Alpha Camp: Week 1 of 12 Learning Journal
A new beginning
Back to a classroom environment for the first time in years! Okay, not that long, but it’s still been a while. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed meeting new people of completely different backgrounds with no agenda other than making friends! As an adult (stay with me on this), we don’t often get this opportunity. I suppose I do experience something similar at church, but there is a difference because in that setting when I meet someone new, I tend to be welcoming someone to church. To my 12 classmates (I hope I didn’t leave anyone out…), it’s been an awesome first week with you!
The rest of this going to be in the ORID format, so forgive me if it ends up seeming rather robotic!
1. Objective:
What did you do this week?
Ruby programming! I’ve done the Codecademy version before (as you would know if you follow my blog), but those were really just the basics of syntax. Watched the Lynda videos on Sunday before, and they were really helpful — highly recommended. At this bootcamp, we ran through the basics and then dove into Codewars katas and Leetcode exercises.
Culminated with building a tic-tac-toe game with my teammate Joelle. Only got to level 2 (building a “computer” player that plays random moves), and my level 3 “smart AI” only works for the first two moves so far… may revisit it when I have time.
2. Reflective:
How did you feel this week?
Well honestly the week was tiring (more so than work) because I was in a new environment and pushing myself to learn as much as I could. I do find that I thrive in academic environments (no, Greg, not going for a PhD), because I love challenging myself to do better.
And like I’ve already mentioned, meeting new people is great. Everyone’s quirks (and blur moves — not naming names, but…) are still at the amusing phase, maybe because the pressure hasn’t hit yet! Haven’t laughed this much for a long time.
3. Interpretive:
What did you learn this week? (not a lecture note) Any reflection, questions, and problems
I need to keep an open mind and learn from everyone.
I also need to stop my natural instinct to Google for solutions and snippets of code, so that I can force myself to learn the slow way — reading through documentation.
4. Decisional:
What are you going to do next week? (plan or goal for the next week)
More of the same! Realized that it really helps to be prepared for class. I think because we proceed at a much faster pace than in college, I can’t just skip the prep and wing it in class.
That’s all from me this week!