As you may have noticed, I gave up on posting everyday. At least until my session actually starts. There just wasn't that much to say. I've been working on getting fully settled from the move, writing and rewriting algorithms, and watching CS lectures. On the bright side, my session starts in 5 days!! I'm excited. I've started to get in contact with other students in my cohort, and I just access to all the material so now I'm going to get back to work.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Waiting
Well it's been five days since I sent my email, and I have yet to get a response on my questions. It's now only 12 days until the sessions starts which means I've already lost nearly a third of the time that I had to spend on memorizing the algorithms. Therefore I am going to stop waiting. There are a few that I'm not 100% on, but most of them, I know my way is the most efficient way to go about it without using tools that we were specified not to use.
The good thing, is that I just redid all of the algorithms, and I'm already much faster than I was the first few times around to complete them. I love that my brain keeps working on problems even when I'm not focused on them. So I don't think this will be too much of a setback in that regard.
I have to admit, I'm at a loss when it comes to the projects. I do take solace in the fact that I have as much information as everyone else in my cohort so I shouldn't be behind, and if I am, I trust in my ability to catch up once the session starts. I will say that I am very much looking forward to when the session starts and the instructor will be readily available.
The good thing, is that I just redid all of the algorithms, and I'm already much faster than I was the first few times around to complete them. I love that my brain keeps working on problems even when I'm not focused on them. So I don't think this will be too much of a setback in that regard.
I have to admit, I'm at a loss when it comes to the projects. I do take solace in the fact that I have as much information as everyone else in my cohort so I shouldn't be behind, and if I am, I trust in my ability to catch up once the session starts. I will say that I am very much looking forward to when the session starts and the instructor will be readily available.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
I'm back
Sorry for my absence. I've been really sick, but today I am feeling much better. There hasn't been much to report. For the most part I've been watching lectures of a CS class. I sent an email on Friday to the person at Coding Dojo who sent my acceptance, and all the information I needed for access to the pre-couse material. I knew she wasn't the person I should be sending my questions to, but I figured she could forward it to the right person. In the email I asked about three things.
The first was to ask for the answers to the algorithms I had solved. It's not hard to run code so I know that my answers are "correct", but I wanted to make sure they were the right answers. Normally I am all about solving things my own way as my way tends to be more efficient. That may sound bad to put it that way, but I've found through talking to people, and testing ways to do things that it's true. However, the point of these algorithms are to get you thinking about these problems in an efficient way. Get you thinking like a computer. I figure roughly 95% of my answers are about as efficient as possible using the tools we had, however I intend to memorize these algorithms to make things run quicker in the future, and It's a lot easier to not make a habit than to break it so I am waiting till I can check my answers before I memorize them.
The second thing I asked about was the projects. During the session, we will complete two projects. They recommend that you know what you want to build and start designing the blueprints for it before you start the session. I have no idea what I want to build. Nor do I know how advanced these projects should be. Should I build a website, a game, an operating system? Obviously not the latter since we only have like a week to work on each project, but I don't know how far along I will be when I start these projects. So I emailed and asked about those to get a better idea.
Lastly I asked about how to get in touch with the other members of my cohort. We will be working together, and helping each other along the way. They are the people who will be going through the same thing that I am, so I would like to contact them before the session starts.
Yesterday, I got an email back saying that she would forward the email to one of the instructors. This was followed by a copy of the forwarded email. I have since been added to the cohort email, but as far I can tell, that email is for the current session, and I have yet to hear back on my other points. Hopefully I'll hear back soon. I'm terrible at memorization, so I'm going to have to start working on those algorithms soon.
The first was to ask for the answers to the algorithms I had solved. It's not hard to run code so I know that my answers are "correct", but I wanted to make sure they were the right answers. Normally I am all about solving things my own way as my way tends to be more efficient. That may sound bad to put it that way, but I've found through talking to people, and testing ways to do things that it's true. However, the point of these algorithms are to get you thinking about these problems in an efficient way. Get you thinking like a computer. I figure roughly 95% of my answers are about as efficient as possible using the tools we had, however I intend to memorize these algorithms to make things run quicker in the future, and It's a lot easier to not make a habit than to break it so I am waiting till I can check my answers before I memorize them.
The second thing I asked about was the projects. During the session, we will complete two projects. They recommend that you know what you want to build and start designing the blueprints for it before you start the session. I have no idea what I want to build. Nor do I know how advanced these projects should be. Should I build a website, a game, an operating system? Obviously not the latter since we only have like a week to work on each project, but I don't know how far along I will be when I start these projects. So I emailed and asked about those to get a better idea.
Lastly I asked about how to get in touch with the other members of my cohort. We will be working together, and helping each other along the way. They are the people who will be going through the same thing that I am, so I would like to contact them before the session starts.
