😅  hey y'all, hope everyone's week has been good. once again, i'm already exhausted. especially after yesterday, i pair programmed with my two co-workers & wrote \na lot\n of c-sharp code. if you've been following, this is the language i'm currently learning. it's getting better since i've taken a deep dive with reading the docs, and taking a course, but my eyes are in need of a break after it. \n🤔  speaking of learning, it's something that never ends with programming. anybody who has been a programmer for a while -- even less than a year -- knows that you're constantly learning. but, the question i get from a lot of people is where to start learning javascript to start a web development career. not that html or css is cake. they have their own difficulties; most developers will tell you that css can get gnarly. but, i digress.\n➡️  since javascript rules the web, most people don't know where to start because frankly, there's \ntons\n of resources out there. when i started learning, i almost wish i would have seen a post like this to help guide me and sift through what was valuable. so, here's some links and some small thoughts about resources that i have found helpful and still continue to reference.\nwebsites\n:\n🗃. \njavascript.info\n - this is a great place to start since it walks you through the language from scratch. you should treat it like a course, and i kid you not when i say this, go through the entire website if you really want to level up. that sounds daunting, but taking in small bits everyday will help solidify the concepts. this won't necessarily teach you how to use javascript, but it will give you a solid foundation with some examples.\n🧰  \nmdn - web docs\n - much like javascript.info, mdn also has several resources on javascript where they will walk you through each core concept and fundamental of the language. you can start on their \nlearn page\n to go through learning web development. but, where mdn really shines is their references which i continually jump back to when i need to know something about a built in javascript method. \nmdn's references on array methods\n has been in my bookmarks for years and continues to help me out when i need to know what something does specifically.\n👾  \njavascript garden\n - if you're getting the basics down, maybe you've noticed that javascript has a lot of quirks to it that some programming languages don't. javascript garden is great if you're trying to understand those fuzzy parts. this is something i actually need to dive deeper into because i run into this frequently now that i'm further along with my career.\ncourses\n:\n👨‍🏫  \nwes bos\n - i can't say this enough. wes bos' teaching style is very hands on, and also very friendly, funny, and easy to understand. i've taken several courses through his website, and i've come out better for it. part of what i really like is his javascript cardio where you repeatedly write code with concepts you just learned. he rarely has sales on his courses (set your alarm for black friday!), but i will say that i highly recommend the investment. \nbeginner javascript\n is gold among others, and \njavascript 30\n will help you practice.\n📋. \nfrontend masters\n - this is a paid subscription website for $39/month where you can learn everything there is to know about web development. they have several courses on javascript from beginner, the hard parts, to building a website or application. what i like about them is it is taught lecture-style where it feels like more of a conversation. it can feel a bit like you're back in college or the classroom, but learning styles differ & i appreciate this when i need to mix things up.\n🖥  \nudemy\n - this is one of my favorite resources. if you're not a fan of having to pay for a subscription service, udemy is another option. along with learning just about anything, this has been my most utilized resource. they always have sales, so finding a top rated course in anything javascript related isn't difficult. anything by \njonas schmedtmann\n is very good as you will most likely build something along the way to help the concepts sink in.\n💵  \nfreecodecamp\n - need something free & comprehensive? freecodecamp is probably the way to go. you can earn certificates, and they offer several opportunities to practice, build, and learn the concepts associated with web dev, but have extensive javascript courses including one on algorithms that can help you with tech interviews. & they really do mean it, it's free, no catches!\nguides & other tutorials\n:\n📜  there's the one & only \njavascript: the definitive guide 6th edition\n (it takes a while to load, be warned) - this is literally the bible of javascript. if there's something you need to know, it's here. use this as a reference, and don't get caught up in trying to know everything. i don't even think \nbrendan eich\n knows everything about javascipt, and he came up with it! 🤣\n📺  \nyoutube\n - honestly if i just need to understand something with more visuals (visual learner here!), searching anything on youtube will bring up somebody explaining async/await, closures, objects, ect. i really enjoy \nanna kubów's\n videos, and she has many fun tutorials. but if you want something a little more in depth, \nfreecodecamp's\n channel has several 1+ hour long videos, and most of them will be a code-something-as-you-learn format.\nwrapping it up\n:\n✅  i hope this helps anyone who is struggling to find a good starting point. whether you learn with videos, in a classroom, reading documentation, or just watching people code, the best way to learn javascript is to just do it. yoda said it best, there is no try, only do!\nlagniappe\n:\n📘  continuing on my harry potter journey, i started & finished \nchamber of secrets\n over the weekend. it's been nice riding the nostalgia train lately, but i do try to break up some monotony by reading another book in between series. i enjoy classics, so right now i'm in the middle of steinbeck's \neast of eden\n. it's a hefty book at ~500 pages & small print, but i'm 150ish pages in. so far, it's pretty dark, but i believe that's the point.\n🏃‍♀️  one of my goals is to get back into running. with the way my weeks have been, it's been difficult to carve out some time, but i've been finding spare moments. i really want to get back to my 10 minute mile from 10+ years ago, so i have a way to go. one of the apps i really want to utilize is \nnike's run club\n, but in the past \nmapmyrun\n was super helpful to track my paces and mileage.\n🕺  my roommate got me into 70s music back when we first moved in together. we spent many nights during lockdown playing cards and listening to spotify. one playlist that i discovered through her was the \n70s funk music\n playlist. it's nothing but feel-good, and i highly recommend for wanting to chill or sway a little.

there's so many resources for learning javascript, where do i start?

