stick to that schedule I would be successful, otherwise I would be undisciplined and get nothing done.

For 4 months straight I have stuck to this strict routine and am a perfect human being.... HA just kidding. The schedule above literally lasted for ONE day. By the end of the day I felt like I couldn't breathe.
It took me a few weeks to realize that I have complete freedom to learn right now. The issue was that I didn't trust myself. I did not believe that I could keep myself focused, accountable, and motivated. What actually happened was that I became my own boss. Through this learning journey, I have been both the boss everyone hates, and the boss that everyone respects.

Me, as the boss everyone hates:

😡 I micromanaged every little thing that I did. If I didn't start coding at 9am sharp I became very stressed. I was irritated with myself and basically gave myself a mental smackdown for being "undisciplined".

😡 I was a bully and unless I achieved a certain amount, I forced myself to work overtime. This made my time less productive and just all around more stressful.

😡 I did was focused more on criticizing what I was NOT doing right rather than celebrating what I was doing right.

Me, as the boss everyone respects:

😎 I went with the flow of things, if I did not start right at 9am it was cool... I could just work a little later. I encouraged flexibility for a more balanced work/life.
(Side note: I am not condoning being compulsively late for things. Be considerate and be on time for important meetings.)

😎 I was kind, respectful, loving, and appreciative to myself which gave me confidence and energy and in turn made me more productive and excited about my work.

😎 I celebrated my wins by sharing them on LinkedIn. While I still faced challenges and difficulties, I have looked at them with determination to solve the problem rather than with criticism of myself.

We have probably all experienced horrible bosses, and we would all prefer to have the boss that everyone respects. The one who is supportive, encouraging, flexible, and not breathing down our neck.

When on the journey of learning full time, remember that YOU are your boss right now. Are you the boss that everyone hates, or the one that everyone respects?

It's your choice to be the type of boss that you want to have.

Cheers!

Image graciously borrowed from https://blogjob.com/thebossfromhell/

Three Months In: Teaching Myself to Code Full-time

Mel R — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 02:44:50 +0000

This 3rd month has been 🔥 🔥 🔥

Right at the end of my 2nd month I had just discovered my passion for game development. Once I had that career direction in my mind, my learning speed has gone from fast to TURBOOOO.

I have designed and developed a Star Trek Space Shooter demo, a first person shooter demo, 3d PacMan, and am now working on a dungeon crawler rpg.
(https://n0nb1narydev.github.io/projects.html to see and play my first 3 games)
Each game has taught me so much with both Unity and C#. The work days go by way too fast and I find myself dreaming about developing games every night.

The most valuable thing that I have learned this third month is that when you know what direction you want to go with coding and developing, that is the point where you can really start to expedite your self-learning.

It's not easy finding that perfect career-fit for you, it wasn't for me. I went from psychology, to forensics, to biology, to photography, to web-development, and finally to game development. Life is not about taking the easy route. Do what feels right for you even if it is the harder direction. Even if it's an unconventional path. If you want to change directions, there is nothing wrong with that at all. Just follow your bliss, try new things, keep moving forward, and don't be afraid to fail.

The Day I Wanted to Give Up

Mel R — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 02:34:45 +0000

Day 26/100 #100daysofcodechallenge "The day I wanted to give up"
(Hopefully the video isn't too laggy)
I just had to share what I learned today on video.

I've shared a lot of my wins lately. But it's not all wins. Every day isn't going to be flawless, but if you keep going especially through the struggles, you will come out a better programmer/person/etc.

Cliffnotes:
"Don’t give up.
I didn’t give up today and now I have this game to share with you all.
If you are getting frustrated, breathe, step away, clear your head and come back to it.
Just don’t give up."

How I Paid Off My Student Loans in 17 Months

Mel R — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 16:37:43 +0000

If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be completely debt free and would be learning to code full-time during a pandemic, I would have thought you were nuts... especially about the pandemic part.