Yesterday, I got an email back saying that she would forward the email to one of the instructors. This was followed by a copy of the forwarded email. I have since been added to the cohort email, but as far I can tell, that email is for the current session, and I have yet to hear back on my other points. Hopefully I'll hear back soon. I'm terrible at memorization, so I'm going to have to start working on those algorithms soon.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Sorting Algorithm
So I just completed a sorting algorithm that was an optional exercise for us to do. It said it would take us 2-10 hours to complete, and it only took me an hour and a half so I'm feeling pretty good about that. I'm feeling less good about the fact that I had written out the correct code over an hour ago. It was the first thing I typed, but I must have changed it before I tested the code so I thought it was wrong...
Despite that, this has me feeling really good about where I am to start the session in February!
Despite that, this has me feeling really good about where I am to start the session in February!
Productivity
I gotta say, I love going to a coffee shop to work. At home I am surrounded by all my hobbies. There is a fridge full of food waiting to be cooked. Yes that is a hobby, but since eating is a neccessity, I put it in a different category than say Magic: The Gathering. Although some may argue that Magic is also a necessity, and I would not disagree with them. There are boxes waiting to be unpacked. Did I mention that I've had to move twice this month? There are ever growing piles of laundry and dishes.
The point being, I can have a very productive day at home, working hard, and yet get nothing that was on my list for that day done. That's what happened to me yesterday. I ended up spending the entire day getting moved in because I decided that I couldn't get any work done while surrounded by boxes. I got a lot done. I think it will only take one more day dedicated towards the moving process to get myself settled in. But that list of things I set for myself to spend the day getting done yesterday? Nada.
So today I dragged myself to bed at 8:30. (I am not a morning person. As in, I don't believe in being awake until morning is over.) And went to Starbucks where the only thing to distract me from my work is taking a drink of my coffee. And in the past three and a half hours I managed to finish everything that I was supposed to get done. All of it.
So obviously there are some changes I need to make to my home environment before I start Coding Dojo. Good to know. Until then, I've scheduled till around 5pm to be here so I can accomplish more.
The point being, I can have a very productive day at home, working hard, and yet get nothing that was on my list for that day done. That's what happened to me yesterday. I ended up spending the entire day getting moved in because I decided that I couldn't get any work done while surrounded by boxes. I got a lot done. I think it will only take one more day dedicated towards the moving process to get myself settled in. But that list of things I set for myself to spend the day getting done yesterday? Nada.
So today I dragged myself to bed at 8:30. (I am not a morning person. As in, I don't believe in being awake until morning is over.) And went to Starbucks where the only thing to distract me from my work is taking a drink of my coffee. And in the past three and a half hours I managed to finish everything that I was supposed to get done. All of it.
So obviously there are some changes I need to make to my home environment before I start Coding Dojo. Good to know. Until then, I've scheduled till around 5pm to be here so I can accomplish more.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Cold
My room is 22 degrees colder than the rest of the house. I may be an Alaskan girl at heart, but I've had seven years to acclimate to warmer weather. Also, there is no snow. This was actually my first Christmas without snow. Call me a purest, but if it's going to be cold, I want snow.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Day 3
Well it's day three of working on my precourse material for Coding Dojo. I don't have much to report. I slept in super late today, but when I woke up I felt infinitely better than I had the previous day so I guess I needed it. Thus far, all of the precourse material had been review for me. I take this as a good sign, and looking ahead I think I will be able to get done with both parts three and four as well as repeating part two to make sure that I've gotten it completely down tomorrow. I've been happy with the pace I've gone through the material. I know I'll slow down a lot once I get to things that I haven't done before so it's nice that I'm getting through this quickly so that I'll have more time to spend on the stuff I haven't already gotten down. Like I said, I don't have much to report so I'm just gonna get back to work, and maybe spend sometime reading tonight!
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Another day, another post.
Hello lovelies,
Today is day two of my attempting to post everyday. So far so good. I haven't been feeling great. I had a caffeine headache till 6pm. I really need to start drinking tea again instead of coffee and redbulls. Shouldn't be too hard. These days tea is far more accessible for me. It will also save me money so win-win-win. I've only gotten in about three to four hours on my pre-course material today though I will certainly work on it more after I post this. Until I'm done at my job (my last day is the 26th) I'm going to be on a night schedule so I'm not concerned about how much time I've spent thus far. Additionally, I have the next three days off so I look forward to being productive while being able to relax a bit.
Despite not having spent as much time as I would have liked today, I have been happy with what I've gotten done thus far. I feel like I'm getting through the lists of things to do efficiently. I will say that I am developing a nice ever-growing list of things I need to look up. I will probably have to schedule a good six hours tomorrow or the next day to devote to that. School doesn't start for three weeks so I probably don't need to work as much as I'm planning to, but I'm excited to get a jump on things and find a good routine for myself.
