Christmas time

Week 12  - Holiday Edition

The Iron Yard has taken a short (very short) break for the Holidays. It was a much needed time of seeing family, friends, catching a breath, and - let's be honest - realizing how much completing this and moving into this full-time as a profession really means to me.

I was happy to show my mother what I'd gotten accomplished so far on my project. ...though it was a healthy dose of 'reality check' for her tearing through and purposely causing every error to show that she could. ("thanks" mom...) Despite my explanation that I was far from done, and the testing phase hadn't even begun yet, she still took joy in seeing the wonderful red error screen of "hey, this doesn't work". ...the holidays are about giving, right? I suppose if it made her happy...

Eloquently stated.

And now I'm back in Indy. Back to working at HopCat and working on this project when I'm not there. (Though as I type this, I'm actually sitting at HopCat prior to a shift.) While I have a moment, I wanted to write a bit about something that became more apparent to me while visiting family.

Knowing how you deal with frustration

I know I've talked about how the Iron Yard isn't just teaching me to learn to code, but how it is truly changing the way I think through problems, the way I organize my thoughts, and the way I view learning and working with others. As such, I ran into something this weekend I had not before: working with people who don't work the way you do.

I suppose I should clarify - I've been in these situations, many times, before. And typically, I can work through them, no problem. ...but in this past week's case, it was with my mother. Now, I love the woman, endlessly. But we ran into issues attempting to work together to install flooring (a part of my Christmas gift to her.)

I have a tendency to get frustrated when I'm doing the same thing over and over without the results I am hoping to achieve - a common thing, I feel. And I've learned I need to simply walk away for a few moments. Nothing major, just a short lap around the house or a walk to the kitchen to get a drink and to think it out. I talk to myself over it and, after I've taken a few deep breaths, I can come back and think my way through it again. It's a newer realization - one of the many I attribute to Iron Yard, as it's a common thing in programming. You're going to fail FAR more than you're going to get things right, so be prepared for frustration, and learn how to handle it.

Now, this model works well for me, and many people - but it only works if the task frustrating you is something you can actually walk away from. Installation of flooring? C'mon, Ben, this IS something you can walk away from. ...not when you're working with your mom. And not when her style of working is to power through it, regardless of frustration. We were attempting to get a few of the pieces to line up, but as they were being tapped into place, the tool we were using was causing the ends of the boards to chip and fray, ruining the connection for the next piece. It kept occurring, despite the multiple attempts to change the way we went about it, and it was causing us to do, and re-do, and re-do, and re-do a segment of the floor. I was wanting to take a lap, and she was wanting to keep trying things and power through it.

I'll shorten this story and give you the summation - We handle frustration differently, and we both got pretty upset with one another. But this was the first time I was able to put my mind on exactly why. Knowing why allows me to adjust and make the changes needed to help the issue between our styles in the first place.

In workplaces, families, and in general, we're going to run into people who work very differently than ourselves. Take time to look at the specific methods you use to work through problems and take a moment to think about the methods of those who you don't exactly work well with.
Now, I've spent years being able to work around these situations, but I'm only now realizing the why they were happening. In the past, could I work with people who handled frustration differently - sure. But I had no idea why I didn't like working with them...I just...didn't.

I'm only now seeing that I had been subconsciously changing minor things to deal with it, rather than actively recognizing what was going on, addressing it, and working with them to ensure they could do what they needed, and they were clear on what I needed.

Regardless of if this seems like a "duh" thing for you or not, I thought it was pretty nifty, and I thought I'd share.

Back at the ol' Iron Yard...

This week, I'll be following up with the validations needed for ensuring information is properly submitted to my site, keeping up with the various issues I'm tracking through Github, and continuing to explore the world of integrating Facebook into the user interface of the site. With any luck, I'll manage to get it all running smoothly by the end of the week and I'll be able to use next week to add the bells and whistles I want, as well as taking time for the 'fun part' - layouts and design! YES.

I've also purchased my first domain. ...it felt so empowering. It will be going well with my website, which I have changed the name to "alltheswingdancing" dot com.

The saga continues...

The Final Countdown - Week 11

Week 11

After reading the title of this post, if you don't have the rock sounds of Europe playing in your head, shame on you!

...lectures are over, much to Instructor Chris's delight. Though now we move into the final project phase of our course. We're on our own time (for the most past) and under our own direction (again, for the most part...I mean, Chris is still there to guide and assist as needed.)

The course is normally only 12 weeks, but with the Holidays, this cohort is on a 14 week schedule. This means I've got until Jan. 8th to complete my proposed project.

For my proposed project, I'm playing off my experience with Swing Dance events, their organization, the headaches, and attempting to create a web application that will make things easier.

Through this, I'll be showcasing my ability to create a website that utilizes users signing up/logging in/logging out (hopefully with Facebook or Gmail as options), with the ability to choose events they are attending, track these events, be given information regarding them (cost, housing info, maps, etc.) with updates and reminders when the event is near, link with Facebook, show who else is attending, in addition to a wide variety of other options I'll spare you from having to read through.

In theory, this will also allow a small portion of the site to be used for hosting dance events, so smaller dance groups or college scenes needing a quick website for their event can easily get the information out. By utilizing this platform, smaller groups also link with an platform where bigger events are listed - hopefully spurring more interest.

Essentially, I'm hoping to create a web hub for swing dance events. Let's do this!

In his later years, Frankie Manning taught all over Europe.

Catching up - weeks 8 to 10

Oh, Hello!

Yes, I AM still alive.
Though I've been busy enough lately to have an explanation for the temporary lack of posts, and potential early-onset balding.
So where in the world has Ben Doane been? Mostly Playing catch-up on assignments and life.

 I gotta GO! Ugh!

Iron Yard Weeks 8, 9, and mid-10

As far as the course is set, this course is only supposed to be 12 weeks. However, with the Holidays, scheduling made for this to be a roughly 14 week course, this time.

These weeks went by in a blur. I had fallen behind in the coursework with trying to also work at HopCat to, you know, make money to pay bills and things...as if that's important. Psh. 
As a result, I was given an additional assignment to show that I could, indeed, show my competency with the elements covered until this point in the course. We were moving into the final phases of the course and we would be getting into a group project. We all know nobody wants 'that guy' as part of the group.

I managed to complete a clone of the popular website Giphy using modals through AJAX, build a website application for making, keeping, and tracking things on to-do lists (ToDoodles), learn how to request API information and utilize it in a web application, and work on building an API for a front-end developer who was setting the parameters for how data would be incoming. ...I might be missing a thing or two...