🚀 what's up everyone? what a week it's been. i feel like i'm on a space ship traveling at lightning speed. i'm a big homebody, but lately i've been running around after work doing errands and trying to visit old friends. it gets exhausting, and truthfully i can't wait til the weekend so i can just sit down. 🤣\n🔌 usually when i get asked about becoming a programmer, almost all of those questions are centered around education which is understandable. but, i rarely see discussions on equipment besides the mac vs windows arguments. (team mac over here, but no hate on windows!) most of the time, you can get by with a simple laptop or pc, but there's so much more out there, albeit not necessary to succeed, that can help you feel more comfortable in your career. and before we get into it, my inspiration for this post is absolutely because my headset died on me, and now i have to run another errand to pick up a new one. it never ends!\n🖥 the monitor debacle. i usually i see most setups with two monitors, but my former boss had as much as six. (granted, he was responsible for \na lot\n of infrastructure. i called it the 6-pack. i'm not clever.) usually these are hooked up to a central PC or laptop by HDMI cords. the reason it helps for me personally is to group together similar apps to help untangle the mess of multiple open windows or desktops. it's helpful to have my code on one screen with the project window open on another so i can see the changes in real time. it's also convenient to group together by function. slack or teams can be on one monitor, your technical tools on another. as far as what monitor is best, it depends on how much you want to pay. i know the new tech is the \ncurved monitor\n which i hear helps your eyes due to the constant staring. they can range from $100-$1,000 so choose wisely. my \nasus\n serves me pretty well!\n⌨️ a good keyboard. \nmechanical keyboards\n are extremely popular, and you can even make your own custom keyboard if you go this route. they can get intricate as well as kind of expensive, but they can be more comfortable, and improve your typing skills because of the audible feedback you hear from the 'clack'. personally, i love them, but i also share an office space with my roommate who is on calls periodically throughout her day, and i know that can be frustrating. another thing to take into consideration especially if you're used to a particular OS are keyboard shortcuts. i'm very used to the macOS shortcuts, so i use apple's \nmagic keyboard\n. i'm considering buying a mechanical one soon, and possibly turning it into a custom project, but we'll see. 😉\n🎧 headsets for concentration and calls. the reason i'm writing this blog in the first place! if you're developing full time for a company, and have meetings regularly, blocking out noise is helpful. (i also like to jam when i'm in a coding trance, but y'all already know about my playlists). originally when i started at turner, i was working with the apple earbuds that come with an iphone and was absolutely miserable. they hurt my ears and didn't block out noise very well. i leveled up and got \nraycon's the work headphones\n at the beginning of december and was doing fine for a bit. but recently the battery died, i tried charging it and troubleshooting with no luck. my co-worker then suggested \nlogitech's h600 wireless headset\n. we'll see how it goes, but my other co-worker recommended the \ncorsair brand\n which is pricier and also great for gaming, and he has no complaints. all in all, you will thank yourself later for buying a quality headset for your concentration and comfort.\n👩🏻‍💻 the desk! the equipment has to rest somewhere, and this has been a big topic of discussion for me when it comes to this line of work. i plan on being a software developer for a long time, and i have to consider what sitting down for 9+ hours, 5 out of 7 days a week will do to my body. there are tons of articles that explain how \nsitting is the new smoking\n, so investing in a setup where you can work without detriment to your health, in my opinion, should take priority. hence, the standing desk. they are an investment, and can get pricy, but it's 100% worth it. for a nice one, you can go the \nfeizo\n route, or to get a better warranty and more customization options, \nuplift\n is a great brand. if you're really on a budget, and are okay with no to little warranty, \namazon\n has many options for a lower price point. personally, i'm trying to save for one, so this is a work in progress for me, and i'm hoping by the end of the year i can find a quality desk.\n💾 things to consider, but i have little opinion on:
⁠- a mouse. kind of depends on what you like. most of them are either bluetooth or you plug in a usb to your PC or laptop. don't fight with wires!
- ⁠office chairs. personally i have a pretty cheap one, but you can get a very expensive office chair if that's more your speed. i don't want to sit for the majority of my day once i get my standing desk, so i don't have any specific recommendations.\n💸 this is a lot, and i'm definitely aware that i just talked about potentially thousands of dollars worth of equipment. and that doesn't include the cost of a PC or laptop. however, none of this is required to be a good developer. i know some guys who do all of their dev work on a laptop and are thriving! so whether you're just starting out or have been doing this for a while, being comfortable while working should be prioritized because it's simple. if you're comfortable, you're probably happy. and i'd much rather build an application when i'm in a good head space 😊\nlagniappe:\n🏆 you're hearing from a newly certified scrum master! yesterday, i took my assessment and finished it with a 91%. not gonna lie, it was very difficult, and i was sweating. but, i'm really excited to have accomplished that goal, and appreciate turner for pushing the dev team to really know their scrum fundamentals. i'm also required to get the scrum developer certification which is a little more difficult, but i'm already making a study plan for it.\n💫 i'm almost finished my star wars endeavor on watching episodes i-vi. i just have vi left, and i can without a doubt say, i've enjoyed diving into the universe. i'm not quite sure if i want to explore episodes vii-ix, but i'll consider watching clone wars.\n📻 while perusing playlists, i discovered a band called \nDRAMA\n that has been in heavy rotation while i've been in & out of my house running errands. highly recommend listening if you like a mixture of chill, house, and pop.\n💒 to mix up my harry potter reading marathon, i started a classic, \nthe hunchback of notre dame\n, and wow -- it's intense. i'm only about ~200 pages in, but it's \nvery\n detailed. one of the main themes is architecture, and your boy hugo goes into the most minuscule of details which is challenging when you're just trying to figure out what's gonna happen to quasimodo. but, i won't give it up! i skimmed a little ahead to see if there were anymore mini-architecture lessons, and there seems to be none, so hopefully i get to the good stuff soon.

my headset broke and i need another monitor - the developer setup

🧠 welcome back! hope everyone is having a good week! this one has been a lot for my brain. between studying for my scrum master certification, writing endpoints in c# (not my first programming language), & general javascript tutorials, it's been heavy. interesting, but heavy.\n🔭 if you aren't familiar with scrum, i highly recommend reading \nthe scrum guide\n to find out a little more about it, but the basics are that scrum is a lightweight framework for teams who solve complex issues such as building an application. it's theory is based on time-boxed events, artifacts to track work in progress, and roles that work together to build an ever-changing product. most fortune 500 companies have adopted the scrum framework because it helps foster transparency, inspection, and adaptation -- scrum's three core values of working on a dynamic solution.\n🤼‍♀️ i've been a part of several scrum teams throughout my short career in tech, but i never asked why it was called scrum. it borrows its name from the rugby term \nscrummage\n. this is where players come together very tightly before they restart a play, put their heads down, and fight for possession of the ball. this reflects one of the time-boxed events from scrum, daily scrum, commonly referred to as stand-up. this is a 15 minute meeting where team members talk about what they did to accomplish the team goal, what they will do, and what blocks them. it's a quick check in that gets everyone on the same page.\n🔧 scrum came to be through observations of and case studies from the manufacturing industry, where making products better is a never-ending task. it's the same concept with software development. making applications requires constant inspection from the team and/or company on how to improve or build its product. scrum has events that are opportunities to inspect every step of the build process. there's a planning between the core team, a review between the team and stakeholders, and a retrospective to review how the sprint (amount of time given to complete a set of tasks) really went & what needs improvement. it's constant, and it happens about every 2-4 weeks. this gives the teams doing scrum enough time to work on an iteration of a product, present it, receive feedback, plan based on the outcome of the sprint, and then do it all over again. all while continuing to adapt quickly to changes.\n💭 when i used to look back on my career as a social worker, i often wondered why things moved so slowly when it came to change. if you're in social work, you can definitely say without a doubt that factors outside of one's control stop progress. funding, proper training, audits, and measuring progress are most of the time things you can't control. however, there's not many, at least to my knowledge, processes to help facilitate those three values of transparency, inspection, and adaptation. if i would have had a daily stand up with my co-workers to explain my progress with a client, or blockers i was experiencing with a client, and if there would have been written down, short term goals to work for, i feel like this would have pushed those efforts so much further and positively for those various organizations.\n💯 not to say that scrum is the penultimate solution for all companies or organizations. there are other strategies to be productive, and many that i'm sure are being utilized by huge companies generating revenue. but i will say i'm grateful that at turner, we've adopted scrum, and stuck with the ceremonies that come along with it, and reap benefits from it. a project i've worked on since september has made leaps with only 3 developers on it. a lot of that has to do with my co-workers immense talent & knowledge, but that's only compounded by the organization that scrum gives us to work together.\n🍀 i'm hoping to take the scrum certification assessment on saturday, so wish me luck, and i'll see y'all next time hopefully as a certified scrum master! \nlagniappe:\n🎬 i finally finished the first 3 star wars movies, so over the weekend, i'll start episodes i-iii. i can see why it was so popular. and personally, i heavily relate to 3PO. it's the anxiety honestly.🤪\n🔮 a good book is always in my hand, as yall know by now. and unsurprisingly, i'm really into series. i finished \nthe atlast six\n by \nolivie blake\n, and i hear she's coming out with the next book in the series in october of this year. (yes, i already put the release date as a reminder in my calendar). right now, i'm reading \nharry potter & the sorcerer's stone\n. i read books 1-4ish when they came out, but never finished the rest. i know, shame on me as a millennial, but i'm getting there! it's been nice to reminisce, and i plan on having a harry potter marathon weekend when i finish all of them because why not? i hear butter beer is tasty.\n🧘🏻‍♀️ starting good habits has been my theme for 2022, and i started doin some yoga & running again. trying to start off slow with both of those things. so far, so good. i'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself. if you're looking for some good youtube instructors, i highly recommend \njessamyn stanley\n, \narianna elizabeth\n, and \nerica rascon\n.