I was always interested in budgeting but I was not consistent with it and most of the time was wondering where all of my paychecks were going. I had a car loan, student loans accruing for a degree that I never finished in a major that I ended up not wanting to pursue, an iPhone loan from AT&T, and a PC loan (because I just had to have that gaming computer)...

"This is what everyone does." I would tell myself as I was making all of these monthly payments towards debt and interest, not realizing that this is where all of my paychecks were going. My total debt was 70% of my annual household income. I was not even able to have $1000 in savings at one time.

In October of 2018, my partner and I were newly dating and discussing finances. We were listing out all of my debts and trying to start a plan to get them paid off. I told her that I had about $5,000 left on car.

"How much is the interest?" She asked.
"Uhh, 16.99% apr... I think that's what the paper said but I don't really understand what that means." I replied.
Her jaw dropped to the floor and she quickly grabbed her calculator and started the process of telling me just how little I was paying on principle every month. It was going to take forever to pay off the car at the rate I was paying it off.

That was the moment where I decided, no more.

We kicked it into high gear.

I got my budget planned out using the EveryDollar App which I HIGHLY recommend!

Then I started to follow Dave Ramsey's baby steps:

Step 1.
Save $1,000 and DO NOT TOUCH IT. Lock it away in a shadow box and only break the glass if you ABSOLUTELY have to.

This I worked a little extra that month and was squeezing every little bit I could out of my budget. I ate out less, and really made sure that what I was buying was necessary. It took a lot of self-discipline but I wanted to be debt free more than I wanted that game, or those tacos. I hit my $1000 emergency fund and put it away in a savings account used ONLY for the emergency fund.

Step 2.
List out all of your debts smallest to largest and start throwing every spare dollar at the smallest one.

This is the point in time where you get hyper focused. Pick up extra hours, sell stuff, get a part time job selling pizza's. Make this step take as little time as you can. It will be uncomfortable, but it is worth pushing hard to get out of debt and free yourself. I paid off my car within 3-4 months of finding out about the apr and refinancing. My entire tax return and everything I had was going to my car. After the car was paid off, I started tackling my student loans, smallest to largest.

This year I finally did it and it was the most liberating feeling ever!

Step 3.
Boost that $1000 emergency fund up to 3-6 months worth of expenses

Continue the momentum and instead of throwing the extra money at your debt, throw it in your savings and build it up to 3-6 months worth of expenses. This one is more fun because you actually get to keep the money you are working hard for. But... DO NOT SPEND IT!

I will quickly list the last steps:

(Note: 4, 5, and 6 are done consecutively)

Step 4.
Invest 15% of your household income in retirement.

Step 5.
Save for your kid’s college fund.

Step 6.
Pay off your home within 7 years if possible.

And the final, most fun step:
Step 7.
Build wealth and give generously.

Anyone can do this! You just have to shift your perspective and believe you can.

Know your "why?" and do it.

Stay focused and you can become debt free and follow your dreams!

Thanks for reading!!

I've Been Teaching Myself How to Code Full-Time for 2 Months... Now What?

Mel R — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 15:09:19 +0000

13 days ago I started the #100daysofCode challege, I went into it working through the Team Treehouse JavaScript Track. I was really struggling with JavaScript for quite some time but I was getting through it bit by bit.

When I first started this journey, quitting my job and saying "OK I'm going to learn to code full time", I did not know just HOW many jobs there are! I assumed that I would just be a web developer and make websites. I learned how to make some pretty cool sites and I was enjoying it for the most part. I really was just enjoying learning something new and in the last month networking with some incredible people I met at a coding festival.

11 days ago, I stumbled upon the C# track on Treehouse. I had heard of Unity Game Engine but I did not realize that you use C# to code games on there. I found an incredible Udemy course on using C# with Unity and built my first game in 9 days. I refused to use their basic ships, enemies, and powerups and designed my own in Photoshop. (That skill came in handy!) I am a huge Trekkie... So of course, when the teacher said that we are making a space shooter my mind instantly when to Star Trek.

