Look we’ve all been there, man… You’ve got a task to do and you don’t feel like doing it. You put it off… you do the dishes (maybe even clean your entire house), or just play video games and go down youtube’s rabbit hole…
It’s procrastination: pure and simple. You’ve fought it since you were 13 years old and had a 15 page essay to write, due in 2 weeks. But as a dev or a programmer; new or veteran, you’ve got a job to do and you can’t just put things off (for too long, anyway…).
Let’s start off by trying to understand procrastination and then we’ll go into some techniques to combat it…well, ONE technique really but it’s pretty effective. When it come to procrastination there are really 3 problems at play and you could have one, both or all mixed in a cocktail of “I’ll get to it later…”, which is a terrible cocktail cuz it never gets made <baddum-ching>.
1- Fear: Ah yes, that old chestnut… But yeah, fear this isn’t going to work, fear that you’re not going to go anywhere or that you’re missing out on other things, etc, etc. 2- Being Overwhelmed: There’s too much to do, too much to learn, etc… 3- Boredom: This one is pretty insidious. We don’t really have the end goal planned out (the job we’re going to get/money we plan on making, the skill we’ll have learned, etc.).
The key answer for all these problems and procrastination in general is something your mom or even your teacher might have told you (and believe me, I hate to admit they were onto something too)…
…Do 20 minutes a day…
I know it’s so simple you almost have to laugh but it’s true. Doing 20 minutes a day of any activity has so many benefits but I’m only going to list a few here: -It’s an easy to achieve goal. 20 minutes can go by pretty fast and if you find yourself ‘getting into it’ and want to take longer, you can! -You tend to learn much more quickly if you expose yourself on a frequent basis to that activity you need to get done. Some interesting math: 20 minutes a day for 5 days a week (cuz we need our weekends) is 100 minutes. That frequent exposure is going to help your brain learn faster and more effectively than 200 minutes once a week.
I can’t even begin to tell you the length at which this is covered in the VLOG and shameless self promotion: 20 minutes a day is roughly how long the lessons in our courses (link below) are structured for, so don’t have to sit there for hours wondering when it will end with a fried brain. Check it out…after the video game, heh. Enjoy!
We received an email from someone recently who hasn’t worked in the field for about 10 years now. They have a computer science degree and are wondering about our courses and what they need to get themselves seen in today’s market…
The advice in this VLOG is good for both people returning to the fold and for those just starting out, but I’m going to cherry-pick a few good starters to <hopefully> whet your appetite…
– “In the last ten years the big change in the web development field has been front-side development: HTML5, CSS3, etc. and how people work with front-side frameworks a lot more than they did 10 years ago…”
-Freelance work or not, you should have some sort of website up and running. Designer or code-monkey, get something that “legitimizes your profession”.
– Our courses (links at the bottom) teach the basics, it’s true, but we also teach how to build “simple but real-world projects”, that way you can launch right into it. So in other words, “you won’t be building facebook (yet), but definitely the beginnings of facebook.”
-As a freelancer PHP is a good way to go because a lot of small businesses use PHP, but you’ll also get a well rounded education on the “fundamentals”, so you can use whatever you need to get the work done efficiently and quickly.
There’s sooo much more that is touched on in the VLOG and you would really be doing yourself a favor to check it out. In the meantime, check out the links below to the courses we offer. Whether you’re the new kid on the block, curious about freelancing or a grizzled old veteran who just wants to sharpen their skills, we have something for everyone.
Coffee and fasting increases your mental capacity by a considerable amount.
Before we get started, please consult a physician before starting any radical changes to your diet…
Coffee: Sweet siren of the morning, warm cup of non-judgmental love… Almost all of us are familiar with coffee in some shape or form, but it`s not just for sipping on while ignoring your co-workers in the morning. Caffeine in coffee has been shown to increase cognitive ability by 50% for about 2 hours within minutes of drinking it. As a dev or programmer, you could do a lot with that 50% bump…
Intermittent Fasting (24 hrs.): This will be wayyyy less fun than coffee… But studies have shown that fasting helps to increase brain functions and activity. Now, the first few times you do this, it’s gonna suck; honestly! But you will get past it and you can drink coffee (which also suppresses appetite), and water. Also, the best time to start a fast is right after dinner, the night before so that when you wake up from sleeping, you’re usually about 8 hours into your fasting and only have about 16 hours left (he said as if it was a good thing).
So there you have it! Feel free to do some independent research on these topics and listen to your body if you’re not feeling well. Check out the VLOG for some more fun and enjoy that first cuppa…JAVA…mwahahaha, I got a million of these!!
People tend to fall into “camps” when it comes to programming languages, operating systems, etc. They swear by a certain operating system or only code with a certain programming language… Simply put, if this is you, you’re going to have a bad time…
To use an analogy, “If I was doing home repairs…[I see] we’ve got some nails to hammer, I’m not going to pull out my screwdriver…”. “When you become a professional developer, you’re going to be language neutral. You’re going to look at all these languages as tools to leverage depending on the circumstance.”
Broken record time: it’s all about fundamentals. Learn your fundamentals, “…because every language, every technology has it’s purpose or has it’s strong points and weak points…with some exceptions, some technologies are just dated…and they’re old school and you’re not gonna use them anymore.”
