Week 2 Documentation of the Hack Reactor 19 Week Bootcamp
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Week 2 thoughts and visiting San Vicente Hot Springs
What I learned this week
I learned additional ways to solve harder and more complex python problems. However, this will transition to challenges for the week where just handling them and working through the 80 python problems I found challenging but also learned a lot for my problem-solving mind. It helped to review the solutions from the repository from which I cloned the problems to view a comparison. Once I got deeper and deeper into Python problem sets on the Learn Platform of Hack Reactor(a platform used for instructional material, coding challenges, and more for the course), it became quite difficult. I had to ask for help or take more breaks, demonstrating that my mind was being challenged, and I couldn't finish all of them. I did find myself, after working, the need to take a break and work on other projects during the course. After a certain point, it wasn't productive for me to work continually, and I needed to walk away. It's a good thing, though, because that means with that struggle, that's where I'm learning and making breakthroughs. There is a mix of my cohorts that can solve the more difficult problems quickly. This is only an observation and not a comparison. I only focus on my ability today compared to the previous day. For example, pseudocode is needed if it's fairly complex when considering the loops you need and your different options and factors. One of the problems was giving an input string password, completing the function valid_password to return the string good if it's a valid password or to return the string bad if it's an invalid password. After working on this problem and chatting with, others, I understood and completed this problem with two if statements and a for a loop.
We're focused primarily on Python and coding challenges for the first three days of the week. During the week, you would have lots of time to work on personal project time. Then on Thursday, we learned and spent time doing HTML and CSS. HTML is a markup language, and CSS is the language used for the design element. They are like the gateway or foundation when building websites and how web browsers read your code for displaying your website or app. Many of us enjoyed the CSS portion for this week because it allows a more creative option to be viewed immediately when running your code. One of the lectures on CSS focused on color and the various options for selecting colors with RGB, rgba, and HEX codes. You can also choose from a small list of pre-typed-out colors on a text editor like Visual Code studio, but these are very limited. RGB represents the degree or mixture of red, green, and blue. We also learned a detailed explanation of how Hex colors are expressed using the base-16 hexadecimal numbering system. Attached is a photo from the lecture to explain the breakdown.
This lecture made me curious to know just how many colors humans can see and select for use in code, and my search led me to conclude over 10 million colors. We can make this even more complex when we factor in the viewing conditions and surrounding colors, but let's not go there, as these are my thoughts on coding. I'm getting better and better at doing the Git commands and understanding how to push commits to my repository when editing my code. If something happens on my local computer, I will still have access to those files again.
Screenshots from my repository on my GitLab account are used to save and come back to code if I ever lose access to my local computer.
Other additional aspects this week and learning of good resources for when it comes to CSS which is the Mozilla Developer Network and the CSS tricks website. They have all the documentation you can use when doing CSS with naming, elements, and parent-child classes. Also, learning the quick command for when you're in VS code for how to quickly pop up to the basic structure you need for an HTML page by just typing "!" and then pressing "enter." This is called a boilerplate. We created two projects for this week's section of HTML and CSS pages. It's fundamental, of course, but the main thing was it allowed me time to explore, break the code and learn from it, which is advised during the course to grasp and learn the concepts. This week, I learned a great principle: not to be afraid of breaking your code. Plus, I want to note that I had the opportunity to speak with SEIR (Software Engineering Immersive Reisdents) Kornebari Nantah and alum Claudia Harrison and go over projects that will come later in the program. A SEIR is a Hack Reactor (HR) alumni who has recently finished the program and is hired by HR to answer questions and provide guidance to the cohorts in the program. I would also like to become an SEIR as this allows you to continually learn and resist the course and help others while getting paid as you are going about the job search as a Software Engineer, as this does take time. Shout out to Kornebari Nantah, I've known him since November, and he shared two hours of his time presenting his card game application that he has been working on for his side project and highlighting what parts of the back end will be presented in the course. He went into a deep explanation of problems he is facing with his project and solutions to his database. He wants to migrate from the Django framework to Mongo DB because the flexibility gives them more freedom in inputting different data. I am highly grateful for his sharing his time. I can speak highly of him as a teacher, an educator, and a fun person to interact with because he's always looking to get people to talk in having creative conversations in a playful and fun matter. He also speaks to the technical side in a not-boring way. He is a very astute engineer, and I can speak highly of his demonstration, knowledge, and charisma. Here's a link to his LinkedIn. I highly recommend you connect with him and reach out to him.
Challenges for the week
Main challenge this week has to be the python problems for me. I need help identifying the right pseudocode and implementing my coding structure on coding challenges involving multiple functions that need to be created. I plan to rework the 80 python problems. I have made a second branch on my code from my repository to start doing paired programming with other cohorts and code wars or Leetcode problems. I want to be programming with other engineers, walking through the problems, getting a new perspective, and talking out loud about the problem. Developing that weekly daily practice will help me tremendously and is something I look to implement.
Thoughts going into next week
This week was mainly focused on avoiding breakout sessions because I wanted to be entirely focused. Relating to my reflections for last week, I would get distracted and unproductive during breakout sessions and our cohort. Again these are my noticed feelings and thoughts, and it should not be interpreted that something is wrong with the course or the cohort. None of that is the case. The program and cohort are tremendous and valuable to my career development. I was figuring out how to work and the etiquette during breakout sessions. All good as it takes time, and it was becoming more and more productive during the end of the week when joining a few breakout sessions and everyone focused on the material and not too many off-topic conversations. That being said, I want to spend more time doing paired programming the following week so that I will take more decisive action. In addition, over the weekend, I will be learning Django to get a head start and understand how this gets incorporated with my python files, HTML, and CSS.
This week was the second week of the Hack Reactor program, meaning we get Friday off because of every second week. This was a four-day class week, and we had Friday off and the following Monday off because it was Presidents' Day, so we had a four-day weekend.
I want to maximize my study/exploration time and take advantage of healthy habits, physical exercise, and quality time spent with my loved ones. For example, my girlfriend and I plan to spend the night at San Vicente, a thermal resort about an hour's drive away from our city and completely immersed in nature. To learn more, watch my YouTube video for this week's documentation on additional info on the thermal resort. It is good to have quality time and detach from programming. You sometimes do things unrelated to software engineering and career goals because it's a good break for your mind. When the brain is unfocused, we can make breakthroughs in creativity, logic, and perspective. If you do this with intention, you feel refreshed, and your ideas will become clearer. I learned this more thoroughly when taking a Zero to Mastery Learning Effectively. They mentioned making sure you prioritize and have those times throughout your weekday to detach from your working goals into activities that are good for your mental and physical health. My great example in this course highlighted the importance of having time when we are bored and not stimulated. This help with strengthening brain connections and creativity. Please see this video on the benefits and importance of being bored. This is why I keep my smartphone in black and white, and during our time in San Vicente, having my phone on airplane mode the entire time, taking minimal photos and videos, and just being there present and observing myself and the world around me and switching from a state of doing into a state of just being. Working on goals for your programming is essential. In the game plan of becoming a better program, make sure you make time for your eyes to have a break from your screen and give your mind a break with tasks that don't involve deep hyper-focused thought. On to week 3!
Footage of my HTML and CSS code on VS Code and showing the basic look once loaded onto Google Chrome web browser.
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