"Newb chronicles"

Let’s get this blog going because much has happened that I’m just delusional enough to think folks might care about it. Space is a valuable commodity in my head right now. So much learned ……. so much to learn ….. My new found capacity for programming is taking over, future is looking bright so I got to wear (ruby colored) shades. 

Sooooo much has happened since my last post. I’m officially alumni of Code Academy and am enjoying the fruits of my mental labor. Like the satisfaction I’m currently enjoying from  making the Hartl Tutorial my bitch! I never realized how SWEET programming can be … love this shit! 

I gave a lightning talk two weeks ago outlining my story  —- & discussing a little A/B testing app I created. It kind of blew being near the end of Demo Day considering the crowd had thinned but I had a great time regardless. I bought a domain name socialmediatime.me to test the assumption that a user would enter their email to gain more information on how to turn social media into a career (because that’s what I did a few years back). So, the first component I tested was the <h1>Call to Action</h1>. By using the ruby ‘random’ method, the page will randomly display one of the four views when a user comes to the URL. It seems easy enough but caused my many headaches the last few weeks.

The lean Start Up concepts helped me realize how to capture the information I desired with the least effort (of course this was weeks after dealing with daily ActionMailer issues). I really didn’t need to send this information ….. why couldn’t I just capture it in the app itself and hide it from the users. So, a unique URL was created to capture the email and view rendered. 

Now, there was the issue of driving traffic. Luckily, I’m a pretty savvy marketer and even have an MBA (which has nothing really to do with driving traffic but I thought you should get to know me). Using a little social engineering and only have 4 days before my presentation, I utilized Craigslist’s ‘gigs’ section to attach my URL and drive traffic. There were a few bites but this post isn’t about social engineering, maybe a later date. I don’t have enough interest yet to call for a pivot from my consulting business. I do plan to test different components and different platforms and if the users validate my assumption the I’m going to highly consider pivoting from my current business model. I’d be offering up some of my teaching chops to help others and provide some authority to my own endeavors. 

I know that was a big chunk of ‘What the f*ck is this dude blabbing about’ but check out the slides & my personal website — I took two keyboards apart and re-assembled for the full screen photo on my site. I need to acquire a better camera to retake some shots but that one works with some photoshop for the time being.  

~Stay Tuned~ 

Love this keyboard! 

Amen! 

It’s been too long since my last post & I’ll go more in depth in the very near future but this slogan sums up the last two weeks. I’ve been a programming sponge —— Ruby on Rails class M,W,F, ruby class T,Th all while catering my clients needs, planning a wedding & outside programming. 

The Rails Guides, Railscasts & Ruby Koans have been my guiding light over the last week or two. They’ve also been a solid defense against the bruising. Out of all the moments I’ve fist pumped in joy there’s been twice as much time with my head slammed against the wall. There’s an ongoing issue of understanding the exact syntax in ruby and especially knowing how to articulate my programming issues into logical questions. Thank you Code Academy for supplying me with such a great community to help out my issues. I’m certain that if I keep up my routine and maximize my time with talented Chicago developers,  these problems will diminish overtime. 

This is the first time I’ve actually sat down and accessed the last few weeks and it’s amazing the breadth of knowledge I’ve already gained. When a problem in my code arises, I now know where to find possible solutions (which is half the battle). I’ll fill you in on the exact areas we’ve been jamming in my next post. For now, I’m diving back into the A/Bingo Gem to figure out if it is a good fit to test my landing page. 

bra·va·do : blustering swaggering conduct

Week 4 in is the books. I’ve created 3 ‘Breakable Toys’ Apps this week & understood the context of a few conversations at Geekfest — http://geekfest.gathers.us/ ~ so my confidence in Ruby on Rails is at an all time high. This new found programming bravado will probably be short-lived but at this point in my coding, blustering swaggering conduct may be exactly what I need. 

CODE & HOOKAHS  (Left to Right ~ Raghu skillfully blowing O’s, me & Keith probably on his Grindr account)

The pieces are slowly connecting— with guidance from the resourceful Raghu: http://rbetina.com/   *** Rails architecture has gained traction in my mind. It’s more like a shotty 3rd grade drawing than an elaborate blueprint but the foundation is there.

