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Tom Varughese
Tom Varughese

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HAX-the-Code-base: pre-code

I am not a developer. I can certainly write and understand code but I wouldn't call myself a coder. I definitely have a lot to learn... like backing up my website before nuking multiple blog post and not having a second copy somewhere... hypothetically.

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Small Backstory:

About 2 years ago I graduated from University with no idea what I wanted to do with a not so easy to describe tech business hybrid degree and long story short Bryan Ollendyke aka #EdTechJoker introduced me to Rick Manelius. (Def check them out, they are really cool people)
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Rick writes absolutely amazing blog post on his website. One that hit me was his 3 words for 2020 (I highly encourage you to read his post because I won't tl;dr it for you lazy people). I was tired of kicking leaves for the last year or so in my career so I decided to give it a shot. While not 3 words, I did stick to 3 themes:

  • contemplation without confusion
  • distancing distasteful distractions
  • i am important

So what does this mean? I want to learn more about code and better understand why a developer would choose something like lit-element vs polymer. I want to be able to talk to someone about the advantages to web components passed the surface level "its scales better and works in all browsers". While I can just search these in [insert your favorite search engine] I thought the best way for me to learn is to ask the developers themselves (think something akin to "Into the Actor's Studio" but with developers). So what has stopped me from doing this a year ago? Thinking I would waste someone's time by asking stupid questions, distracting myself with random things, and overall being indecisive by being stuck in my head (hence 2020 goals above).

What does it mean to be a developer/coder/programmer? What are these things called Web Components and why do they matter? Tabs or Spaces? Honey Dew or Cantaloupe?! I don't know the answers but I do know that the only way for me to demystify the code/concepts is to just decode the developer. And the best place to start is the people I did my internship with my senior year of College... the HAX Project by the @elmsln team. Hope you're ready to <hax-the-code-base> with me :)

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