scrap everything & scrum

hey y'all, hope everyone is staying warm! (especially if you're in louisiana or the south)\n🦷 the past week kinda threw me off. i ended up having to get a spur of the moment root canal last thursday. don't believe the horror stories! the procedure wasn't as painful as people make it out to be. my mouth was sore afterwards for a couple of days, but all in all, i came out of it with no more pain. take care of your dental though, my bank account hates me now 🙃\n🎨 fortunately this week has proven to be a lot more pain-free and productive. i've already got two PR's up (pull requests which means my team has to look at my code before pushing it to a main branch). in doing so, i had to work with a really interesting package in react. \nreact-color\n is a really fun tool that provides different color palettes similar to photoshop. working with it in our project proved to be quite a challenge. it's surrounded by other elements and components making it a little distracting to complete the task at hand. \n🪲 this got me thinking of some strategies that could be helpful when trying to work with, learn, or sharpen your coding skills. most of these i got from listening to this \npodcast episode\n by \nwes bos\n & \nscott tolinsky\n on strategies to use when debugging your code. \nhighly\n recommend listening to their podcast if you want to become a better web developer. between the both of them, they have so much knowledge to offer front-end developers.\n🔬 one of the more useful strategies that helped me was isolating the issue by creating a small environment to investigate react-color. this is where \ncodesandox\n has been a lifesaver. codesandbox offers an IDE-like environment where you can pick a template, such as react, and it loads all dependencies on the fly. if you want to add any other packages from npm, it's just a matter of searching, clicking, and letting it work its magic. once i have my mini-project set up, i can start looking at the individual aspects of what i'm trying to address. what i really appreciate about this approach is that it takes away all distraction and instead lets you see how the tool or package works divorced from your project's logic. it's a pressure free way for me to experiment with something i've never worked with before without getting too wrapped up in how large my project at turner is & can be.\n📘 this next one may sound like common sense, and honestly laughable, but it's so true. \nreading the documentation\n. there has been many a moment where i deserve the dunce hat because i was just skimming the docs for the answer that i thought i wanted or needed. this actually happened while i was working with react-color. we wanted to switch to another type of palette, and i didn't know what the name of the component was or where the package was getting the name from. turns out, it was the second bullet point under 'getting started'. 🤦🏻‍♀️ which was the second thing i should have read when i began reading the documentation. that's not the only time that's happened to me. it's very easy to get ahead of yourself and just want to start coding as soon as you skim over. but you will more than likely learn something new and benefit from preventing yourself from unintentionally causing bugs if you take the basics in.\n🖋 every programming language has a logging system, and if you're at all familiar with javascript, you know all about \nconsole.log\n. if you're not technical, and you're reading this, this is basically a way for developers to log things to the web console. it helps us figure out where we may be going wrong. (right click, hit inspect, then click the console tab, you'll see some crazy stuff!). maybe it's not the best advice, but i \nconsole.log\n EVERYTHING now. if a function isn't working, i put a log on almost every line, or if one of my variables is coming back as undefined, another log. most of the time it tells me if i'm not accessing something the correct way or if i'm not thinking about asynchronous tasks that need to be handled before another function fires off. it can tell you anything you put it into it tbh. and \nalways\n have your inspector open to the web console when you're developing. sometimes errors come up out of nowhere.\n🏆 can't stress this enough, but being continuing to practice and master the fundamentals before doing the fancy things is one of the best strategies to being better at this development thing. one of the most important aspects of writing code is knowing the foundations of the language you're writing in. not knowing these really hindered me in the very beginnings of my career. i was just eager to code, and didn't really understand things like \nasync/await\n, event listeners, callbacks, and with react, state & props. diving into how these work, and how they're fundamental to javascript gave me more confidence to do the fancy things. don't wait around for when you have to use them to learn about them. dive into the fundamentals and \nmaster\n them if you're going to be a serious programmer.\n🙋🏻‍♀️ this may be tough for some, but finding a mentor who has years of experience in the language you want to write in is a game changer. i will say that in this regard, i am very fortunate. i work with two very talented and knowledgable software architects, and have a group of about ~20 former co-workers turned friends who i can lean on for any question or just a look over my code. getting a second opinion is one thing, but getting a second opinion with a couple of suggestions on how to improve is that much more valuable. this is really helpful especially if you've got something to work, but just need some best practices implemented. having a senior dev, architect, or general smart person to freely give you suggestions is a gift. i'm not too sure how to get that started off, but i do know linkedin is a good spot to connect with like-minded folks. also tech twitter is amazing, and i've learned a ton from some talented developers from all over the world.\n🏃🏻‍♀️ those are just some of my strategies that keep me improving. sometimes i end up staring blankly in front of my computer screen or getting frustrated, but usually if i take a step back, and come back to it, i end up working it out. and honestly, i'm never ashamed to ask for help. software development is hard, and it can grind on you because it takes a while to get good at it. be gentle with yourself; it really is a marathon!\nlagniappe:\n🪐 look, i'm 32 years old & have never (up until 2 nights ago) watched any of the \nstar wars\n movies. my co-workers are big fans (as is most everyone), and i've been motivated to watch movies that are classics (cult or otherwise). so far i've watched episode iv and v. tonight, i'm working on vi. i plan on finishing all of them, but apparently i should stop at vii? \n🌈 y'all already know that i'm about a great playlist while i code away. well, i also love a good theme, and this particular theme is color schemes. the \nlavender\n playlist has been in heavy rotation, but there's others like \nseafoam\n, \nteal\n, and \nearth\n that are in the queue.\n📚 i finished a couple of books already, and i've started a new one. one thing that i did was finally pay off an almost 9 year library fee so i can finally utilize the public library here. don't forget to pay your fees, yall! finished \nthe unbearable lightness of being\n by milan kundera and \njane eyre\n by charlotte brontë, and am currently reading \npilgrimage: journeys of meaning\n by peter stanford.

