A reflection on my CNC2022 Learn in Public journey

Name: Ayu Adiati

Title: Self-taught front-end developer

#CNC2022 Cohort: Learn in Public

Learn in Public Project:

• Git & GitHub for open-source — fetch remote branch for open-source's contributors and maintainers
• GitHub for project collaboration based on Agile method.

Introduction

Hi there! 👋
I'm Ayu, a self-taught front-end developer and technical blogger based in The Netherlands.

I have been learning in public through #100DaysofCode on Twitter these last 2.5 years. And I have started blogging since the end of 2020 as another way to learn in public.

I'm doing the Learn in Public challenge to make myself more comfortable sharing my technical/concepts learning in public.

My goal for this challenge was to share my learning journey with React.

At first, I wanted to challenge myself to create audio-visual materials. But along the way, I wasn't ready yet 😅

Ayu Adiati • Jan 31 '22

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm Ayu, and I'm a self-taught front-end developer based in The Netherlands.

I've been writing articles to share my learning journey for some time now as my own notes, as well as helping others. But I want to be more consistent in doing so.
I'm also looking to do stream or create video content when I'm more comfortable.
Who knows I can get motivated by doing this challenge and you all can be my inspiration of doing it 😄

My coding focus this time would be React. I've been on and off learning React properly because I got distracted with other things 😆

There is one quote that I found recently and really motivates me when I feel down.

If you fail, never give up because F.A.I.L. means "First Attempt In Learning";
End is not the end, if fact E.N.D. means "Effort Never Dies";
If you get no as an answer, remember N.O. means "Next Opportunity";

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Mission 1

The assignment for Mission 1 is to have a clear plan on what we want to learn and share in public for the next 5 weeks. We also need to decide how we want to deliver our learning (through writing, video, etc.).

I was so behind in completing this mission.
But I managed to do most of the homework.

At this state, I still wanted to focus on learning React. I already have an exsisting series where I will post my learning.
The reason is that there are many concepts that I still don't understand. So, I wanted to learn it properly this time around.
I'm doing learning in public to help others and the future me 😄.
I also want to cement my knowledge by doing this challenge.

Ayu Adiati • Feb 9 '22

Had a crazy weeks these 2 weeks, so I'm sooo behind.
But I'm trying to catch up.

1. What concept/project/series have you decided to take on for the duration of the "Learn in Public" challenge?

I'm torn between React and accessibility.
But I think I will do React by creating a project and share some of the basic concepts as I go. At the end, I will share the project itself.

2. Why did you pick this focus?

I have some experiences with React, but I never really learn it properly. So my knowledge is kind of scattered here and there, and this time around I want to learn React properly from basics.

3. Why do you think sharing your journey in public will help others?

I learned a lot from other people's learning journey. So I think sharing my journey in public would help others as well in some way 😊

4. Share the the title you landed on for the series you're going to create as well as the "entries" you anticipate creating/tackling.

I will continue the series that I created long time ago 😁 — React JS Log Blog

Mission 2

The assignment for Mission 2 is to create a concrete learning plan, do research on our topic and take action!
As a side note, I love that CodeNewbie provides us a template to schedule our learning and to note our resources! 🥰

Pivoting

Yes. You read that right.
This is the phase where all my plans went south 😅.

I had a collaboration in creating a React project with a friend. And we are using Git & GitHub for this collaboration to work asynchronously.
We set our foot wrong. We set up our GitHub environment as open-source instead of collaboration.
And because of this, we encountered some problems where we had to ask questions and help.

But through this accident I learned so much more about Git & GitHub.
So, I pivoted by sharing this topic.

Without creating a learning schedule, I executed the first installment 😆.

Git: How to fetch a branch from the upstream to the local repo in 5 steps

Ayu Adiati ・ Feb 14 '22 ・ 2 min read

#git #cnc2022 #learninpublic #opensource

From this mission onwards, I didn't write any comments on the threads (I was so all over the place 🙃). Thus, there will be no comment embed for Mission 3 & 4 😅.

Mission 3

The assignment for Mission 3 was to continue the series with a new installment. We also might want to explore another alternative for learning in public. Besides writing, other mediums are audio (podcast) or audio-visual (video).

I wrote the first installment based on my teammate's trouble to fetch remote repo as a contributor.

This time around, I was the one who encountered the problem in fetching the remote repo as a maintainer. And that's what I shared as my 2nd installment.

How to fetch a contribution branch to test it locally as an open-source maintainer

Ayu Adiati ・ Feb 24 '22 ・ 2 min read

#opensource #codenewbie #cnc2022 #learninpublic

So far, I'm still not comfortable yet for streaming, creating a video, or a podcast. And I'm not sure if I could turn my #CNC2022 experience into a conference talk (thanks, imposter syndrome!) 🙈.

Missions 4 & 5

The assignment for Mission 4 was to complete the series! 🎉
If you haven't, check this CodeNewbie's podcast with Gift Egwuenu about the benefits of learning in public! 💜

I shared what we should do at the beginning of our collaboration as the last installment. How to use GitHub for project collaboration.
I wrote a tutorial based on my collaboration experience with The Collab Lab.

How To Use GitHub For Project Collaboration — Based on Agile Method

Ayu Adiati ・ Mar 4 '22 ・ 10 min read

#github #tutorial #cnc2022 #learninpublic

After this last installment, I feel... HAPPY and PROUD! 🎉
I finally finished the challenge! 😄
(Also, the last installment got onto CodeNewbie's newsletter! 😉💜)

Ayu Adiati • Mar 13 '22

1. Drop a link to your reflection post
   A reflection on my CNC2022 Learn in Public journey

2. Tell us what you're most proud of having accomplished/learned over the past few weeks.
   After started the challenge super late and had a pivot, I finished the challenge! 🙌
   That's what I most proud of! 😄
   Bonus win: My last installment, How To Use GitHub For Project Collaboration — Based on Agile Method made onto CodeNewbie and Hashnode newsletters, and got pick up by daily.dev! 🎉

Final Reflections on #CNC2022's "Learn in Public" Challenge

I was super behind with the challenge.
When I started the challenge, I pivoted from my initial plan of sharing React learning to Git & GitHub 😂.

This challenge taught us a lot about planning our learning in public. Especially when we have some topics that we can compile in a series.
This definitely will benefit us to structure what we want to share with the public.
And to be honest, this is the hardest part for me because I never make any plan when I share my learning in public 😅.

The most fun part about the challenge is interacting with other members and learning from them! 🤩

I love this line from Mission 3:

Reminder: you're learning, just like your audience!

If I could give advice, start to share your learning. Share your struggle and how you did you find the solution.

Don't be too afraid to share because we're still learning. We can always edit or fix our materials when we find a better solution.
You can help one person (or even more) by doing so. You could let them know that they're not the only one struggling with that one topic.

What's Next

I haven't done anything for sharing my React learning. I'm still struggling to understand some concepts.
So my plan is to continue that topic and accessibility whenever I encounter one 😄.

I still want to explore more about doing some audio-visual content as an alternative for learning in public in the future.

I learned a lot from this challenge. I will continue to apply the missions as I do my learning in public.
Based on this experience, I most likely will enroll in another CodeNewbie Challenge in a future cohort! 💜