Now we're working together in a group of 4 to create a website for a client wanting to sell socks online, similar to Amazon. This application will have multiple levels of authorization for users, be able to accept credit payments and processing, send receipts, and handle customer feedback. We're working on a 4 day sprint cycle to get this completed by Friday.

Additionally...

Timeclock:

Week 8: Iron Yard - 57 hours, HopCat - 19 hours.
TOTAL - 76 hours

Week 9: Iron Yard - 65 hours, HopCat - 9 hours.
TOTAL - 74 hours

Approx. Running total: Iron Yard - 422 hours
HopCat - 198 hours

...hopefully this clears up the confusion for the friends of mine who have asked. Yes, I am busy. No, it's not that I suddenly decided to stop hanging out with you. I've just gotten a bit harder to find.

"I'm right here, guys!"

 Life outside The Iron Yard

So, after the whole "moldy apartment" and "car-gonna-'splode" events, life has seemingly settled in.

Working at Hopcat, I've come to realize, in addition to being a source of income sustaining me while in this course, is also somewhat therapeutic for me. I've always known I was an extrovert, that's no secret. ...but, as foolish as it sounds, I didn't realize literally everyone in the course is an introvert (including Instructor Chris and Campus Director Emily). As such, when I do work, I love how much ti doesn't feel like I'm working, but rather, I'm socializing to fulfill my need to be a "chatty-cathy" and I just happen to get paid for it.

Additionally, on three different occasions, I've had the pleasure of serving developers or people working for development companies. It's been kinda serendipitous, and a lot of fun. It's nice to see that devs and their affiliates outside the business world, and it's given insight to the people I may be working with or for.

This past week Mobi Wireless Management had their company party across the street from HopCat, and a number of their employees came over both before and after. My favorite table the whole evening ended up being some of the higher-ups for the company. It was neat to find out they worked for Mobi only after already deciding they were the "fun table I'd totally grab a drink with if I could". I think it would be kinda neat if working at HopCat, a job that's kinda just to help get me by, ended up being a part of how I land a developer job post-Iron Yard.

I plan on doing better about keeping up with this blog - and I do hope to continue to beyond just The Iron Yard. For now, though, back to that project!

Feel free to give your thoughts, feedback, and/or follow.
Thanks for reading.

PS - if you have any feedback on ToDoodles, I'm totally up for hearing it. Remember, I'm learning. I'm not going to turn down any advice or possible ways I can improve!

Week 7: I'm noticing a pattern here...

Week 7

We're finishing up week 7 of Iron Yard.
We've crossed a bridge into the land of "Hey, you should start to see how this all is beginning to make sense"
...and -what the hell?!- it kinda IS.

Granted, there are still moments of "Wait...what the hell do I do now?..." but they're becoming less and less frequent, and I'm beginning to learn the patterns of where to go and what to look for. Both in my own review of 'what did I just do' and 'where would I find that answer...'

In class we're creating and utilizing what we've covered in weeks past with JavaScript and Ajax to get our user-driven websites to reload with the proper information without a full-page refresh. The prompt is to build something similar to giphy.com. This is a bit more the UI stuff I'm eager to learn. I know I'm in a course for back-end, but there are times I want to break out my design-minded side to have a bit of creativity in my work. I just keep reminding myself that I'm building skeletons for now. I can flesh them out later, but I need the structural components to work first. Everyone wants a cute kitten...but one without bones is sick and disgusting.

...I was thinking more of a meowing puddle of fur...

I'll also be building a task-managing web app over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm hoping to get up to par with these rails app skills before we move into utilizing APIs for our applications. 

On Patterns

Humans love patterns. Fact. We do.
As I'm learning, nearly everything in life is a series of patterns. From the clothes on your back, to the pavement you walk on, to the food you eat. There's a pattern in all of it. There's even a word for behavioral patterns: habit.

Coding is nothing more than taking a look into the patterns of text needed to generate the information you want. Like languages. It may sound incredibly simple...but I had this odd 'Sudden Clarity Clarence' moment where it hit me: literally everything is a pattern. The key is just figuring out the pattern and then learning to manipulate it to what you want the outcome to be.

...dude...

The big(ger) patterns I've learned through this course so far:
My personal learning patterns
Basic patterns to coding
Logical problem solving patterns

And these patterns are applicable for SO much. My future in the developer world, for any major (or minor) problem that I'm thinking through, and learning, really, anything in my future endeavors.

I can recall in my second year studio for landscape architecture, Devin, a friend of mine, was hell-bent on 'breaking the mold'. He wanted so badly to go against the grain of design, as I think all young designers want - to truly design something so unique that it changes the way we think about design for the future. You want something balanced? Here's an asymmetrical design that meshes nothing together! Take that!
Devin has one of the most creative minds of my friends. But I'll combat the 2nd-year-studio version of him for a moment to say: in many (even most) cases, taking the road most travelled - is the best course for learning.

"Damnit, Steve. We didn't build that road for no f#ckin' reason."

The important corollary with this, however, is taking the next step: breaking down the patterns of what has been done into components to a point where they seem almost useless, then building them up to what your vision originally was. Many times we forget to do this. We're so caught up in the vision of what we want the end product to look like, or how we want it to function, we forget to break it down, find the patterns, and build it back up.

As I work through the coming weeks, I'll be doing as I've had to do this past week - remind myself to break it down, look at the patterns and learn what works with what, then build it back up to where I want it to go.

On a personal note:

This course is effecting my life in so many way. For the positive, I should add - boy that statement could sound bad, couldn't it? I've had to (re)learn so many basics about learning and myself on topics that I felt I had answers to already. This course has already been a bit life-changing for me. I genuinely wish I had these kinds of lessons in my college experience (or even earlier) - but I also doubt I would have understood the gravity of it had I gone through this any younger. Regardless, after the struggles of this week, I'm left with a feeling that I'm on the right path to learning how to be the person I want to be, for me. It's nothing more than understanding the patterns needed to get there. ...a Konami Code for real life.

Let's go kick some ass.

(Photo of enthusiasm/determination level below)

Week 6 Recap

Week 6: Completed

I've completed half the Iron Yard course. ...wait. What?

What does this mean? How do I feel? 

Well, if you would have asked me how I felt mid-week, I might have said 'still lost'. ...Now, I'd probably say 'still lost. ...but I'm getting there!'