getting better at coding - what works for me

📇 hey there & welcome back!\n📊 this past week was hefty on my brain. the project i'm working on at turner involves a ton of math that i've been observing my co-workers figure out. admittedly most of it is over my head, but i have retained some concepts. math is definitely cool, but when you add letters to it, i check out. \n🌚 i also put my head down and finally brought dark mode back to my website. in the upper left hand corner, you'll see an emoji. it acts as a toggle, so you can switch between whichever mode you prefer. it was very easy to set up with \ntailwindcss\n, & i'm hoping to work out some more tweaks in the coming months.\n⌨️ over the past couple of years, i've had to explain my jump from social work to software development very often. and i get it, it's a huge leap considering there's not a lot of common knowledge overlap between those two disciplines. but besides that, many people who are interested in the field have asked me what it is they have to learn to become a software developer. but i feel like knowing what it takes & going on the self-taught/bootcamp journey, versus knowing what your life & career will look like post-education are two totally different things.\n🗓 so in that regard, i wanted to give a short day in the life of a software developer for anyone interested in what life is like after graduation or after onboarding for their new career. granted this is a rough look, and things tend to pop up here & there, but for the most part, this seems close to a typical day.\n⏰ \n7:30AM\n: usually i roll out of bed, brush my teeth, make my coffee half asleep, & grab whatever breakfast i can find. most of my time before 8AM is for me to gather my thoughts. can you tell that i'm not a huge morning person? 😳\n⏰ \n8:00AM\n: it's time for my first meeting of the day with my team. in the \nscrum framework\n, we call this standup & it's a ~15 minute meeting for everyone on the team to talk about what they worked on the previous day, what they're going to work on today, and if they have any impediments or blockers preventing them from completing a task. usually this lasts less than 5 minutes so everyone can start their day.\n⏰ \n8:15AM - 9:30AM\n: start working on a ticket that's been assigned to me. most of these tickets have requirements that i have to pay close attention to. these are called \nPBI's\n or \nproduct backlog items\n. my process is usually to look at those requirements, then assess what the code i'll have to write. does it need a drop down? does it need to do something when the user clicks a certain button? does it need to talk to the api? these are just some of the questions that come up when building a feature.\n⏰ \n9:30AM - 10:00AM\n: i got stuck on implementing a feature. for one of the projects i completed, i had to implement a search bar. to google & eventually \nstackoverflow\n i go. this is a pattern that will pop up constantly. i spend about 30-45 minutes reading through documentation, trying out those solutions in my code, and probably having to reference my team for some more insight.\n⏰ \n10:00AM - 12:00PM\n: continue to build out the PBI, finally getting somewhere after reading the appropriate documentation and implementing a solution, and i can finally get into a flow. this doesn't mean that i won't run into yet another issue where i'll have to search for on google or stackoverflow.\n⏰ \n12:00PM - 1:00PM\n: grab a quick lunch, read a little of my book, probably make another cup of coffee. shamelessly scroll tiktok. i'm not one of those people who use my breaks to read documentation. you have to give your brain a break!\n⏰ \n1:00PM - 2:00PM\n: on some days, this is when my team has sprint retrospective. if it's the end of a sprint (a 2 week long interval where we complete a fixed set of pbi's), retro gives us an opportunity to talk about what went right, wrong, and what we can improve.\n⏰ \n2:00PM - 4:00PM\n: join or rejoin a call with my co-workers to either observe or pair program. as a junior developer, pair programming is probably the highlight of my career. usually this involves sharing my screen, and the two of them dictating out some code to me to complete a pbi, while i interject periodically to ask questions about a concept or a method. by 4:00PM, my co-workers wrap up their day & they hop off the call.\n⏰ \n4:00PM - 6:00PM\n: usually i use this time to cook my dinner, read a little, do some chores, run errands, or call a friend to catch up.\n⏰ \n6:00PM - 9:00PM\n: i jump back into coding, but this time on my personal projects. the cool thing is, it still applies to my project at my current job. sometimes i pick out a particular concept that i'm struggling with & create an isolated environment on \ncodesandbox\n to really solidify the concepts. again, the pattern of googling & stackoverflowing applies. other times, i'm wanting to apply something to an already existing project, so i'm perusing documentation on how to implement comments or protected routes or formatting dates ... the list is endless tbh.\n👩‍💻 so, that's my day -- sort of. it can change depending on meetings, immediate needs, if i have a doctor's appointment, or life happens. but, it's an honest and accurate depiction of what it's like to be a software developer. you're going to be reading A LOT. you're going to be googling, stackoverflowing, and asking questions from your superiors all of the time. even senior engineers do this. and you're going to run into issues constantly. you'll never stop learning because the industry consistently grows and advances. if this appeals to you, start perusing \nudemy\n for a course on coding, because it looks like you want to be a software developer!\nlagniappe:\n🎥  last week, i started watching classic movies that i've always wanted to watch, just made excuses to skip through. so far i've watched \ncasablanca\n, \nstand by me\n, and \nrocky\n. i'm currently 30 minutes into \nmy fair lady\n but it's almost 3 hours long, and i started it at 10:30PM, so i'll have to dive back in when it's not going to run over into the early morning 😴 i also watched \nannie\n and \nthe mask\n with my roommate and some friends. both childhood favorites of mine.\n🤹 over the weekend, my roommate & our neighbors played \njackbox\n which i highly recommend playing with a group of 3 or more. usually we karaoke on weekends, but we all wanted to mix it up & play something that everyone can participate in. it's easy to join in because there's no controllers needed. everyone just uses their phone to enter in the prompts. i don't think i've laughed that hard in a while. you don't need a gaming console to use it either, you can get by with a pc, but i will say it was hella cool to cast it on a projector from her playstation.\n🎧 not surprising if you've been keeping up with my blog, but i love a good playlist, and lately i've been into POV (point of view) playlists that elicit a certain mood. my most recent dive in has been the \nPOV: ur that one villain that everyone is warned about\n on spotify. a little spooky, groovy, and a general dark vibe.\nhope everybody is staying healthy & productive! see y'all next week!