ROUTE , CONTROLLER & ACTION

MVC MODEL 

CRUD 

& most importantly TCOB 

Woody is spot on! 

Error messages have grown on me throughout these four weeks. At first, they were frustrating but once you realize how they’re actually telling you how/what/where they’re no longer met with disdain. 

“Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive.” - Bugs Bunny

~ Watson FAIL ~

The 3rd week of Code Academy is in the books and the onslaught of information has only increased. I’m proud to say I’m now ‘picking up’ concepts that were completely foreign to me less than a month ago. The only analogy I can conjure up for you is the first time I saw Caddyshack ——- specifically that magic moment things escalate between Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) and the lovely Lacey Underall! 

And there it was ………….. a BOOB! I nearly squeezed my Ecto Cooler  into dust manically searching for the rewind button! I didn’t know exactly why at the time but I knew I was onto something major …. & Ty Webb was my master!

That glorious boob catapulted me straight into puberty and now watching ‘Blood Sport’ with my pals was replaced with watching ‘Mannequin’ with my sister’s friends. 

The same feeling I got as a young lad (exchanging keyboard for remote control) occurred on the first day of Code Academy, when we created the ‘Hello World’ app. It was like, “Holy Balls! I just got my computer to talk!”

Though this is laughable easy now, seeing “Hello World” appear opened up my mind and once again, I was onto something major …. & I was dialed into a network of masters!  

Woman are ‘objects’ to Ty and by using a certain combination of ‘methods’ (in this case: wit, killer fashion sense & just not giving a F*uck) Ty has become a master in his field. Though these methods don’t exactly translate to Ruby on Rails, the idea of honing your skills through repetition is important for a NOOB. I’ve dived into all sorts of different research tools & are taking advantage of as many resources as my schedule allows.  

CURRENT RESEARCH TOOLS — We got bombarded with reading materials while entering Code Academy. 

• Hartl tutorial - We got advised to begin this before class & this puppy is no joke. I haven’t touched it since class has started but got through the first 3 chapters (can’t recall how). I feel this will be an important book to help push home the relationship between Ruby and Rails. 
• Learning Ruby - Chris Prine *** Probably the best book for a complete ‘NOOB’ I’m pretty much finished and often reference the book in these early stages because it’s pretty straight forward and the lessons aren’t grueling.
• TryRuby,org - a great and rewarding resource for a complete ‘NOOB’ 
• RailsforZombies - a clever approach to teaching foundations of Rails - I’ve finished the first two lessons but haven’t been able to grasp the 3rd at this point 
• Unix for Mages - I found to be really insightful since I didn’t know Linux at all and this is at the foundation for maneuvering around. 
• Apprenticeship Patterns - I read after the first day of class and is great at setting the tone and opening your eyes to learning philosophy 
• The Lean Start Up - My mentor made it a point to have me read this before we meet next to better focus my application idea. I’m about half way through and it’s a good read with interesting and relevant case studies. I studied Six Sigma in Business School so the origins of the thought are familiar to me. 
• Learning Ruby The Hard Way - I’m about 15 lessons in and this may be my favorite of all the books so far. Having to go through each line of code and hash out what each line means in English has helped resonate concepts in ruby. 

PRACTICE

- Many of the current research tools have supplied some lessons that take up much of my time trying to figure out. Like I said, currently I’m ‘Learning Ruby the Hard Way’ which is great because you’re constantly writing code & I feel muscle memory is half the battle. 

- I’ve been pair programming at least twice a week with different cadets which has been a great resource because not everyone learns in the same capacity and cadets have opened up my eyes to different ways of understanding. 

- Jeff Cohen (Code Academy Instructor) has been trying an approach this week that I’m digging. We’re in the beginning stages of learning the database relationship (rake:db migrate — seems to be a popular command from the CA Alumni). We’re learning all about the routes, controller, views, etc. Jeff will go through the steps on his own in front of the class, then the class will do the same steps with Jeff, then we complete the steps with our partner. This 3 part process has yielded positive results from not only myself but other cadets. 

- I’ve been attending Geekfest every week and thought the topics are way over my head at this point (Clojure & Smalltalk) — I’m taking away an overall picture of the programming community.

