DEV Community: tacodes

The Art of Giving Clients Options

tacodes — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 19:59:19 +0000

Me, a freelance "boutique" agency...

Option A: I applied every ounce of my training and experience in design, marketing, psychology, and sociology ...and combined it with your vision. I've birthed this amalgam of beauty and function. It is literal perfection. It took me 99.9% of the allotted time.

Option B: I spent a total of 14 minutes on this earlier today. First I googled "Top 10 [trend] of 2024", then I asked chatGPT to mix that in with your branding vision for an outline. It spat out some hot rubbish that I wrapped around a free template. It looks shy and boring like every else's and won't inspire anyone.

The Client: Option B is literal perfection. Could you make it pop?

An application form asked me what I feel about their value "doing what it takes". I shared a story about an old dog.

tacodes — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 15:55:30 +0000

"One of our values is 'Do-What-It-Takes.' Please provide an example of a time you’ve applied this and what the impact was."

I'm kind of tired of the rinse-and-repeat job description-focused answers. 'I always met deadlines cause I did what it took', 'the customers were 99.98% happy with the results', etc... They've yielded no positive results for me on my job hunt. I'm not standing out over the noise of the 999 other applications. So, I kind of just write what I feel now. If something sticks, we'll probably have that "culture fit" we're all seeking these days.

Anyway, here's what I wrote in my application - majorly unedited and just blathered out. It's the story of an old dog.

This story is outside the realm of tech, but I see this from the perspective of "doing what it takes [to be a decent human]". Being a decent human includes things like trying to reduce pollution, inequities, and all other evils we've created... being human also includes speaking out against a group if you believe there is a wrong to be righted.

Two years ago, my roommate's dog had a small wound on his paw for about a month that wasn't going away. First, waited for my roommate (dog owner) to act. He did not (for several days/weeks), the wound expanded because the poor dog kept licking it.

I told the dog owner a story about a cat I had seen in a similar situation and she had to lose a leg. I told him it was important to me that the dog be cared for promptly. I suggested a dog cone so the wound could heal. I tried secretly treating the wound but was told to stop. And the dog cone suggestion was ignored. I eventually bought a dog cone, but it was never used. The wound expanded. For 18 months. I tried to wrap the wound, clean it, cone the dog while the owner was away, and gently remind the owner that the wound needs professional attention. He ignored the problem. The wound kept growing. And the dog was clearly hurt, hiding, and not in a good way.

Around this time, this dog's owner picked up a new puppy. Exacerbated by the puppy's want to play constantly, the old dog's wound took up most of the paw and he was very hurt, completely unable to use that foot. But the owner thought the old dog dealt with pain admirably.

No one else has spoken up directly to the dog owner to this point. Not a single neighbor, coworker in the office, other roommates, no one was speaking up for this dog because they didn't want to ruffle feathers.

I had to 'do what it takes' to get this dog taken care of at this point. I'll confront, I'll set boundaries, I'll call the authorities if it gets to it. The direct conversation of "you need to care for your neglected dog, he needs medical attention, and you need to rethink your priorities" became a defensive confrontation. Then all of my neighbors and mutually connected friends stopped being friendly; they were no longer cordial and were more standoff-ish, even glaring at me sometimes.

The dog owner's family stopped inviting me to Christmas dinners.

Despite all of the negative reactions by these groups of people. Despite the resentment the dog owner still has for me. Despite the 'shunning'.... Despite all this. The old dog has been treated. The old dog is now two toes less (amputated), but he now able to play with the puppy, he can stand on all four paws, and the old dog is also a happy dog again.

I did what it took to make sure that old dog can live out the rest of his days in relative comfort.

Don't be afraid to speak out, speak up, don't be afraid to be the squeaky wheel when it feels like you must. You might feel alone in your fight, but you are not.

The Art of Falling

tacodes — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 16:36:02 +0000

If you fall just right, you can use the energy to roll and spring back up. Don't ask me how, I'd hurt myself. Willy Wonka did it once though.