a day in the life of a software developer

😺 what's up y'all? i'm keeping to my goal of posting one blog post a week, and truthfully, i've accomplished a lot in the last week.\n🎹 over the weekend, i finally re-intro'd myself into one of my side projects from this past year. my friend, \nhunter deblanc\n, hosts a \npiano bar variety show\n every wednesday. earlier this year, i deployed a website for him that would give his co-host the ability to enter in song requests from guests. the first iteration of the website was \nnot\n pretty. in fact, it looked ugly on purpose; his show is called the \njanky\n piano show, and in that regard, it \nwas\n on brand.\n\n🤦‍♀️ oof ... the emojis ... the text ... i'm so sorry.\n
🧰 ⁠considering that there was no deadline for this project, i put a lot of thought into it when i first deployed it. i utilized \nAuth0\n for authentication (login/logout/register/password reset), \nfirebase's\n firestore database for creating, reading, and deleting entries, & deployed it using \nvercel\n. very straightforward.\n⚙️ however, i ran into a couple of issues. every user was able to delete songs from the queue, which implied that i'd have to add user roles such as an admin. another issue was the styling. instead of using a css-in-js solution, i opted for using \ncss modules\n where i kept all of my styles in a separate folder, and imported them in the appropriate files to style individual elements. this meant constantly referring to the style file when i wanted to apply my style. i also had to utilize a library for media queries considering that most users would be accessing the website on their phones.\n🤔 since diving back in on sunday, i've failed over & over again at trying to address all of these concerns. but from those failures, came a lot of lessons learned, and knowledge gained. i switched to \ntailwindcss\n to style my elements, which has proven so much more efficient for my project. the setup process challenged me. i forgot to import their main file into \nindex.js\n and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out that i missed a key step in setup. i switched to firebase's authentication system, and this came with several challenges. all of my environment variables were pointing to the wrong database, i had no prior knowledge of firebase's auth api, and had to battle with \nfirebase cloud functions\n in order to create admins. i'm still battling the \nreact router v6\n api in order to create protected routes for users who aren't admins. it's been a process of try, fail, try again, fail, try, re-think my strategy, try, fail, and then finally succeed.\n🙌 despite this, it's paid off. overcoming these failures has taken many hours of dedicated reading to figure out how the tools i'm using work. while this seems like common sense, i got into a habit of just throwing together projects with really cool libraries without totally understanding those packages or tools. i've even done this with the language i write in primarily -- javascript is a beast, and while you can get away with writing code to spin up a project in a pinch, actually taking the time to understand how it's compiled and how the javascript engine works has benefitted me tenfold. while doing this doesn't prevent failure, it helps you better understand the \nwhy\n behind the failure. and if you understand why, then it's only logical that you can find a solution to solve the issue at hand. if you're not learning from those failures, then what are you doing, right? (btw, if you're interested in learning some advanced concepts of javascript, specifically how it actually works, i suggest \nthis course\n on udemy. excellent breakdown of really difficult concepts with some practice problems peppered throughout.)\n\n\n🆕 see? still needs work, but it's a little less cringey than that first iteration. \n🏃‍♀️ that particular page came with the most failures, but what i learned has made me a much better developer. the features coming up will continue to force failure, but i'm much more prepared for them than i was even 4 days ago. so all's to say, KEEP GOING. and don't be afraid of getting it wrong. you will absolutely learn from it if you're open to pushing past that discomfort.\nlagniappe:\n🥖 anybody like baking bread? i made this \ngarlic keto bread\n last week for a group of friends, and i got pretty great reviews. it's a nice alternative or anyone who likes to avoid carbs & doesn't want to wait for dough to rise. \nhighly\n recommend baking it in a cast iron skillet.\n🦂 i saved this scorpio szn \nplaylist\n a while back, and jammed to it yesterday. (i'm a scorpio for anyone wondering. pisces moon & rising!) it ventures into a clubby note towards the end, but the first half had a variety of artists. it's intense, and even though i'm skeptical about anything astrology, the intensity of it kept me going during one of my late night coding sessions.\n🤖 this week, i finished \nthe war of the worlds\n by h.g. wells. what a ride. i also found out that it's one of the most talked about science fiction novels (kind of a big deal, it was published in 1898. over 100 years & still buzzin) and this was before the genre of science fiction was even created. apparently the genre used to be called "scientific romance". nothing romantic about martian invasion, but i digress. i picked up my next novel, \nthe unbearable lightness of being\n by milan kundera. so far, so good. \nhope y'all are having a great week, building cool stuff, & being productive. see y'all next time!

small fails bring big wins - coding edition!

🙋🏻‍♀️ welcome back! hope everyone's new year is going well. so far, it's been incredibly productive. usually i'm not one to make resolutions, but i do well with goals. my goal is to make at least one blog post a week. at first i didn't know what else i could talk about, but being a developer means trying out new technology, and trying out tech means forming an opinion about it. so, in that regard, here we are!\n📐 movin' on! when i first made this website, my main inspiration was \ncassidy williams'\n website. i've mentioned her before; she has a weekly newsletter with web goodies, and i love to see other women in tech killin' it & taking up space. while i like her simplistic design, i always wanted to try my hand at web design. one of my former co-workers talked about using\n tailwind css\n. it piqued my curiosity and truthfully i was feeling a little too in my comfort zone by continuing to use \nstyled-components\n or \nemotion\n (even though these are great libraries).\nwhat initially turned me off:\n🔍  tailwind's strategy for styling seemed counterintuitive. you're utilizing inline styling which is what i've been directed against since i started learning javascript frameworks. it made more sense to make a component in another file or at the top of my file, then inject it where i needed it. tailwind forces you to style each element individually.\n🤯  remembering their syntax was tricky. i found myself going back to their documentation because i'd forget something simple like what tailwind uses for \nmargin\n or \nborder-radius\n. \nwhat sold me:\n🚀  the way they bundle this is wild. by wild, i mean super crazy fast. when tailwind builds for production, it automatically removes any css that is unused. so your compilation times are super low, and you have even more speed. combined with using \nnextjs\n, my website is loading a hell of a lot faster.\n🖥  \nmedia queries\n. if there's anything i can't stand more, it's styling for the million different screen sizes we have to consider as web developers. not so much because i don't enjoy responsive websites, but styling with breakpoints can take up so much time & can be annoyingly tedious. to be honest, when i saw how easy it was with tailwind, i was able to trash a media query library that i absolutely hated to use. i almost cried. tailwind \nreally\n impressed me with this. obviously. you can individually style components that actually need some TLC for certain screen sizes with their query shorthand within the element and not worry about anything else. because it's inline. see? thought i'd hate it, but look at me.. changing... growing!\n⛏  worried that you can't use tailwind to style reusable components like you normally would in other css-in-js libraries? that's actually not an issue, because tailwind gives you the ability to avoid code duplication. isn't the golden rule here \nD\non't \nR\nepeat \nY\nourself? you can create an element like a button, pass in props like \nchildren\n, wrap your content in the styled element, and hey! you have a \nreusable component\n that's styled the way you want it without repeating code.\n🌚  have y'all missed \ndark mode\n? i have. part of my redesign didn't include it, but it will be coming back. the good news though, is that tailwind makes this easier. (are you sensing a theme here? it's so easy!) all that you have to do is add a \ndark:\n tag before your css selector, set up your \nlocalStorage\n to save the user's preferred mode, create a toggle, and you're done. once i figure out a color scheme that i enjoy, i'll definitely be embarking on the dark mode journey.\n🧠  intellisense! once you're used to using tailwind's syntax, you find yourself wondering if you can get some autocomplete in your life while wiring up your styles. that's where they shine. there's IDE integration through \ntheir extension\n in VSCode. literally. so. easy. i can't stop saying it.\n🥰  i really could go on, but i figured you can go & \ncheck it out\n yourself. there's so many other perks, but these really sold me on using tailwind in all of my future projects. don't be turned away because of it's inline styling. as i said, i know it seems counter-intuitive especially if you are used to component based styling. their \ndocumentation\n is incredibly detailed, not to mention easy to navigate. give it a shot, and i'm sure you'll see how much fun it can be to style your new project.\nlagniappe\n📚. my roommate told me about an app called \nbookly\n, and i've been using it almost everyday. you can track the books you're reading, while also adding thoughts, quotes, and new words from each book. what's impressive is the metrics it calculates based off of your reading sessions such as how many pages you read per hour. i love anything data, and if you enjoy stats, you'll love that feature. so far i've read \nkitchen confidential\n by anthony bourdain, \nthe seven husbands of evelyn hugo\n by taylor jenkins reid, and am in the middle of \nthe body keeps the score\n by bessel van der kolk. according to bookly, i've read a total of 15 hours; kinda cool!\n📻  as usual, i started another playlist on spotify for the first quarter of my year, and it's already over 30 minutes worth of songs. that's what happens when you spend your life reading documentation, and needing stuff to zone out to while coding. give it a \nlisten\n.\n💡 oh! my \nsalt lamp\n came in. totally making my room more cozy & i've always liked these things. when my guy from usps gave it to me, he said, 'dang, this little box is heavy.' he wasn't lying 😂\nhope y'all enjoyed this post, and i'll see y'all next week!

