Hey, how is everyone doing on this fine day? I am doing well and I have just joined this community today. I am currently a Hub Supervisor in operations at UPS but taking online/accelerated courses via CTU to obtain my BSCS/Software Engineering. I have finished one year and have a little over two more years to go until I reach the BSCS. I have minor Network/IT knowledge and have a couple Networking courses in the future. I am practicing programming while utilizing Python and my favorite IDE to use so far is PyCharm but, I use VS-code as well, and I enjoy that experience. I know that IDE choice is not something I should be stressing out about but lately, I have been wanting to download VIM/NVIM to become familiar with that IDE. I hear it is super lightweight, quick to use and edit - once you get the hang of all the shortcuts. I also heard that it is a tough IDE to exit, lol. It's slightly tough for me because, I am still a novice but, I love to learn and sharpen skills. I really need to start focusing on Data Structures and Algorithms because, that area of knowledge in my brain is basically NULL. I understand arrays, hashmap, stack, and linked lists. I need to actually take time to sit down and create those in my IDE sessions to help me have a better understanding as well as knowing how to implement basic models of each.
I apologize ahead of time for any of my rambling but, I am typically not a big talker. Trying to become more involved with web dev community and social media in general. I am currently working on familiarizing myself with API's and will be implementing an http server and a web socket and/or rest API, all written in Python (Hopefully, lol). I would like to make a basic web scraper that I could data mine with and retrieve useful data that I can read or utilize in whatever way I see fit.
I fear that my online courses alone are not enough for me to become great at SE. No big deal, and I get access to these courses and are all paid for by my employer as long as I receive an 85% + in each course. That is enough motivation for me to do well in each course. I have noticed that, even if I am doing very well in my courses, I could still not be where I need to be, lol. This was something that I was aware of almost immediately; luckily, we have so much info out here for us to study and tools to utilize for learning. I have been using the typical platforms like, codewars.com, and leetcode.com to help me with python syntax, and DS & A. I had Claude make me a couple tutorials; Power Shell CLI and a separate GNU/Linux, or bash CLI walk through to help me learn the basics of file exploration, creating a directory or file, writing content onto the file if .txt, as well as displaying the contents of the .txt file. I do my best to use AI tools for learning and not just thinking for me. I will never copy-paste for the solution, I will force myself to first, understand each statement. I will read all comments in code block and won't write out the statements until; I actually can walk through the function and make sense of what is going on and why it actually works. This has been helping me learn and is great because, since I take online courses and the courses are accelerated- I end up running into issues like, 'I don't even understand what this word means', lol. I will just look stuff up or ask Claude AI. I will use AI auto-complete in my IDE's if I am writing a code block that I have written numerous times and fully understand the reason for this implementation. Besides that, I keep AI off in my IDE's. Also, I used to be a Certified Personal Trainer and was certified via National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). I still have a handful of clients that I work with privately and still pay for my services here and there. I will be creating some sort of 'goals + workout/diet log' application/apps. I want to actually try and make a stable, useful application that I can use and be proud of myself for implementing.
In conclusion, I have rambled on and on about too much but, I feel that it is good for me to become comfortable with just posting stuff, receiving constructive feedback/criticism. I must get used to it and with my current and past jobs- my leadership soft skills along with communication and integrity is in a good spot. Sure, they can improve but, I am able to lead and execute my duties proficiently as it pertains to operations at UPS. Just doing my best to gain the needed knowledge and to land a role as an IT tech at UPS. I would essentially maintain my same pay, and benefits but be more like a side promotion. I want to make this move because, I know the CS fields are tough to get into, especially web/game development. Due to this, I want to get hands on experience at UPS, with networking/IT. The current IT tech's that we have on our shift are actually referring me to their management for the future positions that will be created sometime this first quarter of the year. Time will tell.. Thanks for reading, if you were able to actually read through all of it, lol. I appreciate any kind of feedback and will do my best to do the same when I can and know that the feedback I am giving is useful.
-Ambi_Dex
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