This past week, I had multiple chats with Chris about how I felt as though I was just not getting something. It was like there was a piece that I was completely omitting in my mind to link a lot of these concepts together. Chris assured me I knew more than I thought I did. I was not so sure.

We were paired up for a project this past week, to build a version of Twitter. I was paired with a young lady in our class (let's call her 'Lauren'). Lauren and I had learned already that we do not communicate the same way. At various points in the course already, we had attempted to ask each other questions for assistance in assignments, only to find we could not convey the concept to the other, but we always ended up finding out own solutions through the process of trying to get the other person to see what we were talking about.
Chris was glad he paired us together when he found this out.

But through having to communicate with someone who sees things differently, we both found we do, in fact, know more than we think. I had a serious "ah HA!" moment while explaining something, as I realized not only was what I was saying making sense to me, I was also solving a road-block error we had come across. It was one of those moments where everything 'clicked'. The feeling you get when you've been pushing and pushing to understand what the heck is going on, then getting that "eureka" moment is a little rush, a small high, and a driving factor to the work we're doing. (Because I already feel like I'm learning to become a wizard, but when this wizardry makes sense it. is. awesome.)

What a corny reference.

Course Timeclock

This past week:

Iron Yard - 52 hours

HopCat - 27 hours

Coursework

As previously mentioned, we're currently working on building a twitter clone. The version Lauren and I are working on has been affectionately dubbed "Rage Rant" - the place you can vent your frustration in 170 characters or less. 

The end of the week was crunching out as much on this as possible, as I knew my weekend would consist of pretty much nothing but time at HopCat.

Learning through ineptitude 

The feeling of being lost is something I'm beginning to accept. (Emphasis on 'beginning to'...) But Chris explained the philosophy behind the course structure - the method behind the madness, if you will.

Imagine there is a circle that represents everything you know, you know that you know, and you're comfortable with. The area outside this circle is varying degrees of things you don't know, ranging from "hey this is kinda new" to "What. the. fuck. is this shit?!" - depending on how far you wander out from that circle of knowledge. The course is designed to take place, almost exclusively, in that zone of varying bewilderment.

The effect: I'm learning, but in a completely different way than what I've become accustomed to through my schooling. This process is causing me to live in a learn-to-survive style that, while a bit frustrating, is rewarding me with a rapid amount of growth, and moments where things which seem completely Greek suddenly 'click'.  This process is one that I hope and feel I will continue with moving forward - in this course, in my own educational pursuits, and in life.

In completing week 6, I feel empowered. I feel driven. And I'm fueled for more.

Let's do this.

Unlearning my childhood education

Learning to Unlearn

It's the beginning of week 6 for the Iron Yard.
As I've mentioned prior, I think the greatest things I'm learning from the course is not the coding itself, but how I learn.

Prior to beginning the course, Chris had us read a wonderful article on the research behind the modes of thinking we can find ourselves in. It's a wonderfully brilliant article, backed by some interesting research - I highly recommend it. (Read it here)
The two basic mindsets discussed are a 'fixed' versus a 'growth' mindset. Most interestingly, the ways in which we can be in one or the other mindsets due to the nature of our educational upbringing.

For example - growing up, I was considered one of the 'smart kids'. Things came easily to me in my earlier years of grade school. By the 4th grade, I was moved into an accelerated class - further emphasizing the 'smart kid' tagline. Now, as a 'smart kid', and being told I was one of these anomalies by peers and teachers alike, it was expected that I pick things up quickly and learn at some greater speed. When I didn't ...but...I was a 'smart kid', wasn't I? Why didn't I get this? ...was I not smart anymore?

I have this look most days in lab time!

These are questions I never actually asked. But they are the implications of the 'smart kid' situation. Instead of voicing these questions, it was simply easier to fade into the background for a while, until this subject or topic blew over, or there was enough discussion on it  to where I felt I finally understood, and back to the conversation I could go!

I once had a conversation with a mother of a dear friend of mine. She said that when her daughter succeeded in her schoolwork and was praised for the work, it only fueled her desire to want to work harder. And in conversations about her successes, her mother always pointed out her hard work towards the assignment. This girl is now in her twenties and doing academic work that makes my head spin when I think about how much time and effort she puts into it. ...but she knows hard work is what lead her to her successes (and her future successes)

As I'm learning in the Iron Yard, there is no such thing as a 'smart person'.  Every single person who learns, learns a bit differently, and must know what they need for their own success. And as far as the Iron Yard curriculum is concerned,  every person struggles. One thing or another. (Or several) They. Will. Struggle. They'll have that point where is just does not seem to click. (I'm only beginning to recover from my own moment of that)

There are no smart people - but there are resourceful people. As John Saddington said, "The purpose isn't retention - it's resourcing." ...such a simple thought, but our educational system does so little to drive that home to our youth. It's so strange to think that in all the years of schooling I had, very little time was spent on getting students to analyze their own methods of learning and using those to learn resourcing skills. I'm not talking about 'how to google' or 'oh, I'm a visual learner'...I'm talking about what methods can YOU practice to ensure that you gain or retain the information best?

Additionally, the whole 'smart kid' tag kinda ruins your ability to accept the one thing that pushes you forward to getting better: failure. I'm learning how to accept failure, not as something that highlights my inability, but shows me that I need to work harder or revisit something to gain a mastery of the topic. How does that saying go? Something like, 'there are a thousand lessons in failure, but few in success' (hell, it could have been luck)

But when you're the 'smart kid', there's a stigma that you can't fail. You're not supposed to fail.
And this is contrary to everything that has been my benefit through this course. FAIL! (for goodness sake!)  Go out and...just totally suck. Be the worst. The fact that you're doing something is a step in the right direction. Les Smith, Professor of Landscape Architecture at BSU (great man, btw.) once told me "don't ever find yourself sitting there. Draw something - draw anything. Even gestures of effort are putting you closer to a solution."

And with this "go out and fail" attitude - learn from it. Learn what works. Learn what doesn't. Learn what you need to do to ensure that you succeed.

In swing dancing - solo dancing is often a difficult thing for newer dancers to get into. (I still don't always feel comfortable with it) And it's simply a fear of looking like a fool. It's a fear of - not failure - but even looking like something near failure. But for those who can get through that "I might look silly" train of thought, a wondrous amount of learning and success lies in store.

