Bit of a rough week this week. It started out alright, but I ran into some frustrations near the end and ended up taking most of my weekend off for a mental reset. In fairness, I've been pushing hard recently, and had logged learning hours on 27 straight days, so I probably needed a little break. Since I'm not yet where I want to be, I have to remind myself that a little down time is alright.

Learning Paths 📚

Docker
I didn't really move forward with this course and get into Kubernetes this week (one of the things I am frustrated about). I set myself up to get started with this tomorrow, because I think this is the next big thing I need to learn.

Algorithms
This course threw me for a loop. In particular, I spent many hours banging my head against a particular bug when trying to code the Karatsuba multiplication algorithm in Python. I eventually found an alternative solution, but I don't think it's ideal for a couple reasons. I'm going to move on for now, but I want to revisit this at some point to see if I can get my original idea to work (it's not the mathematical implementation that went sideways, it has to do with the handling and splitting of strings in Python).

Linux Upskill
I made some progress with this, but it was a weird week at work (where I've been working on this in my down time) so I didn't get very far. I did get to review permissions and how to find things, as well as archiving and compressing files and directories (and the reverse, of course).

Job Search 🔎

I almost maybe sort of have an interesting note or two here, but was unable to connect with a recruiter in the past couple days. Fingers crossed that I can before the next week is out - even though it's a long shot for me, I think this particular position would be a lot of fun.

7 application, 0 interviews, 1 rejection

Wrap-up 🍩

A career change like this is a marathon, not a sprint. For me, it feels like an extra-long marathon. Likely that's because I don't have the luxury of spending 8+ hours a day learning, studying, working on projects and practicing skills. In the last 18 months, there have been a lot of really late nights leading to quite a bit of exhaustion and a few dashes of discouragement... but I'm not giving up. It'll pay off soon; I just have to find someone who will give me that first opportunity.

Onward and upward!