#100DaysOfCode - Half Way There

In a glass half empty/glass half full world, I tend to fall into the latter with a penchant for optimism. Because of this, when I consider I have reached 50 consecutive days of code, my feelings of it are more along the line of, “Wow, that has gone fast!”, rather than “Wait, I still have 50 more days to go?!” I’m going to attribute this to how I’ve been approaching the challenge. Since last reporting my progress, here are a few more lessons I’ve gleaned from the 100 Days of Code.

Balance of Projects and Learning

For the past few months, I’ve been going head-long into creating projects to showcase in my portfolio for job hunting. Even when I started into #100DaysOfCode, I was still iterating on these apps. Over the past few weeks, I have become much more intentional to not just remain on the treadmill of feature creep, but take some time to learn. When React Hooks were released, I decided to spend some time figuring them out. I also dove into the CS50 program just to expand my knowledge and work my brain a little bit in wrestling with the fundamentals of computer science. This change in routine has been really good for me. Up to this point, a part of me felt like I needed to constantly be working on my side projects. Now, I’m okay with stepping away from them for a little while in order to grow as a more well-rounded developer.

It’s Okay That Some Days Are Like Aqua-Jogging

A few weeks ago, I began to do some aqua-jogging. As its name implies, it’s basically running in a pool. What I soon discovered about it, though, is that for how hard you tread the water, you really aren’t going to go anywhere fast. It was during one of these sessions that a connection to coding occurred to me. At the end of some nights, I don’t necessarily feel like I’ve made significant progress in my coding journey. This is especially the case when an evening inevitably becomes devoted to trying to solve a bug that was the result of human error (a.k.a. me). It kind of feels like wasted time since no “distance” has really been traversed. In needing to put into words each day what I accomplished, I realize that even those “useless” times bear some fruit. There is growth even if it feels like slow going.

Inspiration From Others

The more I check out what others are doing for #100DaysOfCode, I get really excited for new things I can learn in the larger scheme of development and engineering. I even started to make a list of technologies I have heard about and want to explore. I’m not necessarily planning to master them all, but in growing in familiarity with them, I can be in dialogue with more people. There are so many amazing things that improve our world and I want to see what tools can make that possible.

With 50 days to go, and the possibility of continuing the streak after that, I’m humbly confident that I will successful in my endeavor. I’ll be sure to post an update when I hit 75 days and, if all goes as planned, when day 100 rolls around.