Whenever I hear this 7 letter word, an iconic (yes I said iconic) scene from the Inbetweeners comes to mind, but we aren’t here to talk about trash tv but they have definitely inspired my gifs today!
Today’s blog is two fold, old friends and new.
Old friends
This is post number three on my blogging journey, an expedition I have set out on to help me grow during a new learning chapter. I chose to share it publicly with all of you because it scared me, and from experience if it scares you, you should definitely do it (most of the time!).
The support has been overwhelming, I wasn’t writing for the stats or the comments but they have definitely inspired me to push forward and continue.
I always knew my squad had my back, i’m lucky to have some incredible friends around the world who support me no matter what, and those ‘no matter what’ situations have been a little more outlandish over the past few years.
But this has bought back people in my life that I didn’t even know cared enough to read what I have written and cared even more to reach out and tell me how much they support me.
To all of you, your words have truly touched me, and I hope to do each one of you proud — so this is collective and public thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy reading as much as I enjoy sharing!
I think these feelings of support are doubly appreciated in the current Covid-19 pandemic, where you can’t just pop down the road to catch up or head out on a night out to let off steam — although Zoom fetes on a Friday night seem to be helping there!
But I can’t wait for freedom to bust out some dance moves with my favourite people!
New friends
So we all know the best journeys are done with friends, but up until recently I was very much a one woman band on a solo mission. I know some developers, but nobody else that was just starting like me.
Last weekend, Makers Academy put on an online Code Accelerator event with their Head of Education, Ed. I decided to sign up as my coding skills thus far needed some help.
The session was to be three hours long and include a code along session, where ED explains how he solves some coding problems and some pair programming with other participants.
Pair programming is a major part of the Makers course. Think back to when there weren’t enough computers in ICT at school and you had two of you to one computer.
Its pretty similar but a lot more intentional.
Pair programming is a technique in which two programmers work together at one workstation. One, the driver, writes code while the other, the observer or navigator, reviews each line of code as it is typed in. The two programmers switch roles frequently. — Wikipedia
Having to explain your thought process to another person — like this blog- helps solidify the ideas that you are trying to explain and also gives you immediate critique to help improve.
We did our introductions and the session had 9 other newbie coders like me all with their own stories. Some had never even touched code before, others were in their application process and some could actually remember some of the code they were learning.
I followed along with Ed’s coding, understanding about 70% and then we were paired off to try it with another participant. How hard could it be?
I was paired with a lovely a Portuguese woman named Margo, and were tasked with building a programme that would give the results of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
I froze, all the things I had been learning disappeared out of my brain. Luckily, Margo could keep her sh*t together a little better and we set out thinking about how to solve this problem, with her reassuring me every step of the way.
Together (mostly Margo), we wrote some code and began to test it. It passed 7 out of the 9 tests and we became a little stumped. We called Ed for some help — he very graciously helped us fix a few small errors and boom, we had successfully built a programme.
This actually felt incredible — geekily euphoric. Margo and I filled the rest of our session chatting about how we have been getting on trying to learn, what our struggles have been and comparing notes of things that have been helping us.
Could I have just made a friend?
We went on to do another pair programming session with a different partner. I was paired with a guy who had never programmed before. We had no clue what we were doing as my brain was on strike!
After the session was over I decided to shoot my shot with Margo. Even though I wasn’t much help in the session I really wanted to practice some more.
To my surprise she said she really enjoyed the session and agreed to try some more programming challenges in the week!
Ok maybe not best friends, but I definitely feel like I have found a friend for this road trip. Here is to many more programming sessions and hopefully solving a lot more challenges!
Coding to Soca
So those that know me know my favourite music in the whole world is Soca, most in the world will think I am confused and mispronouncing soccer but no So-Ca! Think carnival and you are in the right direction.
Put simply, it is music that comes from the Caribbean islands, it has a great rhythm, makes me feel euphoric even on the best of days and always gets me dancing!
So I have decided I am gonna share my love with all of you with Soca songs that fit the theme of my post.
Today is a great song that takes me back to some incredible memories with great friends. Have a listen and enjoy (yes, you too CeeCee!)
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I do!