I've asked a lot of "dumb" questions in class. I've made decisions that have worked out poorly in my code. I've followed ideas that have lead me down-the-rabbit-hole to God-knows-where. ...but I'm learning. "This is your time to mess up." I remind myself of this daily. Because I know it will pay off.
And I'm learning that I'm having to reverse years and years of thinking that I'm supposed to learn things quickly. (And it's frustrating - believe me)

Finally, I'm also learning to compare myself to three people. They are known as "me", "myself", and "that guy over there...in the mirror staring back at me"

Well...he's about as white as I am...

In school, we're given grades. And, as much as we don't like to think about it - this system is partially bound to the performance of those around you. If everyone in the class fails...the teacher doesn't just give out F's. There's a curve of some kind. And it always results in the comparison of how you did versus your neighbor. ...fuck that.

...but you got a star!

I need to be better than myself. If you're way behind where I am...whoop-dee-doo. That just means you have to go through the things I already have.

Now, I understand this point isn't directly applicable to the educational system - there are certain waypoints that need met. But in terms of learning, in general, why would you ever compare yourself? If they're better...well, they used to be where you are...and if they're worse...well, they just need to work harder and they'll be where you are. (again, dance is a perfect example.) Ultimately, you need to be working to be the best you can be. And anyone who sits there and compares you in any way other than an objective statement can get out of your way.

You've got shit to do, and you don't have time for nay-sayers. Timidity is something you don't have the luxury of time to offer yourself.

If nothing else - listen to short video by my old buddy Arnold in this awesome short speech.

No get out there and fail your face off!

If Lincoln is doing it, everyone is.

I'm as far along as Bon Jovi

Week 5 Recap

We're coming to a close on week 5 with the Iron Yard. This is half-way through the lecture portions of the course.
(I began typing this post on Friday, but forgot to finish and post it! whoops!

Coursework

I'm currently building a version of reddit. When I was told we'd be building this, I was astounded. ...but I've learned that reddit is a pretty simplistic website when you take a look at what is actually occurring 'under the hood', so-to-speak.

Reddit is a user-driven posting site where you can upvote or downvote the posts. ...and that's about it. Sure, there are sub-reddits and categories, but the basic premise remains the same.  For class, we're building a basic website structured the same way.

Currently, I've got a site pushed to the internet, accessible by anyone. I'll hold off on posting the link to it, as I want to get it further before I do so.

My version of Reddit is sure to get a rise out of a few people. ...I'm making "Breaddit". I'm hoping, when it's done, users will be able to register, login, post links to various things, upvote and downvote, etc. - all within a 'bread' theme. (I find more humor in this than I probably should.)

Available in pumpernickel, too!

At this point, I'm doing my best to make sure I fully understand the path the pages take from routing to model to controller to view to the scss file, and the paths that lead back or through this flow. It can get mixed up if I'm not paying attention, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Personal growth

As I've said before, the course with the Iron Yard is teaching me more than just code; it's teaching me how to be better about problem solving and how I learn as an individual. I've also said before - I plan on going on a full rant about this later, but it's important to note at this half-way that the most important thing I'm learning through this course is how to help myself best to move through errors and seeking best methods for getting things done. Chris is an amazing instructor, and is always available to assist, but I also want to make sure when I'm out of the course, I know how to go about getting the solutions with minimal assistance (if any - wouldn't that be great!)

Life outside the Iron Yard

I'm still in the process of moving out of 'moldy apartment land', but I'm happy to report my health has normalized itself and my eyes no longer make me look like I've been awake for 3 days fueled by cocaine. Yay!

"This code like a great big..."

In the midst of this, my car has had a few hiccups here and there, and I've held off from taking it in (mostly due to time or money constraints). I managed to get the car in this week, and was told my car is akin to a rolling time-bomb. I could continue to drive it as is, but I'd be running the risk of either blowing the engine, or blowing the tires. ...well, if it's raining, it's pouring, right?

So, today I spent a portion of my day going through the steps of buying a car. Which, by the way, for someone who's mother has been in the dealership/car world for years, I knew absolutely nothing about buying a car. SO grateful for her. (And she just happened to be in town for her birthday weekend. - Happy Birthday, mom!)

As for HopCat, I had to give up my shifts this week to deal with all the nonsense. I'm certainly not happy about it, as I'll likely have to make up for it over the coming weeks, but I also know it was pretty needed.

Knee-Deep

I'm mid-way through...just about everything.
One might say, I'm knee deep. In what?

This may not be mud...

I'm not sure yet.  ...but  I'm knee-deep in it.
Mid-week, Mid-program, and a hopeful mid-level of understanding in what I'm doing at the Iron Yard.

Mid-Lecture at the Iron Yard
We're half-way through the lectures portion for the Iron Yard. Out of the 12 weeks the program takes (or in our case, 14, due to Holidays), there are only 10 weeks that have a lecture. The last few weeks are designed as time to work on the final project we develop.

So How do I feel?

It's honestly one the weirdest feelings.
I feel incredibly empowered by the things I'm learning, how I'm learning, the level I'm applying myself, the fact that I've found something I'm this excited about...but I also feel completely bewildered by moments of fear that I have no idea what I'm really doing, or moments of being completely lost.
I'm told those moments will be less and less as time goes by and there will be definite moments of, "Oh, hey! I got this!" (Some of which I've already experienced!)

There's also the feeling that I wish I could be doing more. Between working, the whole 'mold' situation that occurred, the consequent moving, and various other issues, I just want more time to be able to get into this stuff! I want to bust out of this program beast-moding things as best I can, but I keep running into time-issues. ...then again, my time-line for things has been weird since the start.

Time Log for the program so far:

Week 1: Iron Yard - 34 hours, HopCat - 30 hours. TOTAL - 64 hours
Week 2: Iron Yard - 38 hours, HopCat - 18.5 hours. TOTAL - 56.5 hours
Week 3: Iron Yard - 34 hours, HopCat - 24 hours. TOTAL - 58 hours (-1 day of class due to mold)
Week 4: Iron Yard - 48 hours, HopCat - 28 hours. TOTAL - 76 hours

Running total: Iron Yard - 154 hours
HopCat - 100.5 hours

 The time for Iron Yard is deceiving still, as there were a number of days that I had to leave class early to get to work on time, and I know there are a few days I worked on things at home and forgot to "clock in" to track my time. ...but this gives those of you wondering where I've gone some sort of idea as to why I seem so busy. Week 4 was an accurate depiction of how the weeks should have been, time-wise, without the extraneous things like a moldy apartment happening.