Folks in aikido understand the idea well, too -- these martial practitioners learn how to redirect energy to flow around or away from them.

When you fall, it's important to know how to fall without hurting yourself. What part of your body would you prefer to hit the ground first, face or butt? Credit to those who go in face-first, though.

Failing is much like falling, for it is inevitable. It's important to plan, practice, and prepare for it as much as possible... So when the day comes that you fail flat on your face.... You'll roll like a limber Willy Wonka, and the more you can turn your fail into an opportunity to achieve victory in your endeavor.

Happy Failing!

Frog Eaters

tacodes — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 15:07:50 +0000

How disgusting they are
They guzzle slime glizz

Yes we hunted all the
Good meat
And maybe all that's left
Is bugs and frogs and snakes and things

Nevertheless
Those disgusting frog eaters

AWS Cloud Resume Challenge, my resume, and #opentowork

tacodes — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 22:53:14 +0000

https://crc.tim-andes.com/

That's my resume as challenged by the team at Cloud Resume Challenge.

This is a blog post about creating the resume using Amazon Web Services (AWS), Terraform, GitHub Actions for a CI/CD DevOps workflow, AWS Lambda, S3 static website hosting, DynamoDB, Javascript, Python, API Gateway, Route53, and so many other fantastic tools.

Why did I create my AWS cloud hosted resume? Simply enough, I wanted to be able to prove that the AWS Certification I earned wasn't just a piece of paper, but evidence of skill in my re-targeted career aiming at cloud solutions.

The most important aspect of completing the Cloud Resume Challenge was being able to tie so many services together to create a serverless app with a CI/CD workflow. There are many different ways to accomplish the same goal, so it was important for me to lean into one particular techstack and roll with it. Beyond that, beginning my exploration of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Hashicorp's Terraform platform has been eye-opening. Tim's AWS Journey is henceforth amended to Tim's AWS + Terraform Journey.

3-Tier Architecture:

Presentation Tier:

Users interact with a web application hosted on an S3 bucket.
The web application's frontend code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) is stored in the S3 bucket.
Users can access the application through a custom domain name configured with Amazon Route 53.

Application Tier:

When a user interacts with the web application, API requests are sent to an API Gateway endpoint.
API Gateway routes these requests to Lambda functions that handle the business logic, such as processing form submissions, retrieving data from a database, or performing calculations.

Data Tier:

The Lambda functions interact with a DynamoDB database to store and retrieve user data.
DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database that provides fast and reliable performance.

I was a web developer. I've since earned my AWS SAA-C03 and Terraform Associate certifications. I am now an AWS Cloud Certified Developer who embraces IaC. I am also #opentowork

Some GitHub examples, including parts of the project, CI/CD workflow, etc

63% of test takers fail this AWS exam on their first-attempt. How I passed on my first try (while doing the bare minimum)

tacodes — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 22:34:35 +0000

"Bare minimum"? Yes. I'd rather spend the extra time building!

A few months back, a colleague recommended that I earn my AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certification (SAA-C03). After 3 months of regular study, I passed the exam on my first try. After passing, I found out the pass rate for first attempts is 27%! ...I am so glad my friend opted not to tell me that until afterward. Braggy-blog-title-for-clicks aside, I figure my strategy and process may be of use to those of you seeking certifications and/or are studying for exams.

