So it's been awhile now but things have been busy. I knew I needed a real job as I am in a serious relationship and have some different goals in life. Thus I got away from programming because in my area I don't think there are many, if any, opportunities for a programmer or software/web developer. So I needed a new angle.
A buddy of mine works for an IT company and I was talking to him about what I can do. He suggested I get A+ certified for a job in IT. Thus began a new journey. In April I ordered Mike Meyers A+ certification prep book. It is for the 901 and 902 tests to become A+ certified. I read all 1200+ pages and scheduled the 901 exam. In June I passed the 901 test! It felt amazing to accomplish that and know the previous few months of time spent studying did not end in vain.
I began more heavily studying for the 902 exam when my girlfriend's brother got a call from a previous employer. He asked if he knew anyone that might be looking for a job and knew IT related things. He gave him my name Monday and that Thursday I had an interview. The interview went well and by the end of July I started my new job as an IT support specialist.
The first two weeks turned my brain to mush. The programming knowledge over the past 1.5 years did not help as much as I had hoped. I feel that studying for the A+ exam did. Six months ago I would not have known anything about terms such as DHCP, DNS, or Active Directory. I had absolutely no clue how laser printers work or why printers need such specific drivers to function with a computer. Why aren't they just plug and play like a mouse or a USB flash drive?! Well now I know and it makes total sense. Kind of. I don't know why companies can't standardize most print related drivers so they are more easily plug and play. Maybe there's something I'm not getting...
Anyway I suppose this programming blog may take a hiatus. So far I think I like programming better than IT. But like I said, there's not much opportunity for that in my area and I don't plan on moving in the near future. So tech support it is!
I do like my job, I just have to get better at it. I've just replaced my programming podcasts with IT related ones. I'm going to start a new blog based on things I've learned. Maybe I'll start on it next week. I'm going to see what Wix has to offer. So starting next week I will have a new blog focusing on operating systems, computer hardware, printers, networking, and general troubleshooting. Now that I'm actually in the industry it should prove to be a rewarding experience. Maybe next week it will have some real content. Check it out!
https://mimicoctopus5.wixsite.com/mysite
25 words or less: Changing fields. Check out my new site. Hope to have some content by next week!
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
New Year, New Start
It has been much too long since I've written anything. I listened to a podcast that suggested to wait until you have something worthwhile before posting/blogging anything. To be honest I haven't been programming the way I'd like to the past two months. The biggest reason is I was helping turn this:
into this:
So I was quite preoccupied, but for good reasons! Although not code related I learned some HVAC and electrical related skills. I also met someone who wrote code used in HVAC systems. All kinds of tech jobs in non "tech" fields. I would argue though almost all things are technology, just not computer technology and refering to things as "tech" could more accurately be described as incorporating and using computer technology into already existing technology. But that is a conversation that would not lead to any real benefit to anyone.
So now it is a new year and I have some new motivation to dive into code! (Not entirely unrelated to entering into a promising relationship. Got to start taking some things a little more seriously.) I revisited my scheduling app and decided to add a new section so the user could place a parts order, check the status of orders, and keep everything easily accessible as to what part it was, what job it is for, what store it was ordered for, and who ordered the part. As well as dates as to when it was ordered and if it had been placed and closed out. You can see a sample of this part of the app on my YouTube channel. That was somewhat during the recent remodel refered to earlier. So now with the new year I've decided to focus more on web development. I think I like that more so than other kinds of programming, at least right now. Over the course of my learning backend to frontend development (full-stack right?) I kept hearing and reading about a certain Javascript tool. Since it kept being referenced so often I decided I should look into this...
React
Building tremendously versatile web components with Javascript. I used Codecademy's course to learn some basics. One nice thing is they referenced an article at the end that helped you install it on your local machine. Then I went through Treehouse's course on React basics. That was very nice too as it walked me through a basic React app.