Coursework

Currently, we're getting into Active Record, Validations, and Associations, while setting them to link with the web pages we created (my Kittens and Bacon page). However, I'm struggling with getting the damn webpage to properly function in a dynamic setting, updating itself with the posts requested to be shown, and I'm currently being left with a feeling that I'm horribly behind, and I have no idea what's going on. (There's the theme in the way I've been feeling in my coursework this week!)

I'm frustrated that I know the components, I know the basics of ruby well, I feel, and I know the theory behind how things are supposed to fit together. When I stop, and ask myself "What am I trying to accomplish" or "What needs to be done here", I can answer it easily. ...but when I go to type in the code to get that done...I'm about as useful as a pedal-powered wheel chair.

Grandpa's going nowhere, fast...in style.

My work for the next few days will be to properly utilize these concepts and get this crap working. (dammit!)

What keeps me going

As I'm hitting a 'half-way' of sorts, its nice to remind myself of what keeps me going, what keeps me motivated, and a reminder of why I'm here.

Well, first, there's my own personal goals, which I took the time to write out and think about during our class chat with John Saddington.

Then there's, I think the experiences that I'm going through and the things I'm learning about myself, ore than anything is what keeps me going. I've had to take a hard look at myself in terms of how I learn, why I learn, what I want out of life, and begin to solidify my beliefs in these things. I suppose one could argue that this is what 'the college experience' is supposed to be for. ...I'd argue you're an idiot if that's the case. Here's why: you go to college at 18. For the average American student, you have no idea what the world is like at 18. (#sorrynotsorry)

The blog is also helping. A lot.
I've already fallen into something Saddington talked about - I wish I had started blogging sooner, and I wish I had kept up with my blogging in earlier attempts.

Keeping in mind the people who inspire me. Whether they be people I know, or people like Saddington, who I aspire to be like.

My brother, who always seems to get things done, has his life together, and has always been my best friend.
My mom, God bless her, who has put up with my shit for almost 26 years now.
And a friend of mine who also blogs, about her own things, in a far off land. She has played a role in my inspiration for years now (whether she's aware of it or not). Pushing to be the best version of yourself you can be is something she embodies and brings out in those she interacts with. Its what makes her such an infectious person, and one of the reasons I continue to push to be my best.

And, speeches like the one Denzel Washington gives on falling forward. 

(take a moment to watch/listen if you haven't)

But it doesn't matter what keeps me motivated. 

What matters is that I keep. 

moving. 

forward.
And I plan on doing that. 

For those of you familiar with Fables, by Bill Willingham:

In so many ways, I find I'm akin to the character Prince Charming.

(In character, not in looks - before you say anything.) 

(And if you haven't read any Fables. Do so. Now.) 

...when I get myself set on something, I'm consumed by it until it's mine.

I'm consumed by learning this.

TIY goes to Tinderbox

Tinderbox

This past Friday, The Iron Yard (TIY) cohort took a walk to the Indy circle to visit Tinderbox.

Specializing in streamlining business analytics and analysis through their applications, tinderbox is a small, but powerful company. I'll admit, I knew very little, if anything, about the company prior to going. (C'mon! I was finishing my 4th week in this realm!)

I should also add, I was feeling festive and decided to dress up as Ron Burgundy for the day. I debated on if this would be appropriate for visiting a potential place to work, and came to the conclusion that, if needed, I could just play it off as 'dressing for success' ...or something like that.

We walk into a sweet old building right on the circle. The windows face the monument, and the stonework of the building makes my architecture-side geek out for a moment over the craftsmanship and the material use. (They just can't make buildings like these anymore - way too expensive for this kind of artistry.) Tinderbox takes up the entire 7th floor.

We are warmly welcomed into a space that is clearly set up and designed with the new generation "google-style", as I'll call it, workspace. There's an excellent flow to the building and several spaces where you can tell people often take mental breaks. (I spied a chess set in one corner. Nice.)

Samantha Haddad, the talent manager, greets us with a bright smile, and leads us into a meeting room to set our things down. After the building tour, we sit through a talk with the developer team on what the day to day is like for them. It was great to hear from developers directly working on how their lives are within the company. As someone new to this, I can hear things from Chris until I'm blue in the face, but I there's something to be said for having the reinforcement. (Not that I doubted you, Chris!) It was also nice to hear terminology used and ideas tossed around that we have covered already in our short time in the cohort. Specifically, Agile concepts and hearing that they use git and github.

There was a developer on their team who had been hired directly from his time with a bootcamp, but it made me proud to be a part of Iron Yard when he began talking about the things he had to quickly learn during his first few months on the job due to no experience - such as git and github. I know if we weren't using it for class, I'd be screwed on the use of it. I've already told you how frustrating it can be to work with at times. Iron Yard - specifically Chris Vannoy and Emily Tremble - are doing an awesome job of getting us every opportunity to be ready for moving into junior developer positions.

We also had a talk with Samantha about things she looks for in interviews and potential candidates for the company. She covered a lot of the usual, but it was also really eye-opening in terms of differences in workplaces from architecture to software. In LA, you need to have a well-designed portfolio, that matches your resume, make sure you present yourself in the proper way (which is usually more formal), etc. ...and although many of the basic concepts remain true, I was surprised to hear the biggest contributing factor in their process: do you fit our culture?

As I type this, I realize it may sound silly not to realize, but I guess I didn't grasp the gravity in which this factors into the equation. "Do you fit our culture?" ...so simple, but also can make or break you. Would they be willing to, say, grab a beer with you? If the answer is no, you're not really a fit. Software is something that, as a developer, to some degree, they know you're going to be able to do and you'll get the work done...but are you someone I want to chat with and hear about your passions, or are you a dick? Do our conversations feel like you actually give a shit, or is this a forced communication where I can tell you're looking for a way to get back to your work?

I found, again, that I love the level of blunt honesty in the feedback. Samantha didn't use the exact words I have above, but the idea was the same.

There was also a costume contest going on that day (which I apparently took some of the votes for, haha) and a chili cook-off. The workplace seemed really laid back, yet productive. I felt the guys and gals who were working there were both passionate about what they did and realistic enough to be able to have fun throughout the day. (I also feel I could kick some ass against those chilis. ...I'm a beast at making chili...)

Overall

 I loved the entire experience. I also realized I need to be actively looking into various companies and keeping my eyes peeled for where I'd like to work.  Samantha threw out an interesting point in terms of applying to jobs - ask yourself: if you're looking for a particular type of company or workplace culture, do all of the places you've applied fit into that category, or are you just blindly applying places? Employers can tell a lot about how informed you are or how hard you really are hoping to get the job by the other places you know of and have looked into. (That one was a nifty revelation)
I think Tinderbox would be an awesome place to work. I love what I'm doing in the Iron Yard course, and I got every indication that the guys and gals there absolutely love going to work every day.  

