If I had It To Do Again…

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In my daily porusing of sites related to ruby and rails I came upon a wordpress blog…

Erik Brooke’s Blog and I really enjoyed reading it. The post that brought me there was becoming a junior rails dev. I am always interested in how people got to where they are, and he chronicles that here.

What’s also quite useful are some of the resources that he links to (hint: check those out, there are really good).

It got me thinking about what I would do if I had to do it all again…

Here is what I came up with;

1. I would have tried to become a web dev sooner

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I was always concerned that I wasn’t really technical. Sure I was an analyst, and I wrote sql scripts…but I never felt like a developer. In turn, I didn’t think of myself as one and I didn’t learn like one. I was interested in python and web development, but I didn’t go to the meetups, and felt that I needed to master sql before moving on. This is stupid. I should have just did it. Nike is right about that.

2. I would have calmed down a little in bootcamp
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It was hard, and I knew that going in. What I didn’t know was that I didn’t need to be a student, like how I was used to being a student. I should have relaxed more and not beat myself up so much about know everything the second it was taught to me. I still struggle with this one. I have been a perfectionist for wayyyyy to long.

3. I would have still started with Rails
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I might be bias, but the more I learn about rails, the more I learn…period. I learn more about front end. I have become better at javascript, I am soon to start learning ember. Html and CSS are in my blood. I learn more about Ruby, and why its so awesome. I related new languages to Ruby, and new web frameworks to Rails. Its stable, it works, it teaches me.

4. I would have keep doing the prework…everyday
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After I started bootcamp, the pre-work continued to help me understand the new topics. If i had this to do again, I would have done some everyday, no matter the assignment. These building blocks are so important. Now that bootcamp is over, I go back to these to learn and re-learn again. Practice makes permanent.

5. I would have been more concrete on how I learn
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Now I am in the process of learning how to learn and understanding how I, in particular, like to learn. The more that I learn these things the more I understand what it is that I need. I didn’t have this information before and I think that it led to more frustration than necessary. Now I know that I need to zoom in (drill down to the problem) and zoom out (more holistic perspective) to gain true understanding, I know that this process doesn’t all happen in a day. I expect that it may sometimes take me longer, but if I am to completely understand…then I have to go through the entire process.

6. I would have started a blog before all of this
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Writing this blog has helped me work out some things in my head. You got to get things straight before you just start randomly writing. So If I would have started out by blogging, I think that I would have arrived at a lot of these conclusions much sooner.

Just my 2 cents based on my journey so far. I wonder if I will feel the same way about all of my shoulds in a year or so.

 
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