tailwindcss - a look at not judging books by their cover

⏰  well howdy y'all! it's been almost 3 months since i've made a post here, and truthfully i've missed this so much! in the past few months, \na lot\n has changed. here's some updates!\n🏄🏻‍♀️  yoooo... surf's up, i started a new job on september 1st! i'm now developing software for \nTurner Industries\n headquartered out of Baton Rouge, LA. this has definitely been quite a change for me especially when it comes to adjusting to the construction/industrial mindset. there's so many acronyms, standards, and rules that are no where near related to the previous industries i've developed for in the past. fortunately, i'm on a great team that has encouraged me to ask questions not only about the code, but the industry itself.\n💾  since i've started with turner, i've had to adjust to learning a new programming language. so far, c# (see-sharp) has been quite the challenge. though it has similarities to my first language, javascript, learning entity framework, and how it ties into our frontend is information overload. my imposter syndrome is \ndefinitely\n rearing its ugly head. i already struggle with javascript, so learning something new on top of still trying to master something that i consider myself mediocre at has been emotionally draining at times. i say that with the utmost respect for my team and supervisor who constantly tell me to get out of my own way. there's been no pressure for me to just pick up these skills right away. i'm still incredibly grateful despite these challenges. every (new) developer at turner is expected to work toward becoming full stack to contribute to our frontend and backend api. i've been setting realistic goals to become more competent in those two languages over the next year.\n💯  part of addressing concerns such as imposter syndrome is talking about it to someone who actually understands it. one thing that i have really benefited from at turner has been the one on one's every week with my supervisor. the first one i had actually surprised me because my supervisor asked me to write down some goals -- tech-related or not -- to discuss. i'm a firm believer in writing stuff down in order to begin manifesting what you're trying to accomplish. so far, i bought my running shoes & started going to a chiropractor every week, so scratching that off the list! another thing that i'm very proud of is that i shared my devotion to \nthe four agreements\n with him, and he bought the book, got a co-worker to start reading it, and is sharing it on his facebook! in that regard, it's been a huge source of respite for me when i have my one on one to vent, or to just talk about my week. that being said, if you're working for a company where one on one's are either non-existent, inconsistent, or unproductive, i would highly recommend finding a time to discuss it with someone to improve that experience. they have not only helped my growth as a developer, but also as a person.\n🎉  other various lagniappe updates: i turned 32 on november 8th. the week was filled with a lot of visiting from friends, good food, and going out. proud to say that this year was a lot more flexible considering the state of the world. my best friend made me s'more brownies, another friend cooked a roast for me, i got to see my parents for a bit, and i made it out to my favorite piano show where my cousin drove in from 2 hours away with her boyfriend to surprise me! i also started going to therapy which has done wonders for my mental health. by all means, even if you aren't "going through" anything, just having someone objective to talk to is beneficial. in october, i got to go to my first live concert since september of 2019! if you've never heard of \nmarc rebillet\n, i highly recommend giving him a listen if you enjoy improv and jam sessions. it was a solid 2 hours of dancing, laughing, and partying with some really cool folks in new orleans. live music always fills me up with joy, so i was more than ecstatic to finally get in front of a stage again.\n🎄 my holidays were very hectic, but i enjoyed the time i got to spend with my friends and family. my best friend's kids booked my whole december for me. we decorated cookies, built gingerbread houses, saw some lights at a local historic village, and sipped on homemade hot chocolate & eggnog. my free time was spent either buying presents, wrapping presents, or trying to find the perfect present. it's all worth it to me since my love language is gift giving. my favorite present gifted to me was a \nraspberry pi 400\n that my mom gave me. i've been looking forward to building my own PC since some old work friends brought up that they're cool to work with. i ordered the beginner's guide, so in the next couple of weeks, i may have some interesting projects in the works. \n🏋️‍♀️  in the next few months, i'll be planning on tackling my knowledge of javascript & c#, and continuing development on my personal/side projects. it's taken a long time to get adjusted to my new schedule at turner, but i'm finally starting to settle in. as much as i love starting something new, i've pushed aside several of my passion projects in order to find an equilibrium between turner development and my own projects. i'm still in the process of finding out what that looks like. the thing i fear is becoming burnt out from taking on too much. this has happened to me in past jobs, and it's always been very difficult to recover from. achieving balance between work, side projects, obligations, bills, maintaining a healthy life style, and having some personal time is truly a skill. one that i believe is extremely hard to master. part of coping with this has been writing pieces like this, and also a good pedicure every so often lol.\nhere's some goodies that i've wanted to share with y'all that i've acquired over my (unplanned, unscheduled) leave of absence 🤣\n🎸 my \n4th quarter playlist\n on spotify - just a mix of tunes i've been jamming. work in progress until december 31st.\n🚑  i don't know why this show has a chokehold on me, but i love watching \n9-1-1\n, and the season 5 premiere episode hooked me once again. if you like suspense, mixed with some comedy, along with a really talented (& diverse) cast, you will enjoy this show.\n🖍 one of my future posts will be on \ntailwind css\n. if you're re-visiting this blog after my [unplanned] hiatus, you'll see that the look & feel have changed. that's all credit to tailwind css. initially, i was hesitant about it, but after trying it out, i honestly am impressed at its ease of use among other features. a post about all things tailwind will be coming soon!\nit's good to be back & i hope y'all are having a good, peaceful, and productive end to 2021. stay on the lookout for more posts!

new job, who dis, and closing out the year!

