Moving Day #100DaysOfCode

Today, I loaded up the car and moved closer to my coding boot camp, @TechElevator. The excitement and adrenaline have kept me going strong all day! After having almost everything unpacked, however, I finally hit a wall when I realized:

D13/D14: #100DaysofCode Log

Day 13 – 8/4/2017

A little bit more JS practice, and spent time watching a few Free Code Camp videos.

Day 14 – 8/7/2017

If you look closely at the dates, you should notice that I missed a few days in there. In addition to life throwing me some gut punches lately, I’m also preparing to move closer to Tech Elevator! So, I’ve been spending some quality time with family and packing up my things. Tomorrow is my big moving day!

Today was full-force back into JS!  Also, I caught up on some more Free Code Camp videos from Beau Carnes. His JavaScript Basics course is entirely online, and he also has playlists broken up into topics. Check it all out here!

D12: #100DaysOfCode Log

Day 12 – 8/3/17

Today, I went searching for resources to run tests on my code, to be able to see changes in real-time, and to help with debugging. JS Bin and Web Toolkit Online were the two winners of the day.

Most importantly, I finished 17 more JavaScript lessons on Free Code Camp!

/flexin’

D11: #100DaysOfCode Log

Day 11 – 8/2/2017

Wrote my first couple of JavaScript apps! The first app prompts the user for his or her first name/last name/age, then outputs the information in sentence form in the console. The second one is an age calculator that converts years to days (even taking into consideration leap years) and then displays a special message in the console.

It was fun to finally write code that performs actions! Afterward, I did a little happy dance of accomplishment and then pushed my creations to GitHub. Then to finish my day, I completed 11 more JavaScript lessons on Free Code Camp.

 

D10: #100DaysOfCode Log

Day 10 – 8/1/17

Continued working through the JavaScript section of Colt Steele’s Web Developer Bootcamp.  Tested the keyboard shortcuts, commands, and markdowns for Ryver. Set my goals for the month of August!

D8/D9: #100DaysOfCode Log

Day 8 – 7/29/17

JavaScript focused day. Worked on Free Code Camp, referenced W3 Schools, watched some videos.

Day 9 – 7/30/17

More JavaScript. Today I went back and spent some time on Colt Steele’s Web Developer Bootcamp course on Udemy, because I feel I need more in-depth explanation and opportunities to practice.

7/31/17 – migraine ate my entire day

D6/D7: #100DaysOfCode Log

Day 6 – 7/27/2017

Continued working through Free Code Camp’s JavaScript unit, read some articles on Medium and HackerNoon, watched TED talk On Being Wrong by Karen Schultz for my boot camp pre-work.

Day 7 – 7/28/2017

Even though I already had a Cloud9 account, I made a different one with my mandyarn username and then connected it to both my GitHub and BitBucket. I created a public Node.JS workspace that I will use later when I do the Git unit on Free Code Camp as part of my boot camp pre work.  I also installed GitHub Desktop, but didn’t get the chance to see how much more helpful that will be for me. I already have GitHub and use Git Bash. After I did all of that, I spent more time working on Free Code Camp JS.

One Month Left Until #TechElevator!

Choosing my educational route to learn the full stack was not done on a whim. I am ever the researcher, pursuing as much information as I can in order to make informed decisions. In a group, I am the one who is always careful, calculating, and thinking steps ahead. Often, I am the first person that other people come to for guidance because they know I have already put in the time to figure out the problem they are now having.

It is possible for self-taught programmers to learn to code on the Web entirely for free, and there are great financial savings to be had for those who can go that route. Learning on my own has confirmed that I have the aptitude, passion, and drive to make this career change and provided me with the necessary fundamental knowledge on the front end, the command line, and version control.

However, I know myself well enough to realize that I work better within a structured environment, under deadlines that are not self-imposed, with in-person instruction, ongoing feedback, and with opportunities for collaboration. A coding boot camp can provide all of those things for me.

Being the extensive researcher that I am, I not only looked up reviews on area boot camps, but visited each one of the three (some multiple times) I had narrowed down on my list. Tech Elevator got shining reviews on Course Report, switchup, and Quora, which is wonderful, but what was even more important was that Tech Elevator scored the highest on my own personal scale.

Due to the length of the program, rigor of curricula, depth of their career prep and readiness program, matchmaking events with their extensive hiring network, partnerships and projects to benefit the local community through tech, quality and warmth of their staff, and the amount of opportunities they provide for people interested in learning to code to come to their campus and engage in learning activities, they were clearly ahead of the rest.

Because my excitement level cannot be properly relayed to you through this screen, I will just leave you with my countdown. I’ve been counting down since June 6th when I got the phone call letting me know I was accepted into the program. Only 8% of applicants get accepted, so let me /flex for a moment. Okay, I’m done now.

D4/D5: #100DaysOfCode Logs

Day 4 – 7/25/2017

Continued JavaScript unit from Free Code Camp again today. Created a Ryver and a BitBucket account for Tech Elevator communications and project work. Began JavaScript/jQuery lessons on typing.io. 30/237 lines at the moment, but just me wanting to check it out. Next time when I practice for real, I will not be chillin’ back in a La-Z-Boy recliner.

Day 5 – 7/26/2017

Only got to work briefly on Free Code Camp’s JavaScript unit because I was not able to be at my computer most of the day. I did, however, get to read some coding boot camp pre-work articles: How I Became a Programmer by Matt DeBoard and On Being a Junior Developer by Matt Sencenbaugh.

Emma Wants to Learn JavaScript @freeCodeCamp Too