It’s the last episode! I’m sharing the biggest lessons I wish I knew when I first started learning to code, and also what’s still to come on the Start Over Coder journey.
1. Set a clear goal from the beginning
2. Build actual projects
3. Work with other people from the beginning
4. Teach someone else what you know
5. What to learn? Keep it basic and go deep
Despite this being my “parting advice,” I’m not stopping coding or actually going anywhere! Though the podcast is coming to an end, my main goals (check out episodes two and four to hear about them) are still very much in play.
You can listen to the episode from about 16:15 to hear what’s coming up in the immediate future, and keep in touch for future updates by:
This episode was originally published 7 July, 2018.
In this episode I’m answering listener questions…ask me anything! The questions I answer in this episode are:
This episode was originally published 26 June, 2018.
This week I’m sharing 2 more awesome resources for learning to code.
Chingu
Chingu is a learning community that gets you working on a dev team no matter what skill level you’re at. How it works:
I’m excited to participate in Chingu because I learned so much during a similar group project last year. Of course your success depends entirely on the work you put into it and a bit of luck in getting committed teammates, but in my opinion the benefits far outweigh the risks, so I think it’s worth going for!
To learn more about what it’s like to go through Chingu, check out their Medium publication or YouTube channel.
uMatrix
uMatrix is a browser extension (available on Chrome, Firefox, and Opera) that can add privacy to your browser and teach you about the modern web at the same time. Its purpose is to give you control about what you want to allow/block—things like cookies, 3rd party tracking, 3rd party anything, iframes, external scripts, etc.
For a thorough description and to see uMatrix in action, check out this YouTube walk-through video. You can also take a look at some examples of uMatrix rulesets:
This episode was originally published 13 June, 2018.
In this episode I’m wrapping up a few loose ends: the final report on my first from-scratch Node application, and a course review of Harvard’s CS50: Intro to Computer Science.
NOTE: The CS50 course review starts about 9 minutes in!
Node/Express App Part 3
To catch up from where we left off…
As I kept working on the project, I learned quite a bit about working with dates in programming (hint: not a straightforward endeavor!), and had a frustrating attempt at deploying on Amazon Web Services.
But eventually I was able to successfully deploy the app using Heroku, and overall by the time all was said and done I had a working application that I actually still use to this day!
CS50 - Intro To Computer Science Course Review
CS50 is the introductory computer science course offered at Harvard University, and it’s available for anyone around the world to take for free on the EdX learning platform. It covers a lot of basic topics to build an understanding of how computers, networks, and applications work. My favorite aspects of the course were:
If you’re interested in taking the class, prepare yourself for a lot of work and time if you really want to make the most of it!
This episode was originally published 5 June, 2018.
Since setting a goal at the beginning of the year, I’ve made 3 attempts to get my first paid developer work. These are the big takeaways and things I’ve learned:
This episode was originally published 29 May, 2018.
This week I sat in on a status meeting with a developer team in my company. Pretty cool to see what it’s actually like to work as a developer (well, get a glimpse at least!)!
I was really glad to have had access to this experience without much effort—it was just a matter of reaching out to a VP in my company and asking for an informational. Now that I know this is possible, I’ll be doing it a lot more!
This episode was originally published 22 May, 2018.
The command line is a basic necessity for any developer and I’ve gotten fairly comfortable with it since I started learning how to code. Not sure what I’m talking about? Think back to any movie/tv show with a hacker hacking away into that black computer screen, typing green text. They are most likely using the command line (for good or evil, depending on the context!).
But more to the point, the command line is how you can have direct access to your machine to carry out any system-level actions, from moving files around to executing programs, to communicating with other computers over a network. As a developer there are many use cases for working in the command line:
Here are some of my favorite tips about getting comfortable working in the command line:
.bashrc and .bash_profile files on my computer (see article). This is especially helpful for chained events and for accessing deeply-nested folders that you use a lot.This episode was originally published 14 May, 2018.
I’m back from last week’s conference! How did I do with the goals I set out before going? Pretty well! Plus gained some tips for future conferences.
This episode was originally published 8 May, 2018.
I’m heading to a coding conference in a few days! And unlike some past events I’ve been to, this time I’m doing a bit of preparatory thinking/planning to help me make the most out of attending. I’ve set 3 goals I’d like to accomplish during the two-day conference.
How To Go To Conferences (Financially)
Since Financial Independence is a big goal in my life (not to mention a topic of this podcast), I also wanted to share some tips/ideas about how to attend conferences without attacking the wallet too much:
This episode was originally published 1 May, 2018.
I was getting set to record a second ‘stumbling block’ episode when I went back to the podcast episodes I recorded last year when I first had these difficulties, and instead was reminded of the things I found helpful at that time to get out of the funk and keep making progress.
The first was remembering not to beat myself up over losing momentum. Learning a new skillset is a huge undertaking and it’s bound to have times of both high and low momentum. There’s absolutely no value in reprimanding myself for slowing down for a few weeks!
The second benefit was remembering what led to the stumbling block last year…turns out some of the same life events are happening now, so is it really a surprise that I might have a similar response?
The third and biggest benefit helped plan a way forward from here. Since I can refer back to what I did last year (and I know how it worked out for me), I have a good sense of what might help me move forward this time around.
