Hacktoberfest In November and 2/3 thru The Iron Yard

This week I participated in my first hack-a-thon, hacktoberfe.st. This was conveniently put on at The Iron Yard, and also coincided with the end of the 2nd month of classes.

So…what difference has a month made?

A lot. Things that used to keep me up for hours (like figuring out which code goes in my controller) are now becoming second nature. Not necessarily easier, but more familiar. And new concepts are becoming easier to grasp, like Javascript (who knew?).

Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean that I don’t constantly feel like I am failing. Like writing code, that feeling of failure is becoming more familiar to me everyday. I am taking it more now as just another part of the process. I try not to stress myself to the max over every project. This is still hard for me, cause I like to succeed. But I am learning that just cause I couldn’t do it last week doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to next week. I have to keep working at it, even if that means that many of my projects are still works in progress.

I would say that the one thing that has changed the most for me has been my willingness to try. And by try, I mean to raise my hand and sign myself up for something that I am not convinced I am ready to do. Like a hack-a-thon.

What I didn’t know about a hack-a-thon was that it was meant to be fun. We had sausage and beer and crazy bavarian music playing all night. And I didn’t know that there were interesting companies that come by to tell you about their upcoming opportunities. These sorts of things help me to put my hard work in context, and let me see that there is something on the other side of all this.

Not only did I participate, but I volunteered myself to create the backend for an app. Do I know how to create the backend? Sure, kinda. Do I know how to create a mobile app? Not really. Do I know how to create the backend for a mobile app? Not sure, but I am trying. Next weekend I am participating in the 3 Day Startup at UH. Do I know how to start a business? Umm….maybe I will next weekend. All I know is, I have to try stuff, cause it is the only way I can see myself getting good at anything.

And that my friends, was not the way that I thought 2 months ago.

I am not normally a person that likes to wing it. I like to be planned and prepared, and most of all educated. But the pace of our learning and the amount of new challenges given to us on a daily basis seem to be freeing me of that. I feel like if I am going to this far, then I might as well try some more stuff. So in a way, all this failure is building my confidence.

Now I just need to figure out how to get enough sleep. That is still a work in progress….