Failing in order to succeed
After a long day at work, I got home at about 7PM so a teething, angry baby. Instead of being able to fit some work in right away, I had to put it on hold for a little while. Eventually, I was able to sit down and crank out some more JavaScript work. I'm in the second half of Andrei Neagoie's "Advanced JavaScript Concepts" and I've learned a lot so far. Between last night and today, I finished 2 large sections, one on object-oriented programming and the other on functional programming, both huge concepts in JavaScript and neither to be taken lightly. Andrei did a great job with these sections and I really feel pretty confident with the content. I'm still not proficient in either area, but I have a much better understanding than I did before. These concepts are used heavily in building React apps and I really only understood them well enough to copy the code before this, but I can now break down those portions of the React code and comprehend what's actually going on with the code. I still have a long way to go with JavaScript, but I'm inching closer to proficiency. I have about a 25% left of this course, and then I'm moving on to Frontend Masters.
I have another long day at work tomorrow, starting work at 6AM, and likely getting out around dark, so I'm hoping I can save some energy to get some work done afterwards. Doing the 100 days of code challenge on Twitter has really put an imperative on making sure I at least get an hour of learning in every day. There are some days, like today, where I was falling asleep within the first 15 minutes of studying, but the extra motivation set by this challenge kept me going. This blog also motivates me to make sure I spend enough to write something down, whether or not it's of any quality. At the end of the day, if I can keep these habits going, then I'll get to where I need to go. If I'm not regimented in these routines, things could easily fall apart. Creating this structure to my studying habits helps me self-motivate to get something done every day, no matter how trivial it is. There's no time for procrastination; sometimes you just have to put one foot in front of the next in hopes the end result will be worth it.
On a slightly depressing note, I received an email from the company I interviewed with last week informing me they were not going to move forward with my application. I fully expected this, as I felt the interview went pretty poorly, but I was still holding on to hope that it went better than I thought. I think this adversity is necessary for growth, though. I've been thinking a lot about my approach to interviews since I bombed this interview, and I think I'm coming at the interview incorrectly. I've taken the approach of full transparency, noting in the interview that I value mentorship in a team and that I need that mentorship, which is totally true. I think this sends the wrong message, demonstrating that I'm not confident in my skills and that I will likely be a big investment to get me the rest of the way there. The fact is, I do need this mentorship and guidance, but I think with a good team, I'll get this regardless. A good senior developer should understand the relationship with their junior developers and should offer that mentorship. If I can get through their technical interviews, then they should be able to gauge my level of proficiency without pointing it out to them in the first interaction. I'm not saying that I should lie to them in my level of ability; I just need to sell myself better. So, while I failed at this interview, it taught me a valuable lesson that should help me move forward, so that's a win!
Until tomorrow!
