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Anita Beauchamp
Anita Beauchamp

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Weeks 12 - Fin: Better Late Than Never

Greetings CodeNewbies 👋🏾

Welcome to the final installment of my #100DaysOfCode weekly (turned biweekly, turned quarterly 😅) recap. I did not intend to be gone for so long, but life decided to heat up right as I was nearing the end of my 100 days. It quickly became apparent that I could not do all the things, so I dropped the thing that I liked the least: writing blog posts. Not that I don't love sharing with all of you because I do; it's just that writing these posts takes more time than I'd like it to. I think it's some weird combo of perfectionism and writer's block. Anyway, I didn't want to stay ghost forever, so I decided to come back and finish what I started.

Let's get into it.

What I Said I Would Do

The last time I was here (back in July 🙈), here was my plan:

  • Finish Processing Data from Dirty to Clean (course 4 of 8 in the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate)
  • Be in the middle of coding up the Journal Lite feature (for my personal XDaysOfY Tracker CLI app)

What I Actually Did

I completed both of those goals. I finished course 4 of the Google certificate a few days after publishing my last post, and then I went on to complete the Journal Lite feature of my app. You can view XDaysOfY in its current (still CLI) form by visiting my pinned repos on GitHub: anitabe404/XDaysOfYTracker.

I had plans to continue working on the app to convert it from a CLI to a GUI, but that ultimately got shelved as my interests started to shift and life got more hectic. I also had plans to continue on with the Google Data Analytics Certificate, but I found that the courses weren't challenging enough for me, and I was bored with the curriculum. Many of the skills they were teaching (ex. using Excel) were things I already knew how to do from years of performing safety and reliability analyses. The new stuff also felt very basic. After a while, it didn't feel worth it to continue with the certificate.

Despite this, I am happy to report that I finished the overall challenge, coding for 100 consecutive days from May 4th to Aug 11th. I celebrated with a tweet:


Side Note: When I said, "stay tuned", I had no idea I'd have you waiting two months. 🙈

Robert Lin (@r002 ) made me this really nice certificate. I wasn't expecting him to do this, so of course I got all teary-eyed when I saw it (which I never told him so shhhh 🤫). I absolutely love it.
Certificate that Robert made for me

The 100DaysOfCode challenge had been something that I'd aspired to for years, but never followed through to completion. I had tried it a few times before only to get frustrated and quit after a few days. When I started this journey, I didn't really believe in my ability to make it to the end. I had a little ember of hope floating in a sea of doubt and multiple past experiences of failure. It went beyond 100Days to all of the times that I'd attempted to learn to code and gave up because of self-doubt and life.

One small decision to try again turned into another small decision to post in the CodeNewbie community, which turned into another small decision to join a study group on GitHub that Robert, who I didn't know at the time, had recently started. Each day for 100 days, I made the small decision to code, to read, to keep going no matter what.

As I was nearing the end of the challenge, I made a small decision to join a 30 Days of Machine Learning (ML) challenge by Kaggle after another codenewbie, Matt C @mccurcio , encouraged me to do it along with him. I had taken a course on AI and ML a couple years ago, and I didn't really have an interest in it, but I decided to participate anyway. It was the best decision ever! I quickly became enamored with ML and data science.

The more I learned, the more my path shifted from software engineering to data science. I started reading some books, subscribed to some newsletters, and signed up for Codecademy PRO, working through their data science pathway. It was going great, but I felt like I needed more.

I came across an Instagram ad for a data science bootcamp through the division of continuing education at the University of North Florida (UNF). They are partnered with Springboard and offered a data science curriculum with weekly technical mentorship calls. My small decisions had prepared me to make the medium-sized to join. October 4th was my official first day of data science bootcamp. It's all online and self-paced, and I've really enjoyed building my Python skills and learning about all the data modules (pandas, matplotlib, seaborn, scikit-learn). Plus, my mentor is really cool.

At the same time that I was finishing 100Days and contemplating the bootcamp, I also made the decision to reenter the workforce. I had interest from two aerospace & defense companies that were looking to fill safety & reliability engineering roles. I received and accepted an offer from one of them. I'll be starting next month. It was quite the time coding, interviewing, and deciding on whether or not to go to bootcamp while still mom-ing, but here I am, off on a bunch of new adventures.

Final Thoughts

If I could only leave you with one thing, it would be this: no matter how terrified you are or how many times you've failed in the past, make that small decision today. You never know where it'll take you.

Until we meet again, code on!

Oldest comments (7)

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nehamaity profile image
Neha Maity

Congrats on finishing 100DaysofCode! I've loved reading your entire journey up until this point. It was very inspirational to read and human as well! My life also had plans to make this year busy. I wrote one blog post in January thinking I'd blog at least once a month and here I am and I haven't written since. I was feeling frustrated at my last job and was applying and interviewing throughout the summer. I finally got an offer and am much happier at my new job. Now that my passion for coding has reignited, I want to try to work on projects outside of work and try 100DaysofCode myself. Since graduating with a CS Bachelor's degree, I have not done a concrete project outside of school/work and I now know that's okay. I've also learned to be a lot more graceful with myself if I wasn't able to meet past goals and expectations and plan to carry that energy with me through the rest of this year and beyond. Best of luck on your journey!

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anitabe404 profile image
Anita Beauchamp

Neha,

I'm really glad that you've enjoyed my posts. Congrats on changing jobs and finding something that's a better fit. I'm so happy for you! It makes a huge difference in energy level when you're in a role that adds to you (instead of draining you). Now that things are more settled, I hope you're able to get back to your side projects.

You've learned some really valuable lessons throughout the years. Self-compassion plus the better job will do wonders for you. I know that you will do great things.
And again, thanks for being here.

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adiatiayu profile image
Ayu Adiati

Congratulation for finishing #100DaysofCode, Anita!!!! 🎉🎉🎉

What a nice certificate! Congrats for that too!!!
I wish when I finished my 1st round, I got sort of certificate too 😄

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anitabe404 profile image
Anita Beauchamp

Thanks Ayu! It was a really nice gesture. Robert is cool like that.

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r002 profile image
Robert Lin

Congratulations, Anita! Haha, you finally posted this final entry! This is so awesome!! Well done!!

I totally agree with everyone though-- it's been super-inspiring to follow your journey! Thank you so much for sharing with the community!

Ah, now I'm getting emotional too. I remember that night you finished your 100 days and I made that certificate. I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you so much again for joining our little study group. It's been so great to follow your daily progress these past few months! I've really learned a ton from you. And always the most interesting things!

I just started my own new job last week and things have been busy and wonderful as well. Congrats with your new job start next month! Haha, look at us! We did it! We really did it!! 😊🎉🥳

Code on!! Like you said, it's just small steps, every day. Just make a small decision. Just start. And then just keep going. Be open to the unexpected; course correct as necessary, steadily along the way; and just climb into the arena. Greatness and the promised land await!! 🙂🚀

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anitabe404 profile image
Anita Beauchamp

Haha, yes. I finally finished out the series. It was good to get it out of my head and into the community here.

Your study group has meant so much to me. I'm so glad that you responded to my first post and that I signed up to join you. Congrats on your new job too. So many awesome things have come out of our little study group.

To the next 100 days, heehee. 🥂

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r002 profile image
Robert Lin

To the next 100 days!! 😀🥂