A Year In
A look back at the past 12 months spent coding like a madwoman…
Ramblings On The Past 12 Months
So I picked a weird time to throw myself headfirst into tech, huh?
I think there were whispers of what was to come while I was still in Catalyte — they had a few too many folks on the bench, and were having to slow their roll on getting new people into the program. My TA described it as a coil, although now that I’m reviewing the metaphor, I’m not sure I can explain it with as much elegance as he did. Something about…you have too many, so you slow hiring, then a few months down the line you have too few, so you pick up hiring again…
In any case, yeah. A year ago I was two days into Catalyte and trying to figure out exactly what Git was and why everyone was acting like it’s the bees knees. (Git, I do love you now.) Soon after I figured all that out, we tackled basic HTML and CSS, and then we were in the big leagues: JavaScript! For loops! Find Unsubmitted!!
(For all of you, and I mean every single reader probably, not in the know, Find Unsubmitted was a question in one of our JavaScript assignments that tripped everyone up. It involved two for loops which at that time I didn’t even know could be done.)
Anyway, lest I wax poetic too long and lose everyone — I finished my time with Catalyte and dove into job hunting the second I got my fancy digital completion certificate. I was loaded with fresh, shiny full-stack skillz! Surely Google would want me.
Since then, well, I suppose I’ve been chastened a bit. The job hunt has been a slog, let me tell you. Entry-level positions are few and far between, and hey! Added bonus — all the big-name companies are going through layoffs and hiring freezes, and so the market is extra flooded with experienced and capable engineers just trying to find the source of their next paycheck.
We all are, Brad. We all are.
I don’t want to get overly pessimistic here. The good news is, I am slogging onward. One thing that’s helped is the accountability of Formation. I literally signed a contract that I would find a job and pay them back for all the (incredible) training they’ve provided. It’s a blessing and a curse. Some days, I really do want to give up. Just pull the blankets over my head and say “That was fun, but maybe it wasn’t for me after all.”
But then I think about how much I truly enjoy this career field I’ve committed myself to. I love it. I the process of writing code, figuring out how to break down a problem into small pieces so that it’s solvable, so that the output returns what’s expected, no matter what’s put into it. I love the feeling of utter elation that comes after several days of feeling like a worthless slug when I can’t figure out how to fix a thing that’s broken. (I don’t love that latter part so much, but walks and also weeping face-down into my bed seem to help.)
So I’m not giving up. I can’t, but also, I won’t.
Ramblings On Where I Go From Here
So what does my path ahead look like?
Well, I wish I could tell you, but I’m just here in the weeds, hacking away with my machete and trying to forge onward.
Oh, you want a concrete answer and not a shiny metaphor? (I’m all about the shiny metaphors. You could say…I’m a Master at writing them.) The problem is, there are so many things I could be doing. Learn all the languages! Leetcode! CodeSignal! Open source contributions! Some website that simulates the day-to-day stuff! Personal projects! FreeCodeCamp! ALL THE THINGS!
But, as I tell my kids every day (and often multiple times a day), I’m just one person, not a superhero. I can only do a limited number of things each day — otherwise, I’ll just get nowhere. So here’s what I’m focusing on going forward:
First, I’m applying to jobs. My goal is five applications a day, but I also need to hone my strategy and reach out to recruiters, build my network, etc. etc. I’ve also got some seeds planted (I think of all my applications as planted seeds) in various military spouse hiring programs as well as an apprenticeship program local to KC, so hopefully those go somewhere.
Second, I’m continuing on with Formation. Not much to say there — I’m contractually obligated to, ha. But also, I love the program. It’s great practice, I’m learning all the data structures and algorithm stuff that I was having trouble learning on my own pre-Formation, and — perhaps most importantly — it’s nice to not be Leetcoding into a void.
Third, I’m completing one Alphabet 150 question each day. And I’ll time-box my work — 30 minutes before I look for a solution I understand. No need to waste hours trying to do it a-self.
Fourth, I’m working on a personal project. It’s a Spaced repetition app, you can find the Github repo here. Spaced repetition apps already exist, I guess, but why not create something myself, start to finish? It’s good practice, anyway. I’m hoping to even deploy it to AWS or something — that will come later, though. Right now I’m working on tag functionality! (Although I might set that aside until I can properly pull up a group of facts for review each time the user visits the site — that seems more important than tags.)
Fifth, I really will keep writing! Really! I promise! I’ve been making a lot of really silly mistakes and discoveries with the aforementioned personal project, and I do want to share my journey with the Interwebz, if not for future reference/comedy material. It’s just a matter of me carving out 20 minutes or so each day to make a captain’s log of my progress. Like, take the tagging functionality, for example: Wow! I didn’t realize how simple it would be to change the tag type from a string to an array of strings. Literally just add some brackets to the model and the DTO! But on further pondering, I’ll probably have to create a separate database table for tags so I can add a filtering function. But maybe I’ll see what Kyle did in our group project with the product filters…
Anyway, the TL;DR of this is that yes, I’m still searching for a job, and no, I’m not giving up quite yet. I shall forge onward! I don’t know what the future holds, but my sunglasses are ready when I need ’em.
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mins
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Oh good luck Emily! You’ll get there. Way to put your positive intentions out there! 🙌👍🤩
Keep it up! You’ll get there soon enough!