This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Marissa Huysentruyt
I start a new position as an Apprentice Full-Stack Developer in July. š„³ It marks the first concrete steps towards my career transition.
Before weĀ beginā¦
Iād like to document my entire apprentice experience. All of it is up for grabs: the things Iāve learned, what tech or projects or lessons Iām working through, all my anxiety-ridden thoughts. But letās backup and bring you up toĀ speed.
April
Iām actively transitioning out of the public education arena and into software development. I worked as a band director the entire 21ā22 academic year, while at the same time earning development certificates, taking interviews, refining my resume, going to conferences, adding or updating projects within my portfolio, working with a few mentors, and basically just trying to learn as much as IĀ can.
I got an interview for this position, Apprentice Full-Stack Developer, and I was ecstatic! I didnāt know much about the company other than the fact they ran a developer apprentice program every 6 months, and a lot of their apprentices ended up working for them. I prepped, got through the interview, got really good feelings from the interviewers, and then asked the question, āWhat will the rest of the interview process be like?ā I thought that was a fair question since I knew there had been 226 applicants, with only 10 candidates even getting interviews. I felt great about that fact that I looked like a Top 10 contender, but the competition was clearly steep, and I knew it. Plus, the apprenticeship didnāt start until mid-July, so I figured they had 2 months to run through some serious tasks to weed out anyone who wasnāt going to be able to cutĀ it.
Then she answers āThis will be the only interview.ā
I know she explained the reasoning behind it being the only interview, I know I didnāt pass out or anything, but I was still stuck on those words. This will be the only interview. It was like time had stopped and my hopes at impressing enough people to convince them I was ready for this all went up inĀ smoke.
May
Fast-forward through a week of fanatically checking my email, I remember seeing an email come through from them. I wasnāt done with work, however, so I didnāt read it right away. I had it in my head that it was a rejection email, and I didnāt want that knowledge to weigh on my mind as I taught 10-year-olds about the rhythmĀ tree.
As soon as I got to my car, I opened that email, and to my utmost delight, I saw a congratulatory email! I was being extended an offer to take part in the July class of apprentices! I accepted, signed the offer, and now youāre caughtĀ up!
The Present
I accepted the offer, and I had 10 weeks before I would start. 6 of those were finishing out my school year, so frankly time to code would be severely limited. But I still wanted to make sure I got a few things done beforeĀ July.
June
Halfway through June, I was finally free! The school year came to a close, and I could focus more on my development goals. I knew I only had 33 days before my apprenticeship was supposed to start. Naturally, like the over-achiever I am, I made this giant, unrealistic list of things I wanted to finish before mid-July. I came up with the following:
- Recreate 3 websites (a theater š„ site, a cat š site, and a financial advisorās š²Ā site)
- Finish my Udemy course on full-stack development
- Implement a āworkā page on my portfolio
- Figure out how to use Google Analytics on my personalĀ site
- Update my resume with new technologies & languages
- Finish more Front End MentorĀ projects
- Complete more kata training onĀ CodeWars
- Design & deploy a website for my dadās honey & apiary hobby šÆĀ š
- Redesign the Neverland Travelers website
- Learn React, Node.js, Bootstrap and review the commandĀ line
- Develop a simple loan calculator
- Start a freelance project
Simple enough, right? Build a lot and get a job. EasyĀ :)
I have been coding for 11 days straight now. Side note that it has been awesome, let me tell you! I have a MUCH BETTER idea of what ārealisticā means before I start my apprenticeship. I tend to over-plan, so Iām not surprised that I have way more work to do than I actually have time for. But, in these 2 weeks, IĀ have:
- Secured a contract as a freelance developer
āāāI havenāt technically started any work yet, but Iām super pumped to be working with this designer! Sheās awesome, and her work has its own flavor. I hope I can continue to collaborate with her on a regularĀ basis! - Learned and almost completed a project with Bootstrap
āāāI got through the Bootstrap portion of my Udemy course, but I havenāt finished the final project. I need to recreate a homepage using Bootstrap. I understand the basics, know how to read through documentation now, and feel really good about using Bootstrap. I think it was easy to get through this because I have a pretty firm foundation with CSS, so I could tell how Bootstrap would affect certain elements. That was a coolĀ feeling! - Iām 85% of the way through the loan calculator project
āāāMy husband, whoās the director of design at his company, designed a really simple loan calculator for me. He gave me designs, walked me through the functionality, and set me loose! It has been really fun to develop this calculator! It should calculate monthly payments, and loan duration based on user inputs. My first pass was getting the HTML & CSS set up, with so many comments and notes on how I could use JavaScript to add the interactivity. During my next pass, I added a lot of JavaScript to set up what was displayed on the screen. Those user decisions change the formulas I had to use, so next was figuring out those actual formulas, and targeting the right user inputs. My husband kept laughing at me whenever he would see me looking up algebraic formulas! I was literally trying to balance equations on paper first, before I even got into my code editor. Anyways, thatās where my progress is. My calculations work. User interactions change what is on the screen, which points to certain calculations. My next hurdle will be to trigger those calculations on the button click, which should display results, as well as create a trigger to clear theĀ form. - Created branches for the work page and mobile menu on my portfolio
āāāWhen I say created, I mean thatās about all that got done. I havenāt completed or closed the pull requests yet. I havenāt done much actual code to improve these branches. But theyāre created and Iāll get to them. Soon IĀ hope. - Restarted my subscription on Codecademy Pro
āāāSo this wasnāt on my list, but itās been really helpful. I can tell I go in waves, and I couldnāt stand to start another round of instructional videos. Codecademy has more reading, and has me working through projects with some assistance. That just felt better for me at the time, and itās been great. I downloaded an assisted project, and created that. Itās a simple game, where you have to click on these closed doors, and avoid this chore robot. I did it, it works, so Iām proud! It had also been a while since I was on Codecademy, so going through all of their JavaScript modules feltā¦.dare I say, easy?! It helped my confidence a TON that I felt like I understood so much more in the JavaScript realm. With the assistive instructions, I also feel like Iām understanding better how to approach problems and projects. Iām looking at everything with developer eyes finally. Codecademy also has me working with the command line, so I got to do some reviewing there. Iām finishing recreating the Lodash library right now, and I want to get through all of the JavaScript modules before my apprenticeship. Thereās only one more, āIntermediate JavaScript,ā which should review things like error handling, Fetch API, andĀ classes.
Looking Ahead
Needless to say, I wonāt get through everything on my list. At least not at the rate Iām moving right now. But Iām very happy with my progress. I think, realistically, I can finish the loan calculator project, Iāll get through my Codecademy modules, complete that Bootstrap project, make actual progress on my portfolioās work page and mobile menu. And I can update my resume, thatās super fast. If I get more done, great! Thatāll be a bonus. I am beyond excited to start my apprenticeship!
Iām going to treat my future articles as a series. Keep your eyes out here for my reflections once I start the apprenticeship. My office is ready, my desk is all cleaned out and reorganized, I got a second monitor, so I should beĀ ready.
In 2 weeks, I can officially say Iām in a newĀ career.
The Apprentice(ship): Episode 0 was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Marissa Huysentruyt
Marissa Huysentruyt | Sciencx (2022-07-01T00:55:28+00:00) The Apprentice(ship): Episode 0. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/07/01/the-apprenticeship-episode-0/
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