From Front Desk to Front End p. 15 Code Blogging as a Newbie

So this is my first blog and my first time logging all of my experience with something, in real time. And well, it's almost been four months so I think I can officially call myself a blogger now!

I just thought I'd share what little I've learned/gained from this experience in the hopes that I'll start seeing more blogs from other Code Newbs like myself!
My friend @mckennabramble has been doing awesomely and is another great example of a simple format for blogging while learning!

So my first and most important tip is (and you're going to hate me):
Just go for it and write what you want to!

It can be tempting to think that you shouldn't write anything until you are an expert. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading experts writing about what they know (I do), but I also think that amateurs writing AS they learn is incredibly valuable.
It'll be indisputably valuable to you as the writer. Honestly, this blog is mostly for myself, to keep track, to not get too lost in the trees, to create a treasure trove of history to draw from when I am articulating my worth (to myself or a prospective employer). I push my weekly updates to my LinkedIn which is also primarily for myself, to build a history on the LinkedIn platform, to get myself in the algorithm, to post material that I can create a lot of tags to in order to increase my reach.

I focus on this first and foremost, and then I don't hinge too much on how many reactions or response I get I get. (But I do let the ~6 people that have DM'd me that they find my blog inspiring give me a little pep!)

Blogging as a newb is also great practice for when you are a junior developer because you have unique value to contribute to the company by articulating how you see your work. Your fresh perspective allows them to see the project in ways they may not be able to now given how long they have been immersed within the thick of the trees.

Now here's some slap and dash tips from my own experience:

• Add pictures- at the very least a cover picture. It will add intrigue and fill out your post when it shows up on people's feeds. That's the one marketing tip I follow consistently
• Update weekly at most- coding is hard, and while I recommend never leaving the comp for the day without noting down SOMETHING it can be a saving grace to come back to it later to fill in the details bc you have a week buffer.
• Make it doable. Just add links of the exercises you did that day if that's what you can do. But I do recommend giving yourself time to re-explain the concepts you found most difficult to challenge yourself on whether or not you actually understood, and to further solidify your learning. (On this vein, I also don't edit as I would if this were a finished publication in order to make this more doable for myself... I will def go over it once I'm done with my program, but I know that I am here to learn to code not write so I keep my focus in order to preserve my energy).
• Choose some fun and easy details to include that are personal to you. I started with music listened to during my session (but too much element of choice bogged me down, so I've settled on a playlist) and now I just mark down one activity I did during the evening to destress which is the vital antithesis to studying!
• Use the growing updates of your blog as motivation to code every day. No matter how small your steps, learning a new language requires regular immersion and having a log of the steps you've taken so far reminds you to keep going. Don't let it be too much pressure tho, your real life comes first and if you are also working full time and/or have dependents you may need to be more flexible with yourself by necessity. Nothing wrong with that. Even if you post irregularly, if you keep posting and keep going you're going to be a motivation to yourself and to others.

That's all I have! It really is that simple! Code Newbie makes it extra easy to plug into a format and an amazing community, and go!

I hope to see you fellow Code Newbies blogging!! ✨✨✨

Hi I'm Tauri, a Front Desk Admin from an acupuncture clinic in San Diego, Cali and an aspiring Front End Developer!

This is a continuation of my series studying Front End Development thru a bootcamp with Skillcrush and utilizing many amazing resources across the internet like Front End Mentor and LinkedIn Learning and many many articles!

Right now I'm learning the React library for Javascript!

Every 3 weeks I do a deeper dive into a topic related to being a full time worker and bootcamp student!
Look forward to: Week 18 Minimizing stress and distractions while doing a code study session

I hope you find content here that you can relate to and that inspires you to keep learning and growing. {:

Thank you for reading! 🌈

Wednesday 9/28/22

Started new Front End Mentor challenge.
React introduction to tags, attributes, expressions, and syntax for commentary. Back on Code Sandbox bc I am focusing on concepts first then the React development later, so less Github pushes for now!
Reviewed my notes on Guess the Word project, easily deciphered Math.floor() from the note I shared just from looking over the statement again and how the parts are relating to each other.
I had some basic questions about the functionality of a few small parts that I asked about on the Slack
🌺 Destress Activity: We beat Hollow Knight!!! 🎮

Thursday 9/29/22

I did a lesson in Skillcrush about organizing my code more efficiently and concisely with arrow functions and ES6 modules!
And I created my css style sheets, linked them into my HTML and started adding the tags and bringing in the images for my Front End Mentor pre-launch landing page project!

🌺 Destress Activity: Luigi's Mansion :video-game:

Friday 9/30/22

I skipped coding after work today in order to drive to Los Angeles and watch the amazing band Porcupine Tree play at The Greek Theater!
🌺 Destress Activity: AMAZING concert, such a vibe, so emotional

Saturday 10/1/22:

Carved out some time for some catch-up! Learned about Functional Components today by starting to mess with a name tag format.

Monday 10/3/22

I started to learn about rendering a Data Model and Building one, and holy cow I was not ready!! The first exercise was to build an unordered list by using a data model. Then we started to build a data model from scratch by first rendering the data model and my brain is really struggling to grock all the different pieces... I'm going to print out mine + the solution code and try again tomorrow!
🌺 Destress Activity: Luigi's Mansion 🎮

Tuesday 10/4/22

So the teacher's assistant showed me how she likes to tile her windows in Code Sandbox then write notes on a screen shot and 💥
So I spent all of my session today squinting at my first exercise from yesterday, and phew rendering array data models is kicking my butt! It took me a long time to identify each part of this process in my exercise, but I think I did it where #5 is also combined with the App.js module:

1. Build an array
2. Create a callback function
3. Map over your array with your callback function
4. Assign a unique key prop for each list element
5. Use the variable holding your mapped array

(PS this is not accurate, I find out next week!)

🌺 Destress Activity: Twilight walk with my love