I also got to meet a guy who started the meet-up in Indy for the Python group. Python is one of the coding languages I'd love to look into. It's also object-oriented, and I know there are a number of video applications that use it. I'll have to try to go to one of their meet-ups.

They also named their meeting rooms after movie quotes. One of the developers said he loved the idea originally, but it now makes it hard to remember which room is which. ...I had to get a photo with one of the rooms...

Stay classy, Indianapolis

Thanks for reading.
-Ben Doane

Syntax Error - User does not compute

Coding Lanuages

It's becoming more and more obvious why they call them coding 'languages'. I know, I know, it's obvious - but, I mean, I'm really started to get the picture of how switching from one coding language to another can be an interesting endeavor, as the syntax for the same thing might completely shift, or be so close to what you're used to with another language, it's frustrating how you miss the error nearly every time.

With that being said, Chris has often told us how, while they may go about trying to accomplish the same type of tasks, the commands used might be entirely different. Or worse, there might be a command in one language that means something completely different in another, but they're the same word.

We're getting into the basics of rails, and the power of the program application is totally insane. We've gone from a simple string, to building arrays and hashes of strings, to manipulating those hashes, to building methods for those, to integrating them into html and css, and now we're stacking multiple layers of sets of those. To put it into terms of landscape architecture: we started with the basics of slope, and we're now doing construction documentation for the master grading plan and the layout plan - in 4 weeks.

Me.

Currently in class

I know what I'm supposed to be doing. ...but that doesn't mean I have a full understanding of how to get it there, just yet.

Last week we used html and css to build a webpage based on a template (the Kittens and Bacon page). Now we're taking that and turning it into a rails template that makes a dynamic page with links that lead to new pages within that template showing new "posts".

Starring: Me. (The code is clearly a smoke monster)

Currently I will be spending a vast amount of time this weekend going over this, and making sure I understand the proper syntax to call these items in the proper way. The organization of where the files need to be located in rails, I seemingly understand. And after many a head-bash-to-the-wall over git, I'm happy to report I'm understanding it. (I still think it's incredibly  NOT user friendly, and makes little sense for new learners, but I'm understanding it.)

"One bite at a time, One bite a time, one bite...man I'm hungry." - My thoughts when I feel lost.

Totally unrelated

I'm just going to throw this out there: if you don't like the British comedy, the IT Crowd...
...I don't know how I feel about you anymore.
I started watching it back when they were still filming the 3rd season, and I love how it's on Netflix now, as I keep finding more people who also enjoy the show or have just discovered it. ...but I recently talked with someone who didn't think it was funny. Part of me stopped functioning for a brief moment. "...you what?"

Couldn't have said it better.

Git-ing user friendly

Git

For those of you outside the realm of programming, there's this thing called 'git'.

Git is pretty simple in terms of concept. It goes like this:

Let's say you have a team of developers are all working on a project. Obviously, if person #1 begins working on things, and person #2 begins working on different things, they'll need a way to be able to easily combine their efforts back into the main file. This is where git comes in. You have your 'main', and people can branch off of it to make edits, and later, those can be combined into the 'main' for new branchings to occur. And since it's all online, your team can work anywhere, anytime and update your info for the project. Wow! Doesn't that sound awesome?!

It is! 

(There's a reason TONS of developers use it daily, including the Iron Yard for their assignments)

...unless you don't know how to use it. Then you're pretty much fucked.
I happen to be one of those people.

Yes, I understand how it works conceptually. Yes, I've read through the material online on how to manipulate and use it to my advantage. But it's so infuriatingly NOT user friendly. If you are new to using it, it's like trying to shove an entire pizza into the mouth of a 7 week old child.

-Meet my niece Adeline-
Adeline, meet this pizza...

I understand the users are tech people who are used to using this, and once I get more familiar with working directly from command line it will be a cinch  ...but as someone who loves user interface and who enjoys trying to make things "dummy-proof", utilizing git is nails on the chalkboard of my brain.


I suppose I'm just trying to get out my frustration. And let everyone know - if you every hear of a redesign request for Github - send it my way.
On a lighter note - I'm beginning to get a clearer picture of how html, css, and ruby code all work together. 

Week 3 Recap and Mid week 4

Week 3

Well...I'm just glad it's over.

Between living in various locations (including: moldy apartment, empty-complex-provided apartment, my brother Josh's house in the adjacent town, or with friends), dealing with the apartment complex over this issue, working, coding, finding places outside of the Iron Yard HQ that has internet so I CAN work (though the apartment has internet...it comes at the cost of surviving through the spore infested air.)....let's go back to my first statement. I'm glad it's over.

Coursework

This past week we learned html and css, which were both entirely new to me. While there were a number of terms that I was more than familiar with, due to my proficiency in the Adobe suite (thanks, design degree!), there was also the trouble of having to learn this new syntax and making sure the two communicated properly.

The writing of the html wasn't too rough, and the css - though I had heard stories of how rough it can be to work with - didn't seem all that bad....I just couldn't get the two to properly communicate. This, coupled with missing the lab portion of a few days to deal with the apartment complex had me feeling I was so far behind. I took my one free evening and sat at HopCat to use their free wifi and worked from the bar all night. I read through most tutorials and pieces I could find on whatever was causing me errors. The assignment I was backed on was one where we were provided the html, but we needed to edit it and add the css to manipulate the images and text to appear the same as a prompt.

...for the life of me, I couldn't get it to work. (Retrospectively, I was under the impression we were not to change the html for this assignment. I later learned that was kinda needed to make anything work on the page.) So come Friday, I knew if I didn't get to working on the lab assignment, I would fall into the deep-end of confusion, frustration, and generally being lost.

...right in line with my Halloween costume this year, as Ron Burgundy...

The lab assignment was: here's what we want the 'blog' page to look like. Build it. (on Normal Mode, anyway)

Surprisingly, when I made the html and css from scratch, it seemed to all 'click'. (pun intended)
Chris humorously provided us links to place-holder image generators for cat images and another for bacon images, as he said the images could be anything we wanted, the text could be anything, etc. ...so long as it fit the layout theme. Naturally, my blog page I built was titled "Kittens and Bacon". I'm super proud of it, and it makes me laugh every time I look at it. I just wish I knew how to place it on a server and have it live. (But apparently we'll be getting to that by the end of next week or so.)