👋 well, hi again! seems like i completely forgot about this blog, but i've been incredibly busy lately with \na lot\n of new things in my life. all good things, mind you, but definitely time consuming. \n\n\n🏊‍♀️ diving in headfirst as always, i did my first tech livestream last thursday with \nMarcelo Lewin\n, founder of \nHeadlessCreator.com\n\n\n!! it was an incredible experience, and Marcelo was very encouraging considering i've never livestreamed before. i got to talk about something i'm very passionate about which is how this blog has come to be which is by using GraphCMS's \nRichText React Renderer\n. to watch how i built this blog, sign up for or sign into headlesscreator.com, and you'll be able to access \nthe livestream\n for free. thanks again to Marcelo for giving me this opportunity!\n\n🎹 i released a website for my friend \nhunter deblanc\n who runs a \njanky piano show\n here in lafayette, la. hunter's co-host needed a tool to be able to keep track of song requests from guests instead of a white board. it was completely out of jest, but something i'm glad that i did. it's designed specifically to look not that great. i took a lot of my inspiration from 90s internet and nostalgia which is on brand with the show itself\n🍔 above is a mobile view of what the audience would see. again, not great aesthetically, and trust me, anyone who likes CSS would look at this code & cringe, but i had a ton of fun with this. my next move with this project will be making a mock menu using none other than my friends at \nGraphCMS\n based off of one of hunter's skits named 'janky burger' based loosely off of the movie good burger. if you haven't seen that movie, do yourself a favor & enjoy life -> \nwhere to stream\n.\n\n🏋️‍♀️ an important thing to me is to diversify your knowledge. to start that off, i started CodeAcademy's \nc# intro course\n. so far, so good, and it's proven to not be as scary as i anticipated. most of the syntax is similar to what i already know, and i feel confident that i can pick this up fairly quickly. i built a small ASP.NET Core project using the entity framework. it was built using a \nfairly easy tutorial\n found within the Microsoft documentation. what i really enjoyed was using the SQLite database. my goal is to eventually be a badass fullstack developer, so i felt like this was the right move.\n\n🐤  a lot of folks don't know this about me, but i \nlove\n learning languages. absolutely love it. during lockdown last year, my roommate told me about this great app, \nDuolingo\n. Duolingo is an app that helps you learn a language by utilizing gamification to teach their lessons. they recently went public, and held their free virtual conference, \nDuocon\n. i would highly recommend streaming the full 2 hours, but if you're really interested in the tech parts, \nthis video\n on the AI behind Duolingo. recently, i hit a 75 day streak which means i've completed at least one lesson for 75 consecutive days. i'm hoping to continue this indefinitely and become [at least] professionally fluent in Spanish and French.\n
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⚡️ ⁠and finally, since i can't contain myself, i am starting a new job on september 1st!!!! once it's official (i's dotted, t's crossed), i'll be posting about it on my \nlinkedin\n & may even write another blog post about my first day. we'll see what happens!\n\n💐 until then, enjoy this picture of my friend abby knighting me after i caught the bouquet at her wedding a couple years ago in markleeville, california. it was easily one of the funnest weddings i've ever attended, the most joyful time i had spending it with one of my best friends, and truly represents both our friendship and our personalities in general. you gotta be silly doing this life thing, ya'll!

my first tech live stream, releasing a website, getting better at spanish, and other life updates

the early 2000's was big for blogging. i remember using ftp (file transfer protocol) for website creation. there were tons of personal websites spun up by people from all over the world. somehow i weaseled my way into having my own subdomain hosted by somebody in jakarta, indonesia. wild. (rip to kelli.airbus47.org). it was my first deep dive into website creation. basic HTML & CSS. hardcoding all of my blog posts to look consistent was very challenging, and i remember the CSS looking \nrough\n. and that's me being easy on myself.\nit wasn't until years ago when i first stepped into tech that i realized wordpress was the dominator in content management especially for blogs. i had an all too brief introduction to it for my company's blog. integrating it into the frontend was challenging, but i saw it as something that i would probably have to use if i wanted to start a blog on my own personal website. i was originally going to choose wordpress, but was driven away because i had to purchase a plugin that ran about ~$200 up front. when you're ballin' on a budget, you start to think outside the box, and that's how i found my blogging solution with graphcms.\n💜  why i chose & now love \ngraphcms\n:\n📈 they're 100% \ngraphql\n native. they're using graphql to its fullest ability by leveraging their query and mutation api. your queries can be as simple or complex as you would like. need filtering, sorting, pagination? it's all there. this also means fetching data is lightning fast because you're fetching for exactly what you want.\n🔧 the schema builder. this feature is particularly useful for those of us who want to create our own structures for our content. un-opinionated goodness. you are able to build custom models, and within those models, build your custom fields. for example, this blog has a custom 'author' model with fields of 'name', 'picture', 'title', and 'posts'.\n🎨 frontend freedom! this means your content is separate from how it's presented. incorporating other cms's into a frontend framework like react or next can be difficult. with graphcms, it's been easier to plug in your content to your desired framework. all that you have to do is configure a few things (graphcms has many tutorials for this), make your query, and format your content from within your codebase the way you would for any other page or component.\n💰 the rich text editor. this is what i'm using to write my blog right now actually. you can add it to any field within your models. very helpful for blog posts. one of the packages i've used to compliment this feature is the \nrich-text-react-renderer\n which has proven to be incredibly helpful for injecting custom styles for my posts. a tutorial on this can be found \nhere\n.\n📍 graphcms has created their own content localization api for delivering content from all locales in your project. you can set default locales with fallbacks to make sure you're always delivering content. you can do this with one specific local or all of them. up to you! more on that here ->\n localization docs\n.\n🏆 they're just getting better & better! last week, graphcms' ceo announced $10 million dollars in series a funding. read more about their exciting news \nhere\n. on top of that, they were also welcomed into the \ngraphql foundation\n which means they'll have tons of support from the graphql community.\n📖 graphcms has given me the motivation to learn more about graphql. as a frontend developer, i was taught about REST API's first. it's necessary to see how data is fetched, parsed, and returned so that the frontend can massage and manipulate data for a client. graphql has changed this fundamentally by thinking of your \ndata as a graph and not endpoints\n. learning more about how this technology works is, in my opinion, crucial especially if you're considering a full stack career.\n🥺 and last, but certainly not least, i was featured on one of their release notes within the slack community which honestly made me giddy inside. that's never happened for me before, and as a junior developer, it feels good to have your work shown off to the masses. check it out!\n\n💘 oh my heart! \n🔥 there's a couple of companies doing what graphcms is doing, and i think they all are trying to reach the same goal. i'll probably dive into some of them to see the difference. however, what's set graphcms apart is the community specifically. they're interested in what their users are building, and take feedback seriously. it's honestly been pleasant to interact with everyone there. shoutout specifically to Juela, Pranshu, Emily, João, & Ronak!\n📆 and before i go, don't forget to sign up for \ngraphqlcon\n which is organized by graphcms. it's free this year, and you can attend it remotely!

