A New Year

Wow have I have missed a little over a month and it’s the start of a new year, so I am thinking this might be a long one.

It has just been over a year since I left my job in commercial insurance underwriting.  It really does not feel that long ago.  I still feel that it was the best decision I have made and feel completely happy with it.  I feel so much better mentally and physically.  I have learned a lot about myself during this time and what I want to do when I grow up (LOL!).  Coding fills that workaholic need I still have for detail oriented work and love that there is always something new to learn.  However changing my mindset from a person that everyone relied on for help to someone that needs help has been a struggle.  I am not always sure what I need help with and when I need to ask for help.  I am sure once I finish learning where I feel comfortable with my abilities and once I have a job where I am coding full-time, I will find that zen zone. 😎

My map, reminders and impacts

Yay me!  My reminder is working since I am doing my blog within a week of the last one.  Trying to make this a habit.  I’ve been bringing my laptop with me when I Uber, so during slow times I can study and work on my blog.  I am enjoying Uber during this time of year as most people are more upbeat because of the holidays. 

Sharing the passion and working hard.

I did get sidetracked doing Uber trying to catchup on bills, but I’m getting refocused back on coding and then I wouldn’t have to worry about bills.  I think I am about ready, but I still have to think too hard about what I am doing, so I need more practice to make it second nature or as close to second nature.  The last couple days of nice weather during the Thanksgiving holiday has helped re-energized me.  It’s really amazing what a couple hours of the sun can do for us.  I have a daylight alarm, but can only use it when my husband and I get up around the same time or he complains that he gets woke up too early. Wah! 😭  But it is great when I get to use it, because it is a gentle wake up as it slowly brightens the room and you just wake up. You aren’t startled or shaken awake, you just open your eyes.  Definitely makes for a better morning. 

Ups and Downs

Blog from Nov 24th,

Hi!  It’s been a while.  I’ve been dealing with ups and downs; working out my life and how I am going to pursue it.  The bootcamp I originally took was not enough to get a job by itself.  Little disappointed in that, but I did learn a lot considering what I knew when I went [it wasn’t as much as I thought I knew].  I have someone teaching me Javascript and I am also learning via freecodecamp.com. Wish I had found this website much earlier.  It is a free code camp and your projects consist of actual site you will create for non-profit groups.  Awesome! Once you have done 400 hrs you receive a certificate for Front-End Developer and 800 hrs you receive a certificate for Full Stack Developer.  Since I already know a good bit from the bootcamp, I’m cruising through the first part.  This site teaches you HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, jQuery, Javascript, Json APIs, Ajax, [Get Front End Certificate at this point.] Angular.js, git, Node.js, Express.js, and Mongo DB.  I’m filling in the gaps with this and I like jQuery and Javascript.  Woohoo!!  It’s the little things!

Uber and other things

Life has been fun lately!   I am currently taking a Basic Javascript workshop with Girl Develop It and learning WordPress via Teamtreehouse.  Javascript is much simpler than I thought it would be, which I am very grateful.  I learned so much about website development since April I am completely amazed I remember most of it.  And a good bit of it is self-study.   It is amazing how much you can learn in a short period of time if you are motivated.

Rough 2 weeks

Started new job last week as a back-end developer.  I may have taken a position a little over my head.  But they are giving me a chance to see if I can learn quick enough, so if anything I will learn a lot that I did not know.   I’m learning PHP, Javascript, Backbone Javascript, lots of API stuff.  It is a bit overwhelming, but slowly making connections.  Need to make them quicker, so I can complete the projects that they are expecting me to complete in this four week period.

Done and over!!

It’s been a little over a week, but I have completed the bootcamp and recovered from bronchitis.  I slept a lot last week and this weekend.  My daughter was so kind and shared the crud with me and mine turned into bronchitis.  Unfortunately I was not able to stay the entire last day of class, because I felt so bad and was not able to participate as much on our Team Project.  One of the other students on the team was sick too, so the project was not as great as I would have liked.  Of all the weeks to get sick that was definitely not the one. 😦