I don't think I have anything more to say for now. So I guess I'll be off!
Today is day two of my attempting to post everyday. So far so good. I haven't been feeling great. I had a caffeine headache till 6pm. I really need to start drinking tea again instead of coffee and redbulls. Shouldn't be too hard. These days tea is far more accessible for me. It will also save me money so win-win-win. I've only gotten in about three to four hours on my pre-course material today though I will certainly work on it more after I post this. Until I'm done at my job (my last day is the 26th) I'm going to be on a night schedule so I'm not concerned about how much time I've spent thus far. Additionally, I have the next three days off so I look forward to being productive while being able to relax a bit.
Despite not having spent as much time as I would have liked today, I have been happy with what I've gotten done thus far. I feel like I'm getting through the lists of things to do efficiently. I will say that I am developing a nice ever-growing list of things I need to look up. I will probably have to schedule a good six hours tomorrow or the next day to devote to that. School doesn't start for three weeks so I probably don't need to work as much as I'm planning to, but I'm excited to get a jump on things and find a good routine for myself.
I don't think I have anything more to say for now. So I guess I'll be off!
Coding Dojo
And once again, it has been almost a year since my last post. I truly am terrible at this. On the bright side, I now have something to make me post regularly, and hopefully get myself into the habit. A few days ago I received my acceptance letter from Coding Dojo. For those who don't know, this is a three month super intensive "coding bootcamp". It's basically a computer science degree compiled into a three month program. It takes less time than a CS degree, and less money, but requires persistence, determination, and focus. Luckily, those are my specialty. So as of February 2nd, I will be putting in roughly 15 hour days. I couldn't be more excited.
This also meant that I got to give my two weeks notice at my job today. I can't tell you how much stress that will relieve for me. It's not that I disliked the job itself, on the contrary, I love working hard, and would probably be happy in most any job as long as I was accomplishing something. The problem was that I was morally opposed to the way my employers ran their business and more specifically how they treat their staff. I won't go into specifics. The point is, I won't have to work their too much longer.
But back to Coding Dojo. Today I paid the $1000 security deposit to secure my seat and get access to the precourse material. This consists of lectures, articles, courses, lots of downloads, etc. to complete. One of the things on the list was to make a blog if we didn't already have one and to start posting about our experience. To be honest, I spent a long time debating if I should use this blog or not. If I should delete all of my old posts or not. People I actually know or will meet will be reading this blog. It's been almost two and a half years since I started this blog during which time I struggled with high school, an anxiety disorder, college, dropping out of college, and going back to finish my associates degree. I've grown a lot. I've experienced a lot. This blog doesn't show much of it since I hardly post, but it shows some. My past is a part of me, and I won't just erase it. In addition, I don't think people talk about their struggles with anxiety disorders enough. There isn't much awareness even though our society breeds it. I'm not going to remove what I've written about it.
For the at least the next three months I will be attempting to post everyday. Therefore I will be pretty happy if I end up posting once a week on here. I'm all about progress these days, and I view every post as progress. As for Coding Dojo, I was somewhat skeptical about their program when I first started the application process, but I've been nothing but impressed by the staff and what I've seen thus far of the program. I also love that they have given me work to do before the program actually starts. I'm ready to get a jump on things!
Till next time.
This also meant that I got to give my two weeks notice at my job today. I can't tell you how much stress that will relieve for me. It's not that I disliked the job itself, on the contrary, I love working hard, and would probably be happy in most any job as long as I was accomplishing something. The problem was that I was morally opposed to the way my employers ran their business and more specifically how they treat their staff. I won't go into specifics. The point is, I won't have to work their too much longer.
But back to Coding Dojo. Today I paid the $1000 security deposit to secure my seat and get access to the precourse material. This consists of lectures, articles, courses, lots of downloads, etc. to complete. One of the things on the list was to make a blog if we didn't already have one and to start posting about our experience. To be honest, I spent a long time debating if I should use this blog or not. If I should delete all of my old posts or not. People I actually know or will meet will be reading this blog. It's been almost two and a half years since I started this blog during which time I struggled with high school, an anxiety disorder, college, dropping out of college, and going back to finish my associates degree. I've grown a lot. I've experienced a lot. This blog doesn't show much of it since I hardly post, but it shows some. My past is a part of me, and I won't just erase it. In addition, I don't think people talk about their struggles with anxiety disorders enough. There isn't much awareness even though our society breeds it. I'm not going to remove what I've written about it.
For the at least the next three months I will be attempting to post everyday. Therefore I will be pretty happy if I end up posting once a week on here. I'm all about progress these days, and I view every post as progress. As for Coding Dojo, I was somewhat skeptical about their program when I first started the application process, but I've been nothing but impressed by the staff and what I've seen thus far of the program. I also love that they have given me work to do before the program actually starts. I'm ready to get a jump on things!
Till next time.
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