Hi, hello there! I'm new here (this is one of my first post, excitement). Instead of over analyzing every single word -- and ultimately feeling like I'll never find the perfect combination of words-- I am going to treat this as what it is, a blog. I'm here to document my learning, but the educator in me hopes this aids in your learning process in some way too.
About Me
I'm a cough-cough year old, career changing, aspiring Software/DevOps Engineer. I come from a background in education and social justice work. I completed a coding bootcamp with Ada Developers Academy in 2024 and worked briefly for a FAANG+ company before being affected by company wide layoffs -- I was impacted by layoffs five months into my first full time role, sad face. Since then I've been taking my time to up skill, build out my portfolio, and practice DSAs (sadder face).
Why this blog?
"Have you ever played have you ever?" - Kendrick Lamar
Have you ever read a book or watched a show and walked away feeling like it was one of the best things ever, and then maybe a month or so later, a friend starts said media from the beginning, wants to converse with you about it, begins to tells you things and you're like... "Oh yea.. that did happen!" ?
That's analogous to my journey in tech: I finished a coding bootcamp, completed a Software Engineering internship with a FAANG+ company, was hired full time by the company... But when it came to reflectively talking about the work I was doing, I felt like Spongebob when he couldn't express what he learned in boating school...
I found myself in interviews and other conversations drawing a blank on what it is I've actually done. I was learning enough to complete assigned tasks but weeks later I was left with only the gist of what I had done. And when it came time to talk in depth about said tasks, like in an interviewwwwugh, the details were even further removed from my memory.
Ayo, why am I not remembering everything I've ever done, scratches head?? It's partially because our memories don't work like that and partially because I wasn't documenting my process enough.
Now, I make notes about everything I do, so later down the line, when it's not fresh in memory, I can review my notes and be reminded, "Oh yea... I did do... all of that".
(When I say document, I just mean utilizing some note-taking method: summarize my task, make bullet points highlighting the action plan, screenshot error messages, note what did and didn't resolve the issues, etc..)
Note-taking, documenting, and reviewing were underrated, but now are essential, intentional parts of my learning process. Translating my notes/documentation into a blog helps all these new concepts sink in.
So I'm creating this blog as part of my learning process and to document my learning journey. It's a way for me to process each new thing I learn, each project I work on, document it, and later review and reflect as necessary.
Maybe this blog will showcase my understanding of these concepts to potential employers. Maybe it'll prompt discussions that will help my understanding and thought processes evolve. Or maybe this is just a sounding board and I am posting to the void.
Either way, I'll be here :)
And if you've read this far along, thanks for sticking around! My name's La Tasha and you can find me on Linkedin and Github. Let's connect!
Top comments (0)