You can play the full game here! Link

In the past 9 days, I felt more alive when it comes to being passionate about work than I have ever felt. I've decided that I want to continue learning C# and see where Game Development takes me.

I have always LOVED playing games, but being able to see how it works from the inside, fixing the errors, succeeding and having a finished game that people enjoy, dude... THAT is where my heart is.

I Quit My Full-Time Job to Teach Myself How to Code

Mel R — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:41:06 +0000

“You win at what you focus on.” Dave Ramsey

Being a huge Dave Ramsey fan I am proud to say that for the first time in my adult life, currently 30, I am debt-free! I have taken his financial advice to heart and it is now a practice that I will continue to follow for the rest of my life. I was thinking about that quote and how it could apply to other areas of my life.
I have been working as a product photographer at an auction gallery shooting a wide variety of interesting items. I had always thought that I was right-brained artistic like the rest of my family, so I have been putting pressure on myself to be more artistic…
Note: Forcing yourself to be artistic does not work!
I am a hard worker no matter what I am doing, so I was successful at this job, but it wasn’t setting my soul on fire.

My partner introduced Hour of Code (https://hourofcode.com/us/learn) to me and I made this puppy jump over various objects using blocks of code instructions that linked together like a puzzle. It was an activity for kids to learn how to code, but it clicked with me. I loved it and my brain just felt hungry for more. Next thing I knew I was spending hours directing Minecraft characters through mazes using these code blocks. I had found ‘my thing’.

I have been learning to code now for about 2 months using various tools including, freecodecamp.com, teamtreehouse.com, and listening to Laurence Bradford ‘s amazingly inspiring podcast Learn to Code with Me.

I was spending every lunch hour and a couple hours in the evening dedicated to learning by taking my laptop everywhere. I was listening to other inspiring people who had completely changed careers and taught themselves how to code 6-8 hours a day while taking and editing photos. I just wanted to completely immerse myself in the technology world.

Several days ago, I realized that what I did to pay off my student loans and debt was using focused intensity. Ramsey is always saying that whatever you are focused on, you win at.
I gave my notice of resignation, and yesterday was my last day as a product photographer, and my first day as a full-time self-taught student. I am leaping out of my comfort zone to achieve my dream of becoming a programmer. I have 100% confidence in myself and am so thankful to have a partner and friends who believe in me.

You may be asking yourself, but how is she going to pay her bills? And to this I say, “hustlin’”. During COVID-19 and paying off debt, I picked up a number of side jobs including, DoorDash, GrubHub, Wag!, and Postmates. My partner and I sold things on facebook marketplace and I also started doing some photoshoots. When you have a goal that you are passionate about, you get very creative with finding solutions to achieve it.

There are several important practices that I believe will keep me motivated.

5 Practices that will Keep Me Motivated

1. Write out a schedule and stick to it.
I’ve got this amazing planner which has day to day, hour by hour lines and I have assigned myself a schedule to help me stay focused.
2. Find/Join/Create a community.
Knowing that I am not alone when I get stuck on a problem gives me peace. I created a local facebook group for like-minded coders in my area and have joined several others. Meetup is an excellent tool to find fun groups. If you surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to be doing, it will help you create that life for yourself.
Plus, having connections is a HUGE bonus in the tech world.
3. Remember that failure is not something to fear.
We all fail and we can choose to let that failure affect our confidence and self worth OR we can choose to build on our failures and learn from them.
4. Work on fun projects that are exciting and spark passion.
This one is very important for me as I tend to lose interest if I am not emotionally invested in what I am working on. I already have a great lineup of projects in mind and cannot wait to get started!
5. Build confidence while building a portfolio.
When working on projects it’s important to share them with others to get feedback. This will make me a better coder and will also boost my confidence. A portfolio is said to be more important than a resume in the tech-world.
Thank you so much for reading. I look forward to sharing more about this incredible journey of personal growth that I am about to embark on!
(Originally Posted June 13th 2020)