Hey, so I’m going to start trying to have weekly write-ups where I catalog all of the things I’ve done, tried to learn, or experienced (at-least from a technical and professional lens).

To start off, I got the chance to get in touch with a mentor this week. He currently works at Microsoft, and comes from a similar background and went to Lambda, so I feel like he can impart so much knowledge and wisdom to me, that I’d be a fool not to listen and learn. I feel like there is so much more in the world of software engineering and computer science that I just don’t even conceptualize yet, and that is the most freeing yet constricting feeling in the world. It just emboldens me, however, to continue constantly learning, having no zero days, and pushing myself beyond my boundaries to absorb everything I can experience. I started reading through the System Design Primer to really start thinking about designing large scale systems, worked through some more leetcode practice, and did some data structure & algorithms study using the Berkeley CS61B course.

As a team lead here at Lambda School, I got the chance to once more make the rounds with my Merriam Webster Dictionary application tutorial, where I built out a dictionary searching app that searches the Merriam Webster collegiate and Spanish dictionary API’s, and renders out a list of dictionary cards from that API and the search term provided. This is built pretty much entirely in JavaScript to showcase DOM manipulation, axios, Promises, and components.

In Labs, I’ve also worked more with my team to help finalize the 1.2 release of our app, Get 2 It. I’ve been heavily involved in the back-end since me and the team inherited this project, and this week was no different as I had to make some key changes to the categories table we had, and how we were integrating it into the tasks table to fix some issues the IOS team were facing in saving their local save storage to integrate with the back end so web users logging in with the same account would be able to see those local saves.

I’ve ran through a good chunk of FreeCodeCamp already, but I’ve made even more progress on the JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms section. I’m really passionate about becoming a better engineer, and I just feel like knowing how to work within the framework of choice isn’t enough for me. I need to know the underlying why’s and how’s, and I think understanding all of these theories and underlying computer science concepts is only going to exponentiate my development progress.

I made it through the first introduction of Stripe’s promotional book they ran with Lambda school “The Art of Doing Science and Engineering” by Richard W. Hamming . I don’t entirely know what I was expecting with this book when I first got it, but I have to say, it’s still not what I expected so far. It seems geared more towards self-help with the process of thinking, with just technical concepts as examples, instead of a technical or professional book on becoming a better engineer. While this isn’t a bad thing, I don’t often read these styles of books, and I think I may have had an unconscious bias towards wanting the professional or technical book, rather than a “how to think” book, so I’m still in the stage of cautious hesitation with this book, but I gotta say, I’m rather optimistic. I know it may not be what I expect, but I still may be able to glean some incredible insights out of this text and improve myself as a software developer and engineer, because in the end goal, I’m really focused on that end goal.

I’ve devoted myself a lot this past year towards that end goal — countless hours buried deep in poorly written documentation, or obscure stackoverflow answers, learning the latest technology or framework, or working heavily in a text or collegiate course, and so often my days don’t afford much time to “waste” so to speak, so I’m gonna try and remain cheerful and read a few more chapters of this text before I make a more serious opinion, for better or worse haha.

With that note, this week was no different in my goal (or should I say marathon race) to achieve expertness and mastery over my craft. I know now that even though I know very little (and in the grand scheme of it all, probably always will) , I’ve made huge progress, and compared to where I once was, I’m well on my way and ready to move towards the next stage of my engineering career. I can only feel a burning desire to work with such a fury to learn and let my brain absorb.