So overall, having documented the obstacles I ran into last year really helped me get to a more optimistic outlook this time around. And as a result, I think I’ve moved past it faster!
This episode was originally published 24 April, 2018.
There’s a lot involved to get up and running with a new dev environment—it can be pretty troublesome in fact! After working on one machine for a while, it’s easy to forget (or take for granted) all of the software and helper tools you’ve installed slowly over time. But as soon as you want to get coding on a new machine, those tools are quickly appreciated!
Here are some of the steps I took to be able to keep coding while traveling with a temp laptop, and what I plan to do going forward to make it easier next time around:
This episode was originally published 17 April, 2018.
It’s another pair of discoveries this week! The website Financial Toolbelt has some great calculators if you want to start getting to know your personal finances. And the Second Career Devs podcast is a must for any and all Start Over Coders!
This episode was originally published 10 April, 2018.
Introduction overload! There are plenty of good introductory workshops, blog posts, and articles out there. But is it too much of a good thing? Recently I’ve felt like the sheer number of articles and events have been taking away from my efforts to become a developer.
In this episode I talk about the good & bad aspects of introductory resources, and some tips about how to figure out which ones are worth spending time on.
This episode was originally published 3 April, 2018.
Figma is a great prototyping tool I’ve been experimenting with this week. It’s a software tool available for Mac or PC, and they also have a great web interface that allows you to collaborate on designs live (!) with other people.
I’ve been using it to mock up a redesign for the Start Over Coder website, and also for a new web project I’ve started for someone else. Bottom line, I can highly recommend Figma for creating UI mockups and expect I will be using it for time to come!
This episode was originally published 27 March, 2018.
This week’s episode it about my first attempts at learning the React framework…it was a mixed bag but here are my first impressions:
Bottom line: I don’t think I’ve hit the pain points yet that React can solve. Also, using React requires a pretty solid foundation on ES6 methods which I could use some brushing up on. There are a few more pluses and minuses I discuss in the episode, so give it a listen! And if you have any suggested resources for learning React please share 😄
This episode was originally published 20 March, 2018.
It’s been a year since I started this podcast! But I’m still not earning money as a developer. Does it really have to take over a year to learn enough to become a working programmer?
Short answer: no, I really don’t think so!
But for me, a few things along the way have slowed down my progress. You can get the full story by listening to this episode, but to recap what I think I’d do differently to speed the transition up a bit:
Despite my (I think) slow timeline so far, I’m still excited by what’s still to come and look forward to sharing more updates soon!
This episode was originally published 13 March, 2018.
It’s the last episode (for now!) in the How I FI series and today I’m talking about my top 10 actions for getting myself to financial independence. To recap:
This episode was originally published 6 March, 2018.
Continuing on with a favorite topic of mine—financial independence! In last week's episode I shared a bit about what my mindset around personal finances was before I discovered the concept of FI. Tl;dr: the more I earned, the more I spent, and I couldn’t imagine a reality where things would or could be different. I’m so glad I learned that there is a better way!
For me, finding that better way came in three parts: 1) getting introduced to the idea & basic concepts of financial independence; 2) applying that information to figure out my current FI status; and 3) making a long term plan to actually work towards FI.
This episode was originally published 27 February, 2018.
Let’s talk about financial independence!
Up until now I’ve shied away from talking about the FI side of this Start Over Coder project. I’ve made so many wrong moves with my own money that it’s like, who am I to talk about the subject with any kind of authority!? Not to mention the fact that I’m years away from seeing the outcomes of my actions…maybe I’m still doing it wrong. Plus it’s just a sensitive topic!
But I do think one of the main reasons why it can feel so sensitive is because people don’t really talk about it, and since FI is a big part of why I started learning to code, I definitely don’t want to hold anything back about that side of things.
So over the next few episodes I’ll share a bit about how I FI, what I’m doing to become financially independent.
But before getting into the specifics, it might be helpful to know a bit of my background to get a sense of what led me to do all of this in the first place. Here’s a quick recap from the podcast (listen for more context!):
I lived with this mindset for years and years, but eventually I realized that this outlook wasn’t working for me. In fact, I was working for it! Literally: working for the bi-weekly paycheck that I needed to keep up the lifestyle I built for myself (not exactly music to my ears).
I’ll share more about what changed, and what changes I made as a result in future episodes in this series. But the biggest change was finding some goals to work towards. Financial independence means having enough income to cover all of your expenses without having to work for that income. Instead, money comes in through savings interest, investment income, businesses that generate income without your personal hours of labor…all of this is often referred to as passive income.
Being financially independent gives you the freedom and flexibility to live life exactly how you want to. For me that involves a lot of travel…long-term travel ideally. And contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t necessarily mean not working! I actually really like working when it means having interesting projects, solving problems, and working with interesting, dynamic people. Reaching FI means having the freedom to work only when you find work that meets these criteria.
That’s the kind of life I want!
So with these goals in mind, how do you actually do it? I’ve found some ideas, and I’ll talk about them in the next few episodes. Stay tuned!
This episode was originally published 20 February, 2018.
For any new web project, taking the time to PLAN before you CODE is key! Here are some key questions I asked myself before I started coding the new Start Over Coder website. It came down to 7 key questions, which I discuss in this episode.
This episode was originally published 13 February, 2018.