Me-ow!

Mid-week

This week has been about getting stability back. After working 30 hours between Saturday, Sunday, and last night, I'm doing my best to stay awake and focused. I'll ashamedly admit, I did conk out for a moment near the end of lecture today. Whereas I hear that's a sign of 'hard work' in some societies...I don't want that to happen again.

We had an introduction to Sinatra as a way of stepping into adding together Ruby basics with html and css, using .erb files to pull the data when entering in specific URLs. ...I had no idea what the hell that statement would have meant on Monday. And honestly - I still have only a basic grasp, but at least I know the components well. Now I just need to orchestrate them with Sinatra. (Boy, there's a statement that works for multiple lines of work.)

Today we're using Rails for the first time as well. It's similar to Sinatra...except way more powerful and has much more at its disposal. Like Kanye West, if he was a crooner...and wasn't an asshole. (There's one man who SHOULDN'T have all that power...)

Again, I'm finding myself having a loose idea of what's happening in class. I feel I know each of the components being used, and I'm familiar with them being used in simpler settings, but now we're beginning to really layer it on in ways that seem impressive - and potentially overwhelming - if they aren't taken step-by-step. I just keep reminding myself - "How do you eat an elephant? ...one bite at a time..."

I love how this photo makes no sense. 

Mold Update

I'm currently waiting on paperwork for the terms of termination of my lease. I should be living somewhere where the air is fresher soon. (Hopefully with Terry Gross.)

Thanks for reading - feel free to comment or follow - I appreciate you.

Photo sources - 

http://i2.cdnds.net/13/06/618x411/movies-anchorman-09.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5045/5371287359_d554932606.jpg

A Chat with John Saddington

I've been trying to find time to write this post. And prep yourself for some serious geeking out and a lengthy, pseudo-philosophical ride.

John Saddington

Yesterday, we had a guest speaker for our class. Some guy who just happened to be in town for some convention and would be speaking. I'll be honest, with how bad my allergies had been from my lovely apartment scenario, I was just happy to be breathing without the assistance of 50+ tissues on hand.

...I was not ready for this guy. Turns out - he was one of the founders of Iron Yard. (Which I immediately recalled Emily telling us, and that I had promptly forgotten all about it.)

If you don't know who John Saddington is,  I'll do my best to sum it up: a fucking force. That's who he is. (But seriously, take 5 minutes and just google him.)
This guy is awesome. He started coding around 15 years old. Now, he's worth more money than I think I've ever made in my life with a few extra zeroes behind it. But don't get me wrong - this wasn't some guy coming to tell us to 'do our best and we'll go far'. I mean his opening to us was an apology. It was "I'm sorry guys, I just got in on the red-eye, I've only had coffee, I haven't had my medication, and I'm probably going to swear like a sailor."

I'm already liking this guy.

Coming from someone who can swear like one, I approve

The presentation/talk was pretty informal, but packed with some amazing information. I was surprised by how much of it was a slight variation of the things I had learned in the LA dept. at BSU. The differences, though small, made such a huge difference.

Blogging & Social Media

For example - Saddington has been blogging everyday. ...for the past 14 years. That's insane. 

....but it's not. He talked about the opportunities that have come about because of his blog. At one point he did it professionally (and made over 40K that year from doing so!).  He stressed the importance for us to have blogs up and going now, and the number of people he had talked with over the years wishing they'd started sooner. 

I'm certainly not new to this concept (Thank you, Simon Bussiere), and this was a major component of discussion in the LA program, but there was one thing I was missing: do it even if it looks like crap.  The sheer fact that you're putting something on a page is getting yourself in a step forward. So it looks like crap? So what! You've GOT something out there. You're developing your own 'brand', your own 'flavor'. This applies to design, development, whatever!

For something so simple, why was I missing this? Because of the stress of 'does it look nice?' or 'could this look better?'  John's answer: fuck it. You'll always want to make it look better. Instead, just write. And your content will outweigh the design. Your commitment will speak louder than your template.

"Commitment wins." - John Saddington

He also talked about utilizing/leveraging social media to be used as a tool to further your opportunities and market both yourself and your ideas. Nothing new, again. But I hadn't had anyone ever talk about utilizing less platforms. John talked about how more effective you are when you engage into one or two media forms - and beast mode - versus attempting to keep up with all of them and half-assing it. 

Ron Swanson - my spirit animal.

The Competition

-Cue the Pokemon Theme Song-

Those of you who know me, you're aware that I'm competitive. For those of you who don't know me super well, I'll put it this way: I'm all for playing fair, and making sure everyone has a chance, and making sure that everyone has a great time...but don't expect me to take it easy on you in this board game because it's your first time.

That being said, this is the first time I've ever been in an environment where the mentality wasn't a cut-throat, I've gotta be better scenario. Ok, maybe that's a bit of overkill - but in school, your grades are always compared...to the other students. In this realm, it's you versus yourself. (I will have a full blog post about this in the future, for sure.)

He also talked about how to get yourself in the front-runnings (which I was all ears for hearing). His answers were great. "Ever take an hour and a half lunch? I do. I love 'em. ...fuck em. You can eat in 30 minutes. What the hell were you doing with that hour, anyway?" ...that's entirely true of way too many people - myself included some days.

"Don't be disqualified from opportunities you didn't know you had." - John Saddington

The best advice on how to get forward? Of course it was networking. (Duh!) ...but again with a twist. You go to networking things, right? How many people have you scoped out before you get there? How many people did you meet? How many business cards and contact info did you get? Did you meet them with such an impression that they will remember you? ...and most importantly: did you ask them "what can I do for you?" Create. Value.
That last one kinda took me off guard. I plan on using that as a way to get into the realm of networking and potential hiring work. "What can I do for you?" ...how many people go to networking events and ask that...probably no one.

Overall

I was so inspired that through all the things he was saying, you could just tell he was being real. I can recall sitting across the table from higher ups in companies - CEOs, Presidents, etc. - and feeling like they were simply there to put on the act that they actually listen and give a shit...when they don't. At all.  But they want you to think they do. 

I pride myself on my people skills. I can tell when people are being genuine, or when they're clearly not even remotely interested in what is being said. (It's not a hard skill to learn - try serving. Or acting. Or being that social person at any major gathering. You'll quickly find the people who don't care about anything coming out of your mouth. And you've done it, too.)

