DEV Community: Sam Webb

Keep on keeping on...

Sam Webb — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 01:20:27 +0000

I know, I know. I am WAY behind where I need to be. My mom passed away last year and left me with the money that enabled me to take this course and I am fucking it up. My dad's lung cancer came back, which is what took my mom, and it paralyzed me. I don't know how else to put it. It was so awful seeing the woman that had always been the toughest asshole in my life get slowly erased, each day becoming less and less of the person I loved. The laws in this country are ridiculous, and Illinois is not yet a state that allows you to die with dignity. It was truly undignified.

HOWEVER...

I need to snap out of it. If my mom were here, she would be giving me that look and using my full name - SamanTHA. The emphasis at the end for a verbal kick in the ass, I suppose. If I can get my shit together, I can do this FOR my dad. Make him proud. So, here we are, back again, back to the beginning. I am taking my time, making my flash cards, coding every day (trying to at the very least), making use of the boundless resources that I have available. I know that I can do this. It's time for me to put up or shut up..and I am the loudest person I know.

Getting my ass in gear...

Sam Webb — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 03:23:53 +0000

I have been stagnant for way too long, so I am setting the intention that I am going to re-focus and get into my studies and practice coding every day. It is actually pretty fun to learn and mess around with stuff, I always learn something new. I have gotten too reliant on AI chat and Google, so I have been refraining from trying to get help to solve the questions I have or code blanks that need filling in labs unless absolutely necessary. I am still suuuuper far behind, but you know what? I actually understand and retain the concepts that I've already learned. I am working on a lab right now to make a ToDo list. I have started it, messing with the CSS and the HTML to make it a little more unique. My goal (and the goal of the lab) is to build a functioning todo list application. You are given the HTML pre-made, but essentially we are asked to create the form submission button to save each task as it is entered yadda yada yada. Simple, but you have to start somewhere, right? Here is an example, which I assume they also give us so that we can see the working code. I'll post mine when I am done!

non-human resources

Sam Webb — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 01:55:04 +0000

SO - like I mentioned previously, I have been doing my best to identify and rehab my bad habits. When I'm learning new concepts, I like to condense the information into a way that makes sense to me and preferably have some infographics that can help me recall specifics at a glance. I made some infographics to help me with the array methods in Javascript, which actually helped a lot since I spent so much time on it.

Hopefully they can help someone else too!

You can check it out here

Remote learning may not have been the best option..

Sam Webb — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 01:59:07 +0000

I am a person who asks a LOT of question. I love learning, and there are always a minimum of 20 tabs open on whatever browser I'm using. I probably should have considered this when deciding to take classes for software engineering. Couple this with the fact that I have terrible social anxiety, and it seems like I may have set myself up to fail. I have been pestering the AI bots quite a bit, but I need to force myself to get comfortable engaging more with the community around me. I think a big problem is that I am afraid of looking stupid. Like, everyone else is breezing through all of these concepts and I'm not.

I am going to keep trying, I like to succeed and am super competitive. I just need to form better habits and swallow my pride.

I have been tinkering with ways to help me memorize different concepts. A big thing that keeps throwing me is the way that some information is presented - I like to keep concepts together in my mind with clear examples, it makes it easier to recall.

For example, array methods in JavaScript is something I was struggling with, so I have been screenshotting the visual examples when I practice. Things like

.pop()
.push()
.shift()
.unshift()
.splice()
.slice()

don't always work the way you might assume that they would - like if I had this array:

const theSimpsons = ["Homer", "Marge", "Bart", "Lisa", "Maggie"]
// -> undefined

and I wanted to add another element using .push()

theSimpsons.push("Hugo")
// -> 6

_I wouldn't expect to have gotten the adjusted length of the array back. _ If I want to see the new, mutated array I have to go back to check.

theSimpsons
// -> [ 'Homer', 'Marge', 'Bart', 'Lisa', 'Maggie', 'Hugo' ]

Just another thing that I need to keep practicing until it doesn't seem so foreign. I plan to make some charts that combine visual examples that I struggle with (array methods with examples will be the first) so I can use it like a cheat sheet until I've got it down.

Anywhoozle, that's all for now. Stay warm!
and will post when I make it look pretty.

Curiosity Killed the Cat - but Answers Brought it Back

Sam Webb — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 04:56:43 +0000

Things sure have changed since the go-to blog spot was LiveJournal - this is definitely an improvement.

I'm Sam and I am starting my journey on my way to becoming a software engineer. I quit my job that I had for over 8 years and opened my arms to the terrifying embrace of the new and unknown. I am attending Flatiron school on the flex program, and it is way harder than I thought. It was definitely a blow to my pride when it dawned on me that this wasn't another thing that I could breeze through with little effort. At my job, I didn't even have a permanent job title because I was in charge of so many things. I was the HR manager, the operations manager, and the IT department. It was stressful as hell, but it felt good to be the go to person - well, sometimes. Sometimes I wanted to shake the person who wouldn't accept that the problem was with THEM and not the COMPUTER.

**"Sam, this website is broken."

"Sam, this printer won't work."

"Sam, I can't punch in."

"Sam, I need you to make an online order form and I need in in 15 minutes. You're not busy, right?**

Have you tried turning it off and on again? But seriously, I ended up teaching myself a lot. I gleaned bits and pieces of security, maintenance, building websites, automation, ect. It was one part of my job that I loved, but I only had Google to teach me, and when I had questions I wasn't always able to find the right answer. My mom would push me to do more, go back to school, but I was always hesitant. I was comfortable, so why shake things up?

Well, after my mom (who had been sick for years with lung cancer) finally passed, I had access to a small sum of money that really made me consider it for the first time. I had run out of excuses, so it was time to nut up or shut up. I left my job, enrolled in Flatiron, and thought it would be a breeze.

I WAS SO WRONG. It had been so long since I actually had to use all of my effort to problem solve, it took a while to dust off the cobwebs. I am definitely behind - I had no idea that even the prep work would be so in depth! However, now I am finding my footing. I am enjoying having to work so hard for the answer, failing a lot until I get the hang of things. I am humbled and loving it. I am determined to catch up to where I should be, and even move beyond that. It's a whole new world out there... "Hello, World!"