DEV Community: Shri Dharshini S

Caffeinated Commits- Day 5 & 6

Shri Dharshini S — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 18:01:21 +0000

Rethinking my approach

I spent yesterday revisiting basics. It's been over a year since I learnt Java (on my own if I may add), and since I dont use Java in my job everyday, I figured learning it from scratch again will help me in the long run. I learnt some syntax, revisited data types, collections and oops concepts.

Today, after a brief conversation with a friend, I realized that my actual goal is to learn Java, but I’ve been struggling excessively by trying to learn DSA alongside it. I decided to rethink my learning strategy — I might start with a Java crash course instead, and continue practicing DSA in Python. Yes, I know Python isn’t the most recommended language for DSA, but since I’ve been coding in it for over six years, it will allow me to focus more on problem-solving rather than getting stuck on syntax errors.

I also made some progress on my project: I created a few more APIs for creating and updating users. My plan is to first complete and document all the APIs, and then move on to the frontend.

Caffeinated Commits- Day 4

Shri Dharshini S — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:27:09 +0000

Another Slow Day

I realized that I can identify patterns given that I have solved some DSA in python before, but I am just struggling with Java and all the functions that the Collections offer. So today I mainly worked on learning about the functions each collection has to offer and made a little cheatsheet. No questions solved today.

Collections Covered: ArrayList, LinkedList, Stack, PriorityQueue, HashMap, HashSet, TreeMap, TreeSet

Caffeinated Commits- Day 3

Shri Dharshini S — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:36:39 +0000

This is proving to be more difficult...

With a full-time job and living alone, finding the motivation to code beyond what my job demands is really exhausting. On top of that, being unfamiliar not only with the endless Java Collections and their functions but also with Java itself makes LeetCode quite frustrating.

I didn’t make much progress today. I skimmed through the Java Collections and the functions they offer, and I managed to solve one question — Longest Common Prefix. No progress on the project today 😔.

I’ve also decided that I’ll be posting small snippets like these every day, along with a more detailed weekly post on Sundays, where I’ll go into my approaches and thought process.

Thanks for reading!

Caffeinated Commits- Day 1 & 2

Shri Dharshini S — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 17:48:07 +0000

So I gave this series a name...

They say it takes 21 days to build a habit, so no wonder I forgot to post yesterday (even more embarrassing since it was literally Day 1 🫣). This series is already proving to be more difficult than I anticipated.

Progress in Days 1 and 2

Created the database models for the project (A Hospital Management System) and also implemented two APIs for login and register.

LeetCode:
- Solved the iconic Two Sum (for the second time—I had solved it before as a naive Python developer).
- Top K Frequent Elements
- Valid Anagram
- Group Anagrams

I’m trying to pick problems that follow similar patterns and solve them in that order. These are based on Arrays and Hashing.

On a side note, I’m still deciding whether I want to publish detailed posts every day, or keep them crisp like this and follow up with a weekly detailed update. I might edit this post later accordingly. If you are reading this, maybe comment your opinion!

First Post! Documenting my Technical Learnings

Shri Dharshini S — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:09:52 +0000

[Day 0: Starting the Series and Setting Goals]

Hi There!

I'm Dharshini, a recent engineering graduate and a full-time software developer. Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit of a slump. I finished my degree, I have a job — but what’s next?

I realized that treading water will get me nowhere, so I decided to set some goals and learn the things I probably should have focused on back in college (whoops). Since I’m notorious for my “New ___, New Me” mindset, I figured I’d start this documentation journey today — a random 12th of the month!

I want to document my goals and progress every day (or every week, if daily feels too hectic), and hopefully by the end of the year I would have checked off everything from my list.

My Goals for the Next 4 Months (End of 2025)

Finish my System Commands course as part of my online diploma.
Complete two full-stack application projects, also part of my diploma.
Learn Data Structures and Algorithms in Java.
Explore other miscellaneous tech topics — system design, UI/UX design, and Spring Boot for full-stack development.

Hopefully, this journey helps me stay consistent and reach my goals! Thanks for reading!