Our team at work has started to read “Clean Code,” by Robert Martin. Several other teams in the company have done this as well (reading it collectively, and scheduling meeting times to discuss each chapter). It’s a bit like homework, but I’m actually really glad we’re doing it.
More than any other step so far, this decision seems to really alter and shape the tone of the Twitter posts I allow into my program. Rather than simply allow all legal two-letter words according to Scrabble, I’m finding by excluding some words… it results in more readable, self-contained sentences. They’re less informal.
Had the luxury of spending the day doing nothing really, beyond just noodling around on my side project. It’s been a long while since I’ve had this kind of time, and it was a very indulgent, lovely day.
It’s been interesting to compare my process now, versus me from a year ago. While I’m still struggling with my own sense of competency, I do notice myself working faster than I have before. Quicker to make certain decisions, quicker to know what the next best step is. That’s been a somewhat nice surprise, in addition to having the luxury of time today.
Lately, I’ve been trying to carve out a little time in the evenings (or mornings, or whenever I can find it) to work on a personal project. It’s another variation of stuff I’ve done before, but I think the outcomes are going to be greater in number and more varied. And, hopefully, of better quality.
I’m surprised to say that I made a lot of progress, given just one day. And that I got a lot of distance covered, with data being fetched from Twitter, stored in a local db, and then retrieved and displayed again. There are still gaps in my understanding, but getting ramped up again seemed to take a lot less time, this time around. Which feels really nice.
One of these days, I really need to give TDD a go. I keep meaning to, but the urge to see something tangible and functional on the screen quickly is too strong a drug.
I’ve not really had a personal project in a good while. I’ve noodled around, but nothing has realy come of it. I guess the last two days I’ve also noodled around a bit, but something might be starting to take shape.
I was taking a late morning nap on Sunday, falling in and out of sleep. And during that time, I had two, possibly three separate dreams about code related to my work.
I still have my worries and concerns (and my seemingly never-ending supply of Imposter Syndrome). But the past week or so has given me a feeling of both accomplishment and confidence.
An interesting takeaway for me too is that I’m realizing the problem isn’t me asking for help, it’s me not asking for help early enough. While some may err on the side of asking for help immediately (without putting in sufficient troubleshooting on their own, first)… I tend to be on the other spectrum. That is: waiting too long to ask for help.
For me, I tend to learn best by doing. And in instances like this, I tend to learn best when I get burned and lost time as a result. The lesson of the mistake doesn’t set in unless there’s sufficient pain involved – even if it’s something as stupid as a typo.
It’s the start of a new week/sprint, and I’m feeling pretty tired again this week. I had a good, solid run of work days last week… and it rolled into a fairly busy weekend.
I’ve been working on a new feature at work this week, and it’s been very all-consuming. The days this week have been pretty solid, with me feeling like I’ve been going full-steam from when I sit down to when I get up to leave. All in a good way.
This sense of motion and completion has really been a more recent thing. Or, I should say, the consistent sense of motion and completion has been more a recent thing. I feel very different when looking back maybe six months, and it’s a good feeling.