My overall opinion, both courses were equally good. They both explained things very clearly. I will give one advantage to Treehouse for this one as it was easier to see where to place each file as far as in the root directory or otherwise. I think they all would go in the root directory and the rest of it goes in the nodes folder, but I didn't realize it at the time nor am I knowledgeable enough right now to know for certain.
My biggest problem with both courses is they don't start you off on your own machine. The format of Codecademy understandably does not lend itself to using it on your own computer. Treehouse on the other hand has what they call workspace. I think I have expressed my view of it here before but suffice it to say I don't particularly care for that format. First they should explain how to set it up on my local machine, then how to use it. Workspace is definitely not a real-world environment. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that there are so many IDE's, configurations, etc. that it would be too much to make videos for every scenario one could have at home. However I am pleased they do have a workshop that shows what to do to be able to use React on one's local setup. (I only wish they linked to that before the React course) That may be the basis for my next post, the steps to setup React/Webpack/Babel with the Terminal on my computer so I can make my own apps with React. Then I will have it for future reference when I code my own React apps.
So essentially I learned a new way to use Javascript by learning React. I'm excited to say there is much more to come! I have a Raspberry Pi 3 being delivered tomorrow and I signed up for two courses on Udemy to help me learn more Python! Very excited! It's gonna be a good year.
25 words or less: There are plenty of resources. Take advantage of as many as you can!
into this:
So I was quite preoccupied, but for good reasons! Although not code related I learned some HVAC and electrical related skills. I also met someone who wrote code used in HVAC systems. All kinds of tech jobs in non "tech" fields. I would argue though almost all things are technology, just not computer technology and refering to things as "tech" could more accurately be described as incorporating and using computer technology into already existing technology. But that is a conversation that would not lead to any real benefit to anyone.
So now it is a new year and I have some new motivation to dive into code! (Not entirely unrelated to entering into a promising relationship. Got to start taking some things a little more seriously.) I revisited my scheduling app and decided to add a new section so the user could place a parts order, check the status of orders, and keep everything easily accessible as to what part it was, what job it is for, what store it was ordered for, and who ordered the part. As well as dates as to when it was ordered and if it had been placed and closed out. You can see a sample of this part of the app on my YouTube channel. That was somewhat during the recent remodel refered to earlier. So now with the new year I've decided to focus more on web development. I think I like that more so than other kinds of programming, at least right now. Over the course of my learning backend to frontend development (full-stack right?) I kept hearing and reading about a certain Javascript tool. Since it kept being referenced so often I decided I should look into this...
React
Building tremendously versatile web components with Javascript. I used Codecademy's course to learn some basics. One nice thing is they referenced an article at the end that helped you install it on your local machine. Then I went through Treehouse's course on React basics. That was very nice too as it walked me through a basic React app.
My overall opinion, both courses were equally good. They both explained things very clearly. I will give one advantage to Treehouse for this one as it was easier to see where to place each file as far as in the root directory or otherwise. I think they all would go in the root directory and the rest of it goes in the nodes folder, but I didn't realize it at the time nor am I knowledgeable enough right now to know for certain.
My biggest problem with both courses is they don't start you off on your own machine. The format of Codecademy understandably does not lend itself to using it on your own computer. Treehouse on the other hand has what they call workspace. I think I have expressed my view of it here before but suffice it to say I don't particularly care for that format. First they should explain how to set it up on my local machine, then how to use it. Workspace is definitely not a real-world environment. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that there are so many IDE's, configurations, etc. that it would be too much to make videos for every scenario one could have at home. However I am pleased they do have a workshop that shows what to do to be able to use React on one's local setup. (I only wish they linked to that before the React course) That may be the basis for my next post, the steps to setup React/Webpack/Babel with the Terminal on my computer so I can make my own apps with React. Then I will have it for future reference when I code my own React apps.
So essentially I learned a new way to use Javascript by learning React. I'm excited to say there is much more to come! I have a Raspberry Pi 3 being delivered tomorrow and I signed up for two courses on Udemy to help me learn more Python! Very excited! It's gonna be a good year.
25 words or less: There are plenty of resources. Take advantage of as many as you can!
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