my graphcms appreciation post: a shoutout to my newest favorite headless cms

it's never ending for web developers. something works beautifully one day. the next, without warning, you're getting error messages because somebody updated the webpack version, and you're trying to debug for hours to find a solution. if you're self-taught, this can be an even bigger hurdle to jump through. there's so many best practices and syntax that we don't know about, and usually end up finding out about those the hard way. for me this involves [sometimes metaphorically] slamming my head against my desk because the issue seems ungooglable and therefore unsolvable.\nin the past two months, i've challenged myself with various projects. this blog being one of them. i've run into issues daily, and have beaten myself up when i found the solution. usually it's so simple, and i end up wanting to break out the dunce hat. the reason that i give myself such a hard time lies in the things i don't know, but had the expectation that i \nshould\n have always known it. i'm also surrounded by a really awesome set of co-workers turned buddies who all have several years of development experience. they're churning out projects left and right, and sometimes i look at them, look back at myself, and convince myself that i'm not good enough. i'm not on their level. why does it take them 10 minutes to solve an issue, but it's taking me 2 hours? \nwell, here's something that i've been putting into perspective lately. think about your favorite song. or favorite album. or favorite musician. when you hear them, you may feel love, appreciation, and joy. their work sounds perfect. that artist was able to formulate those notes and words together to make something that makes you think, dance, laugh, cry, or motivate you. you're hearing the finished product. you're hearing the most perfect version of their work.\nwhat you're not seeing is that artist in years past. you're not seeing the journey they took to get to your ears. you're not seeing the calluses that bleed because they were practicing guitar for 12 hours everyday. you're not seeing the pain experienced from sitting down behind a set of drums banging out version after version just to get it right. you're not seeing the songwriting process and how emotionally taxing it can be to convey their message. you're not seeing the rejections they've gotten from places that weren't interested in booking them. you're not seeing them receive criticism, both constructive and otherwise, from other professionals who know how to navigate that particular industry.\nremember, all we're seeing is the finished product. when we're trying to become better at something, we have to remember that it's not the finished product that is the success, it is the process that ultimately is the success. perfecting any craft takes an incredible amount of time to be able to produce quality work.\nso knowing this, what is does it \nreally\n take to become better but is often underrated? \nrepetition - practice, practice, practice, rinse, repeat, keep practicing\nyou \nmust\n be willing to practice the same things over & over & over & over again to sharpen your skills. i can't tell you how many times it took me writing the same line of code to finally understand what it was doing. and hell yes, it can be monotonous. it can be downright mind numbing. taking a computer science course sometimes makes my eyes involuntarily close. but, being exposed to those concepts constantly and \nconsistently \nhas made me a better developer because i'm now able to better understand what's 'under the hood'. \nagain, think about your favorite artists. think about them playing a blues scale over & over & over again. think about them rehearsing the same song 50 times in a row. is it fun? probably not. so, why do it? because the final product \nis\n the result of that dedication. somewhere along the way, they found out they could innovate here. they could adjust something there. \ni don't think this idea is relatively life-changing or unique, but placing this perspective on my frustrations as a newcomer to the tech industry has pulled me back down to earth on many occasions. starting something new is terrifying, and it's easy to look around the room with experienced folks thinking that you don't have the chops. but those folks sat in front of the computer dumbfounded and lost at one point as well. and they stuck with it by continuing to practice, and get in a routine of continuous improvement.\npractice may not make 'perfect' in the world of development, but it makes for better, more well-rounded devs. according to what i've read recently from those in the industry, we could use more of those.\n🔥 keep the keyboard hot, yall!\noh! here's some things that keep me goin':\n📚 \nthe obstacle is the way\n - shove it in your amazon cart. my old supervisor gave this to me during a particularly rough transitional moment of my career.\n💻 \nrendezvous\n - cassidy williams' newsletter that has an interview question of the week, what's new in web dev, and some jokes along the way. subscribe or read her past posts.\n🔊 \nhey arnold vibes\n - the most recent spotify playlist that i've been jamming on heavy rotation. 90s kids? nickelodeon folks? here's your tunes to create your chillspace whether sitting on the porch or writing code into the night. was anyone jealous of arnold's bedroom setup? just me?

practice practice practice, rinse, repeat

there's been some gotcha's along the way when it comes to frontend. using javascript can be tricky, but sometimes it's really painfully obvious when you figure out the issue.\nhere's my non-exhaustive list of the times that i face palmed so hard that i woke up the next town over.\n\n\nwhen my dark mode styles were applying to the body of my content, but not my footer. i didn't apply my global variables to the footer component. and i spent three hours moving around my footer because i thought it was a nesting issue in my html structure. 🌚   yikes.\nnot knowing that the \nselect\n tag in html doesn't allow you to have a placeholder until i read \nthis article\n on adding \ndisabled selected hidden\n on the first \noption\n tag would behave the same. 😒  embarrassed to admit that i spent an ungodly amount of time trying to just make it work before i googled it.\nthat one time when i was using \nstyled-components\n and kept declaring my custom elements within the render method until i realized that the app would periodically crash. spent about 4 days wondering why this was happening, and since it was on a fairly scalable project where i wrote 90% of the css on well over 20 components, a whole day was spent copying & pasting the styled components outside of the functional component. big oof. 🥴  helping me get out of pickle found \nhere\n.\nreally the whole process of adding an existing local repository to a remote i created on github using the command line. this one took hundreds of times just getting right. the frustration would always leave me to create then delete repo's constantly. seriously it was a battle because i always forgot about \ngit init\n. 🙄  bruh. for all the cool cats, this is what i normally do. 
⁠\ngit init
⁠git add .
⁠git commit -m"first commit"
⁠git branch -M main
⁠git remote add origin yourRepositoryUrl
⁠git push -u origin main\nstill believe my biggest dunce moment worthy of me wearing the dunce hat around the office was when react state and props finally clicked for me. for whatever reason, it just never clicked to me how props worked. or that you could 'pass them down' to child components that would render most of your components stateless. i'm on year 3 of being exposed to react and i swear it wasn't until a year ago when i had my💡 light bulb moment.\nthere's many more of these, and i'll probably make a part two and beyond. it's a struggle sometimes, but figuring it out yourself is both relieving and humbling. to save you some trouble, read as much documentation that pertains to your issue as possible, ask questions on the github/slack community/discord server if any, utilize stackoverflow's search before posting a question, and make sure you write down what exactly is the issue or what problem you're attempting to solve.

frontend gotcha's that made me facepalm

hey there!\nthanks for stoppin' in! if you haven't already visited the \nabout\n page, allow me to introduce myself.\n\nthat's me!\nmy name is kelli landry. i'm originally from a very small town in south louisiana, but have found myself in lafayette, la for the past ~13 years. in 2018, i embarked on the most challenging journey in my professional life. leaping from one extreme of the job market to the other. \nmy degree is in social work & after 3.5ish years of trying that on for size, i left with a ton of experience, but a hefty dose of burnout. what started off as a side hustle delivering food from a to b, turned into a fast paced, wild 'n crazy, rollercoaster ride that eventually led me to enroll in an 8 month bootcamp for web development. \nfast forward to 2021. i've been humbled by all of the things that i don't know as a self-taught junior front end developer. there's been major missteps, learning curves, culture hurdles, and just plain frustration, but if you're reading this as someone in the tech industry, you know that this is the norm. there's so much to know, and so little time to do it before someone comes out with 'the-next-best-thing.'\nthe goal of this blog is largely motivated by the things i'm learning as a person who still considers herself a junior software developer. if you're a self-taught developer who's feeling like you don't know how to navigate the industry, i'm right there with you. this blog is a way for me to share some of the 'gotcha's' i've experienced, how i'm dealing with imposter syndrome, ways i've gotten myself out of coding pickles, and how i've leaned on the community to become better by asking informed questions. my goal is that one day this will be a useful and honest guide for those of you who made a career path into development from another discipline.\nkeep the keyboard hot, y'all🔥