- I’m constantly leaning on my friend and Ruby developer, Lance Ennen to help ‘teach me the ways’.      

http://byennen.com/

- My mentor Brad Wilkening is a really smart dude and I look forward to having him ‘fill my cup’ .      

http://devmynd.com/

- Other mentors in the program have been very awesome and are going out of their way to not only help their assigned cadet but other cadets as well. 

- The entrepreneur class every Wednesday has a variety of valuable resources and there’s been a good energy in the room during that hour that is contagious. 

THINGS I NEED TO WORK ON 

- keyboard/textmate/ruby Commands

- some of those keyboard tutorials 

- everything and anything 

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much. 
Lao Tzu 

There’s no doubt that one day in the near future I’ll be running a program to have my computer laugh along with me while reading this post.

I’m still operating my consulting business but any other free time is devoted to fully comprehending what the hell is going in Ruby on Rails. My priorities are coding, social media & boobs (though just one set now-a-days). As you can see, when I’m truly passionate about something ——- it’s for the long haul! Though the verdict is still out on what’s more confusing … programming or women?   

http://hem.passagen.se/rauz/210015155.html

Code Academy: Refactoring Your Life

codeacademy:

Refactoring is the art of making your code simple, elegant and less redundant. When applied to life it takes on much of the same meaning. Seek simplicity, seek efficiency, seek adventure.

That’s the heart of why 93 students have chosen to refactor their lives with Code Academy. Each one looking…

We started our Development Class one week ago today (‘Learn to build dynamic web applications with the Ruby on Rails Framework.”) — BUT actually the ‘psychosurgery’ began two weeks back. 

………. These are not your normal students & this is not your normal learning environment. I’m not that many years removed from attaining my MBA, so I have some room to talk.

It’s not the norm when students are meeting before class even begins to “Do Work” —— At this point, most folks are probably Ogre’n ‘NERDS’ —- am I right? Well that may be the case, but these chaps are some of the most motivated people I’ve ever worked with! 

‘Surround yourself with passionate people’ is a priceless tactic. That shit is truly contagious! 

*** We got a dope location in the Hancock Tower where the ‘psychosurgery’ has begun & I wanted to include a photo of the view for y’all to see *** 

“holy mashed potatoes Batman!”

My journey began when Data, Mikey, Chunk, Mouth and I were looking around the Walshes’ attic when we came across an old newspaper clipping, a Spanish map, and an artifact relating to a rumor of a lost but not forgotten pirate treasure somewhere in the area. Am I just describing the hijinks from the 1985 Action-Adventure film by Richard Donner, ‘The Goonies’ (arguably the best movie of our generation)? 

I’ve worked around technology for the last 4 years now. I really focused my sights on social media and it has been an interesting and rewarding path. Anywho, one of my friends happens to be super tech-savvy and a Ruby on Rails programmer. We’d often get together to talk shop and soon I stared to become envious of this skill set he possessed. I really wanted to learn how to program but it just seemed so far-fetched, time consuming, expensive, difficult (I can go on & on). I had every excuse in the book on why I couldn’t become a solid programmer like my buddy. 

Sorry I digress ….. back to me & the gang in Mikey’s attic! The day the Code Academy website presented itself was the same excitement the boys felt in the attic when Chunk ‘found’ the map. The boys and I began our adventure ….. 

Chester Copperpot was an extraordinary treasure hunter & a kind enough treasure hunter to leave a trail for all who choose to walk in his shoes (because everyone knows that normal treasure hunters are total dicks!) He pretty much carved out a path for the Goonies to start their journey BUT boy did they exceed everyone’s expectations! — Since my journey thus far has mirrored The 1985 Smash Hit, ‘The Goonies” — I plan to do some exceeding myself.

In the beginning stages of learning Ruby on Rails and computer programming we’re blessed to part of a massive pay-it-forward community. It’s badass to have all kinds of ‘Chester Copperpots’ who are willing to make that time for us NEWBS & genuinely seem to want us to succeed. 

I seriously could go on for hours about how my journey to program is pretty much the plot to the Goonies but I think you get the picture …… It’s cool to be part of a learning environment that is so passionate (stay tuned) and to have entered into such a large community of sharp developers in Chicago! 

“Show me how to teach the mind. Show me how to reach the blind.” -DMX