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Aaron McCollum
Aaron McCollum

Posted on

#CNC2022 Pre-Post

Hey everyone, I'm excited to get after 2022 with the Coding More cohort for CNC2022. I've always experienced a few months of being super excited about coding before hitting a roadblock which has hurt my progress (more mentally than actually). Each time I've come back a little wiser and been able to progress, however now I'm hoping to get into a pattern where I have a healthy habit of coding and learning while not getting discouraged and tired (i.e. taking lots of breaks, a few days off each week).

What has worked in the past? I get motivated by progress. If I am learning new things and practicing them, I love it. Checking out a new framework, reading a book about other amazing developers in the past, and listening to podcasts has helped me. Also, I just got some DEV stickers for my laptop and that was an encouragement, funny enough. I'm motivated by these, as I look up to other software developers who have made careers out of their job. It's a reminder that this is still possible without a CS degree.

What has not worked in the past? In the past I have had to go back and repeat parts of courses or the entire thing because I took time off and forgot some of it. While it's good to pick it back up, it's definitely a drag repeating myself. And I don't feel I'm actually making progress. I also get distracted by the next shiny thing and need to focus on one or two things only. The biggest challenge here is that, due to work and family, I have to code at the end of my day, and sometimes I really want to be practicing more but I'm too tired. Then I get discouraged.

Long term goals: I want to be able to apply for Hack Reactor and get accepted. Or get to a point where I can apply to a software developer role without a bootcamp. That's where I want to be around this time next year.

Short term goals: I want to complete the CS50 course, and I want to finish the Front End Libraries course on freeCodeCamp by the start of summer!

Anyways, this is where I'm at right now. I hope to continue to progress each day, and remember to just improve 1% each day, and over time the progression will be real and noticeable.

Top comments (3)

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Ben Halpern

Good luck!

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Aaron McCollum

Thanks Ben! Appreciate it.

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Larry Martin

Your commitment to progress and your long and short term goals are truly inspiring. Remember small consistent steps each day will surely lead to significant growth. Keep up the great work.
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