I started officially coding maybe mid-Jan last year so this isn't on the dot. Also blogging a lot less strictly these days.
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| Nice start, print actually means send to printer lol fool! |
It really is amazing thought how far I've come and I'm literally jobhunting now hoping to get something within the industry. Of course it has to be said that its not as easy as that to start with no knowledge to employment in a year, but if you can afford to go to Makers Academy and persevere then its totally possible.
ONE YEAR ON
Its easy to play down the things I have done. Super easy, since I am British and its a very common trait. But looking back its really awesome to see how my drive and determination has really gotten me to where I am.
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| More common British traits... Sorry |
My coach says that being a developer is going to be about fixing problems. A lot of them. And once one is fixed there is another one to do. And if your ok with that, and even enjoy it then being a developer is for you.
Being a developer is for me.
When starting out learning something, anything, I turn to my favourite resource which is YouTube. There is so much content out there these days its just no comparison for being in the best age of learning. Daniel Shiffman's building of the classic game Snake was what got me to really decide to do it.
Since then I went through all his videos, did some Udacity courses and freecodecamp as well.
In May I was told about Makers Academy, and after checking out GA as well I decided to do it.
There's no comparison for the amazing learning environment, attitude, and incredible teachers and students of this place. Group projects helped us imitate a development team, through the highs and lows, and apply everything we had learned.
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| One of the group projects we made an iPhone game using the gyroscope movement feature |
A big shock to me from my time there was that testing was a huge thing in the industry. I was rather jaded about it at first, because it meant that it would take a lot longer to create things. But in the end I came to accept it and it is very useful for refactoring (reorganising code) and working out where things are going wrong especially when a programme is complex. Testing also means that the code can be quantifiable, in the fact that it is high quality in the fact that it checks itself constantly.
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| My own custom built testing framework, tribute to Mocha |
The pace of the course is fast, its hard work and not easy at all. I struggled some once the web was introduced linking together with code. As open as the place was, it is always difficult in admitting you don't understand something, and constantly asking for help is tough.
It was a great learning experience, not just for the learning, but also finding out about myself. I had never really thought that much about how I handle emotions, and attitudes towards myself (very harsh and unrealistically high standards). Having the wellbeing coach was a direction I did not think was something that I needed, but actually was super useful.
After graduating in the end of October, I went away for 3 weeks and came back in around December time. Christmas period has less job offerings due to the timing but it has picked up for the new year.l
Jobhunting is not fun. Dealing with the emotional rollercoasters of the rejections is tough. The times you spend applying to applications, doing the tech tests, and putting yourself out there in the interviews is physically and mentally draining.
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| Jobhunting is a roller tycoon of emotions! Man I miss that game... |
The Makers Academy careers team are helpful with the graduates in helping them try and land that job with the appropriate training if needed. But at the end of the day, its all on you. The work you do, the training and prep practice, and ultimately presenting the best version of yourself at the interview.
Looks like it hasn't happened for me yet.
But every interview, every tech test, every rejection is added experience and learning to this process!
I was quite reluctant to sign up to LinkedIn, mainly because right now I'm trying to keep my social media to a minimum (like most things nowadays). But actually I'm impressed at the "professionals" Facebook. Its great for networking, and I even managed to get headhunted for an interview for a more local place that wasn't in London. It seems to give you a great chance to network.
So its a new year, and last year when I started I did understand that it was important to document things. It was a good moment when I brought in my bible thick notepad to my Makers Academy interview and get a response of "we like that". I love my Github, and my work, so I've made another repo that lists out the stuff I've done, and what I'm planning to do in the future. I see myself as a creator foremost, so I fully expect to do these projects some time down the line.
Anyways, hope all is well with everyone. To end check out this new concept that Nintendo has done. Seems like when all the other video games company go in the direction of more power, Nintendo goes the other way of more creativity...
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