The dust settles from Demo Day

Demo Day Review

So how did it go?
Well, all in all, I'd say it was a success!

For those of you who wanted to check out the project, All the Swing Dancing was the project being presented. Now that I've presented it, I'm ok with people being on there and tinkering.

I met a TON of awesome developers yesterday, and I am so excited to get going into this 'Find that Job' mode!

My portfolio website is up and running. I'll be continuing to edit, style, and change it, but if you'd like to check it out, it's at bendoane.me

Common Questions from Review

Do you plan on continuing this project?
     Yes! I literally told the attendees that I made this site for somewhat selfish reasons - I wanted a place to find all my events without having to remember the names of which event happens when and what it's called this year, etc. I also had to tone back the scope of what I originally wanted to the site to do. Down the road I'm planning far more integration with Facebook, better user interface (UI), and the addition of event hosting, if needed, for smaller dance scenes who may not have the technical know-how to build a site. (And I personally hated using Wix or other similar sites.)

What was the hardest part?
     Facebook. Easily. The developer aspects of Facebook, while it is used in tons of applications, isn't the easiest to navigate through for someone like myself, who is a bit new to this and had a limited amount of time to learn it and integrate it. I had to register the app through their site, make sure I had my email as tech support, get a privacy policy set, fill out exactly how I'm using the information, and only then could I work on the portions on the back end for my site. But, I do feel I've got an OK understanding of how it all links together.

What are my plans next?
     Seeking full-time employment as a software developer. I said it a lot yesterday, but I still feel like a bit of a wizard. ...first there was nothing, and now I've made this! And I genuinely feel like it's almost unreal that people actually get paid to do this stuff!

Do you want to do more front-end or back-end work?
     Yes? Haha, I don't have a preference. I suppose, in an ideal world, I'd be working full-stack, going from one to the other. But as far as a preference, I'm not sure. However, the front-end work that I did certainly came easier in the learning process (Thanks, design degree!).

What are your overall thoughts about The Iron Yard?
     Words cannot express how amazing a journey it was. And it was very much a 'you get out of it what you put into it' scenario. (And isn't life that way, too?) I learned SO much, and there is absolutely no way I could have gotten this far on my own. I will be forever grateful for the experience and the people I've met I know I'll be friends with for life. I only wish I could have had more time to work harder through it - there's always more I could have done. (But again, isn't that life...)