Time:

140 hours of study, May 1 - August 10 Mon-Fri
Passed on August 11

Tools:

Adrian Cantrill's SAA-C03 course (1.5x speed, pausing to take notes) (fee)
Tutorials Dojo SAA-C03 practice exam collection (fee)
AWS docs (free)
YouTube videos and random googlefu explanations (free)
Flash cards on phone while vacationing (Quizlet app free version, found collections made by other users) (free, but no offline access)

Exam: August 11. Studied roughly 3 hours a day usually using the Pomodoro technique (25min study, 5min break, repeat). Basically spent 95% of the time just going through Cantrill's course and taking notes. I would go in to Tutorials Dojo to reinforce the topic I learned with quizzes and reviews. And Googling often when I didn't understand concepts or how different services connected. For the last 5 days after I finished Cantrill's course, I focused on the Tutorials Dojo full practice exams, all timed. I would then review what I answered incorrectly and then retake the same exam to get a 95%+. I did each exam twice in a row and completed two new exams a day. During a vacation during my study period, I brought some flashcards on my phone found on Quizlet to just keep the content close in mind, but not study heavily during the break. I burned out a few times and took a 3 day weekend here and there, as well.

I had to reschedule the exam twice after realizing I did not allot enough time to get through all the Cantrill material (I honestly ended up skipping some demos towards the end just to get through the content). However, I have revisited many of the demos for reference during development - don't skip them if you have the time.

In terms of the actual exam, I found that the content and questions were overall pretty difficult and not exactly what I practiced on Tutorials Dojo. However, hammering out quizzes/exams over and over gave me the ability to break down the questions and logic out the answers drawing from what I learned studying. I think it was very valuable that I reinforced Cantrill learnings frequently with quizzes and Google research related to the studied topic. I never had issues with the exam time running out, my issue was really just mainly absorbing this massive amount of info and actually being able to understand each component and connect the dots.

Overall, the content and certification exam was difficult, but entirely doable on the first attempt if you use your resources and stay consistent. Something else that always helps me to stay accountable is to track your study hours on a spreadsheet -- clock in, clock out, how many hours per day, etc. Good luck!

What's Next? The AWS Cloud Resume Challenge...

UPDATE! The AWS Cloud Resume Challenge: https://dev.to/tacodes/cloud-resume-challenge-aws-this-resume-and-tim-andes-opentowork-2mbn

Photo by José Ramos on Unsplash

The Art of Jumping Rope

tacodes — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 06:28:23 +0000

A more accurate title would be “The Art of Jumping Rope: a lesson in overcoming your failures”, I guess, but DEV says short and compelling is superior. Have you tried it though? Jumping rope, that is. Not only is it a great, low-impact form of cardiovascular exercise… Jumping rope teaches you, at the most basic level, how to become comfortable with your personal failures–how to quickly overcome them, and try again.

When you start learning to jump rope, you have to develop a rhythm. This sounds easy …but it’s a sloppy process.

How easy it sounds: Swing rope, jump rope, swing rope, jump rope, etc etc. No problem!

How it be though: Swing rope, jump rope (WHOO!), swing rope, miss-time jump, hit feet, kill rhythm, fail. Do you curse yourself for your failure? Do you let yourself become frustrated? Negative, triggered reactions like these will only slow down your development and hinder your progress.

Obviously, we’re working towards a super sick metaphor here. When you fail, fail fast. Forgive yourself, think positive, process the error and let it go, then start again with the knowledge you've gained from the reflection. Each time you start again, aim for more jumps or a longer period of jumping rope without missing a jump. Days, weeks, months, years later… You’re now an advanced jumper of rope; basically a pro! You’ve developed your physical rhythm, increased your endurance, carved up your calves, maybe even learned a few new techniques – Great! No matter how great you become, the occasional failure is inevitable. And that’s okay. You may fail for a number of reasons: you’re over-tired, distracted, burned out, toothache (worst). The real test is to remember what your jump rope taught you, Padawan:

Fail fast, be easy on yourself, reflect and improve, and go again.

Thanks,
Tim Andes

PS. I would not recommend jumping rope barefoot unless you really want to feel your failure.
PPS. Prior to beginning a jump rope exercise regimen, it is strongly advised to consult with a qualified physician or healthcare professional to ensure it is safe and appropriate for your individual health and fitness condition.

Photo by Chichi Onyekanne on Unsplash