The Call to Adventure

The Hero's Journey. The Monomyth. Many know this as Joseph Campbell's storytelling template that lays out the pattern of a protagonist venturing out into the unknown to overcome one or many great obstacle(s), only to return from their quest, having changed. This model was the result of extensive research, collecting hundreds upon hundreds of stories and myths from the wonderfully diverse cultures of our world. Upon rigorous studying, Campbell was able to pull recurring motifs and analogous story arc structures, whereupon he was able to map out one of our most fundamental storytelling models, one in which most of our favorite TV shows, movies and books are/have been influenced by (any one here ever heard of Star's War?*)

Now, you might be asking: What the hell does any of this have to do with programming or web development? Can you cut it out with the flowery intro and cut to the chase!

Where I would reply: Yes! The Great Template for All/Most great adventure stories. Start with a hero, send them into adversity, return them having, having changed. What is "The Hero's Journey" other than a glorified Algorithm for a great story. A step-by-step, simple recipe that solves the problem "How do you make a good story?" Heck, if you wanna get a little more technical, you could even say this describes a function (yeah, I can get pretty technical with my coding references).

function heroJourney (hero, sidekick, potion, villain) {
var team = hero + sidekick;
if (team - villain < 0) {
hero = hero * potion;
}
if (villain - sidekick - hero < 0) {
return hero;
}
}

Alright so that's probably a lousy story, but you get what I am saying. The real reason why I bring up the Hero's Journey, is I think it is a very congruous with where I see myself with regards to my coding journey. Maybe now would be a good time to introduce myself, now that I have lost just about any readers who may have somehow stuck with this post this long.

WHO I AM:

I am Ian Erickson, and I have recently graduated from a 6-month intensive full stack coding bootcamp at Northwestern University with really good grades. I am proficient in HTML, CSS< Javascript, jquery, react, mongodb, mysql, and many other languages and technologies (as outlined on my resume, ;) if you wanted to take a look). I feel very competent in my coding abilities, but after some time out of the bootcamp, I am finding the job search to be something I am not as equipped to handle.

No matter how many jobs I keep applying to, it seems like it just ends in rejection after rejection. I know there are a lot of factors that help keep me optimistic, like the fact that we are in the 8th or 9th month of a pandemic, which brings on economic hardships to employers and companies, and the fact that there are probably just loads of other people who have more experience than me. That being said, it doesn't make any new email with the phrase "We are moving forward with other applicants" any less cutting.

But what kind of story would this be if the hero decided to quit their journey because they got a bad email? A bad one, that's what.

Which is why, I am answering the call to my own coding adventure. I have decided that if I keep getting rejected, then I must venture into the unknown. "When the facts change, I change my mind". So here, I am changing my mind that "I'm not good enough" into "what else can I be doing." Instead of being discouraged by rejection, I am reclaiming the challenge, and empowering myself to develop my skillset, and grow into a more qualified, sought-after, candidate. And I am doing all of this through semi-regular blog posts to document my growth.

WHAT IS THIS BLOG ABOUT:

So the main "obstacle" of this journey I'm embarking on is to become qualified enough to land a web-development/coding position with an employer on good terms. Side effects include: learning new languages, technologies, tips and/or tricks to coding, and just document my journey. I might find that in all this, it really is more about the road than the destination, so I am also open to keeping the scope of this blog fluid, as long as it pertains to the journey of becoming a better web developer.

Ideally, new posts might be about little coding projects I am working on/have finished that showcase a new technology or give a brief summary on a API, framework, concept, etc., or a tutorial on how to set something up for yourself! I might also post about the business/networking side of things, if I find something helpful or interesting that could help other people in my position. But also, this perspective is that I am a dumb guy who likes to have fun. I like being creative and I like problem solving, but I am just a normal guy who is using his spare time to work on this stuff and share his experiences. I will try to be as basic and not use too many of them big ol' words if I can help it.

While this is my coding journey, I hope one might be able to find enough motifs and patterns out of it so that it might propel any other hero on their own journey for growth, coding-related or otherwise.

Happy Trails! See you in the Unknown
-Ian

P.S. I am a writing this blog from a simple, beginner's perspective. I am assuming that most people on this website have a lot of experience/a good grasp on programming, but on the off-chance that you have any questions, please reach out to me and ask! I often find that the best way for me to learn/understand something most concretely is being able to explain or convey that thing back to someone else. I'm on
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TL/DR:
I am starting a semi-regular coding blog to document my development as a programmer in order to boost my professional standing with potential employers. I am also writing with the hopes that my journey helps others develop their own skills and grow as programmers or even just people.

Me: Ian Erickson

Also Me: a dumb guy who likes to have fun and recently graduated from a coding bootcamp (MERN stack) and is having trouble finding a job

Want: To become a better developer/coder, and get a professional coding position, learn new languages and technologies, be able to find fun, creative, robust solutions to problems any new/beginning coder might face while learning a new tech or finding a job

If any of this was entertaining, interesting, or helpful, or you're curious about where I am headed with this, please feel free to follow me for more posts (I'll try to follow back)! I am also on LinkedIn, twitter, etc. Please reach out!

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Github
Twitter

*I have a dumb and rather stupid sense of humor.

Cover image by Yusaku Kamekura