But Saddington didn't try to put on a face for us. Yes, the guy who helped to found the program that he was speaking to was asking us to just chat and ask questions. That level of honesty and openness is so rare. And he was really getting to brass tacks at various points. No candy-coating. If it was fucking stupid....he literally said that. And for him to be able to look at someone, tell them they will never be great at this, and still somehow leave an inspiring message for that individual on an individual level...it was brilliant to watch. Yes, that really happened - he said that to one of my classmates. And, contextually, it worked. It made sense. And it inspired that person.

It was uncut. It was rough. It was needed. ...I wish more people communicated like this, and more people were open to getting this level of feedback.

Closing Questions and Remarks

John Finished with asking us a few questions. He also hung around for Q&A for an hour and a half. 

"Don't ask 'where do you want to work?', ask 'who do you want to work with?'" - John Saddington

On educating yourself:
"The goal is not retention. It's resourcing." - from a advisor of John's during grad school

Finally, John asked:

What drives us to do this? 

In order of importance:
I want to make a difference.

I want to build something that people appreciate, use, and love.

I want to be the best version of me I can be. 

I want to never have to worry if I have enough money to get by, ever again.
and ...I want to work for that man. Holy crap.


-Re-cue the Pokemon Theme Song-

Mold and the anti-friends

Mold update

After being told by my apartment complex that the apartment did not show any levels of moisture that could indicate active mold, I was pretty much told, "we're not denying your health issues, but we also don't think it's the apartment". So, in a retrospectively dumb decision, I chose to go back to staying in my apartment. ...and the negative health effects set in almost within 30 min.

I stayed with my brother again, and went to a doctor. The doctor cut me off mid-regaling of the tale to simply say: "It's mold."

Even if there's no moisture present, the spores for whatever mold it is will still be there. The doctor had an impressively accurate guess as to my living situation: guessed the floor, almost guessed the sub-grade design, and guessed the forced air HVAC unit. Per his suggestion, I purchased a mold test kit to mail off after collection. I thought the apartment complex should pay for the testing.

The complex informed me they'll be cleaning the vents in a week, and the test was not necessary, as mold is present in all air (which is true). ...but they're also clearly not invested in finding out what this actually is. They did let me know how odd it is that this should have "popped up over the past couple of weeks, without a trigger " (despite this having symptoms for over a month now, between two roommates.)

I suppose on the plus side, I was offered to be moved to another apartment. ...though I can't say that puts me at ease for the solution to any of this. It almost feels like they're brushing the problem under the rug, so to speak.

But I am back on the road to proper health. Which brings me to...

HTML and CSS: the friends that never were

In light of my regained health, I'm also (re)gaining the fact that I'm a few days behind in my Iron Yard work. (Which is the literal worst. ...imagine me saying that in the most stereotypical 'white-girl' voice ever.)

As such, I'm playing catch-up with the assignments. I've not missed a lecture, thankfully, and I seemed to follow along pretty well with what's been going on. A lot of the communication between a CSS and an HTML file seems strikingly similar to the terms and ideas used in creating presentation boards with Adobe InDesign, which was required for nearly every project presented while in architecture school. ...however, the nesting component of working with the html files, and being able to properly and effectively call out only the pieces needing editing and positioning is turning out to be a real pain.

More to come on this.

Week 2 Recap

2 Down, 12 to go

This week certainly had its obstacles. 

I say this meaning both in terms of my coursework, and life in general. But nonetheless, I trudged through.

Coursework

The coursework for this week was building command line games. I was really excited to get into this; how could you not get excited to be building a game?!

Rochambeau

Also known as 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'

The first game we built was the classic 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. This tested our user input and made sure we were utilizing the basics of the "if/elsif/else" statements. It was fairly straightforward. I was tempted to, but did not, end up making 'Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock'.

I'm still not sure why paper covers rock counts as a win...

Farkle

The game of guts and glory!

The second game we built was a basic version of the dice game Farkle. As far as the topic of mathematical probability goes...I think I had more interest in the subject after I was old enough to actually go gamble somewhere. Basically, it's a simple 'roll the dice, get points' kind of game. I only built the game to the basics, as I found that when you add the additional rules (as was a portion of the homework on 'Nightmare Mode') ...let's just say it got a bit hairy.

I'm going to pause in the coursework for a moment to interject with a bit of 'fun'. 

...and when I say 'fun', I really mean 'mold that is somewhere hiding in my apartment, causing me to get sick and miss a day of class'.

"My...what...beautiful eyes you have...?" 

Courtesy of my apartment

...So that happened.

Being the regular Sherlock I am, I pieced together the clues: 

1. My roommate having a cough for months that wouldn't go away, but magically did when he stayed with his fiancee 

2. My heightened allergies that seemed to rocket to crazy, cannot-seem-to-function levels when I stayed at the apartment for prolonged periods of time 

3. The musty smell of the apartment 

(...And finding mold in a few places. That helped my sleuthing efforts, too, ya know.)

*24-hours of not being in my apartment.

More on that story, as it develops. (The story, not the mold.)The end of the week was a bit of catch-up to get everything back on track. Which brings us to...

War!

What is it good for? ...cards.

The next game we built was the card game War. ...Now, before you think to yourself, "That can't be that hard", I have two things to remind you of:

1. I've literally been programming for a week and a half at this point. 

2. Take a moment to remind yourself how war is played. 

Now that you've reminded yourself, for anyone reading this who may know how to program - think about how the hell you would need to write the code so it properly handles the situation of two cards matching, laying out the 3 cards, then comparing the next in a 'war' situation. ...it's a -war- in and of itself to code that. I didn't venture into that, as Chris mentioned he accidentally omitted this notion for the first cohort and, as a result, they accidentally got "Super-Nightmare Mode" for their "Normal Mode".

Blackjack

After figuring out the makings of the card and deck class files, calling on those, and getting a better grip on how to properly use self., blackjack was MUCH easier than War. 

I played a bit of Blackjack when I had my landscape architecture internship in Las Vegas a few years ago, and I found myself having a lot of fun building this program. I successfully managed to catch up with the coursework this weekend, and complete blackjack on 'Hard Mode', just in time to get to work at HopCat on Sunday.

Overall

Still optimistic. Still excited. 

I'm looking forward to this coming week - we'll be learning HTML and CSS, with how they are utilized by Ruby. I've heard both encouraging and preparative stories for how this coming week may go. I'm hoping my graphic side will lend itself well for the coming assignments.

ONWARD!

And thanks for reading