It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's David J. Malan

#learning #programming #coding #beginners

Since the last time I spoke about all the resources I’ve used to grasp what coding is, I want to share what I believe was the most important of all. Personally, this resource gave me that "ok, I'm actually starting to understand how this all works" feeling, which eventually became a constant during my journey in the world of programming.

You may or may not be familiar with the 42 Network, but for the sake of everyone, let’s simply say that it’s an international network of coding schools where you can enroll for free after passing an intense one-month selection process, during which you have to code in a very basic version of C. To my amazement, I was selected to be part of the next year's class. During the summer, I decided to work on my C skills, and that’s when I encountered CS50.

Also known as Harvard's Introduction to Computer Science, this eleven-week course takes you on an amazing journey of coding skills, progressing from Scratch to Flask, including five intense weeks of C programming that cover algorithms and data structures.

Just thinking about that time brings back so many good memories. I can’t express how much all the lessons, shorts, and problem sets of CS50 helped me realize, "Yes, that’s what I would love to do in my life!"

So, thank you, David Malan, thank you, Carter Zenke, thank you, Doug Lloyd, and thank you, Brian Yu. You may never know it, but your work has had a tremendous impact on my life.

This week's interview has probably been the most pleasant I’ve ever had (I’ll discuss my interview experiences in a future post), and it’s the first time I genuinely hope for a positive outcome.

In the meantime, I’ve continued my journey as a pentester by familiarizing myself with the various flag combinations of nmap, and I’m starting to scratch the surface of how to become the best possible ethical hacker.

I’ve also incorporated daily coding challenges from freeCodeCamp into my routine. They’re really enjoyable, and it’s fulfilling to tackle a new challenge every day.

Thank you for reading, as always, and have a great week!

Something to read: Chris Offutt - The Good Brother
Something to listen to: Orkan - Vakendrömmar
Something to watch: Lapsis