Generally speaking “noobish developers will say that this language is the best and everything else sucks, and if somebody tells you that on youtube or anywhere else, you know by definition they’re noobs (…except for us LOL).”
Check out the VLOG for some other really fun analogies and a sweet dig at RUBY. It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t dig at it every now and then… Go out there, try it all and save the camping for summer vacation or FPS games!
We’ve touched on this before in past VLOGS but maybe you haven’t seen that one or you want a more up-to-date take on this subject.
So, short answer: Java is really best for web application development, and Android client development. It never took off for desktop applications (we go into more detail in the VLOG).
If you don’t believe us, check out the job market. We would venture to guess that very little to zero jobs are going to have you building desktops apps with JAVA; “JAVA is not client-side, …it is server-side programming”.
The VLOG comes equipped with not only my lovable mug crooning to you about all the finer points about this, but I also offer solutions to in forms of other languages and options that will optimize your time and output for creating desktop apps. You should check it out, it’s less than 4 minutes!
A top tip for solving complex development problems. This problem solving tip also works in all other aspects of life…except dating.
The number 1 problem solving tip, huh? I know, everyone and their mom claims to have the number 1 problem solving tip to end all problem solving tips… But unlike THOSE guys, ours isn’t just the top ranked, it’s also the first in a series of problem solving tips that we can continue if this gets popular.
So what is it, you ask? Strategy: “…to break down the problem into simpler components and then deal with those components individually.”
By taking a complex problem and breaking it down to it’s smaller components, it makes it much easier than trying to tackle this big, giant of a problem and either drowning in the sheer mass of the problem or just plain rage-quitting.
We tackle much more than just the philosophy of STRATEGY in the VLOG. We talk about how this technique has great roots in “object oriented programming” and even how you can apply this technique in aspects of your everyday life. Once you try it, it’ll be hard to solve problems any other way.
Come yung’uns, gather by the fire that I may tell you a story… well more of a walk-through really… The older kids have heard it before and have gone on their separate ways… Now, you’ll hear it and make your choices and go your separate way… I see you’re all fresh-faced and want to make a splash at being a developer but you feel inexperienced and unequal to some of the bigger boys and girls out there. You wonder, ‘what can I do to become a pro ASAP?’ Well huddle ’round the fire quickly and listen, before you start asking yourself why are a bunch of ‘young’ developers huddling around a fire to listen to an old man? Wait, what’s happening, where are we?!
1- Learn Your Foundations Well: Foundations being the languages; HTML5, CSS, JAVAscript, etc. Understand the client-server model, understanding the relationship between client computer, server computers, client apps, server apps, etc… <SHAMELESS PLUG1: Check out our links at the bottom to a bunch of awesome and beefy courses which will detail everything you will nedd to know>. 2- Frequency of Exposure: Simply put: the more you code, the better you get at it. You can read a book or watch a video but if you can’t put the theory into practice, how much have you retained? How much can you really use? <SHAMELESS PLUG2: Our courses have a wealth of questions, quizzes and exercises to make sure that you can put what you just learned into practice.> 3-Start Building Little Mini-Projects: You don’t have to build a “facebook” right outta the gate. Tiny, diverse projects will get you way more all around experience. Then you can start building small projects that actually do things for yourself or others. Ex: build a shopping cart that integrates with paypal, build a basic login system, etc… 4- You’re Always Learning New Things: Obviously, a developer of 10 years has a lot less to learn than a dev of 2 years that they’re STILL learning. It keeps you sharp and versatile. Which brings us back to point #1, if you’re well versed in your foundations, learning new stuff is pretty easy…
Well, that’s it yung’uns… Any questions or something you need more explanation on, check out this Vlog where we go into detail on all the points and of course, feel free to check out the links below to our courses, you won’t regret it <SHAMELESS PLUG3>. I’m going to go talk to our location director… -Enjoy.
Is it even worth becoming a “web professional” now and what does that even mean?
It can be strange how we categorize our positions and professions. For example, what one person would call a web developer, another would call a web designer. Then there are web programmers and specialties like “front end”, “full stack”, “back end” and “mid-thigh carver” ( I made that last one up, and yes, the last place I came from was the butcher’s…). So then what is a web professional?
And there are other questions, like is web development going to be obsolete with products like WEBFLOW and the like (products that will take away the need to code)?
With these titles and questions swirling around it can be very easy to throw up your hands and say what am I doing?! Is this even worth my time?!
The answer is: yes, yes it is and as far as ‘what is a web professional?’, well, that is a little more complicated…
First off, shameless plug: We offer kick-ass, detailed, and laboriously designed courses that will help to answer this question. So a web professional is kind of all these things combined in different ratios: designer, developer, front end, full stack, braised tenderloin ( I think I’m getting hungry…), etc, etc. Some devs may specialize in specific things (ex: back end or client side whatever), but it’s all in there. Hodge-podge is not necessarily the right word, but it’s the first word that comes to mind…
And how do you, as a web professional, ensure you know all these things or have a passable knowledge/experience with them? You learn. Either from having “been around the block” or by taking our course <another shameless plug, I know!>… But seriously, web development or whatever you want to call yourself is not going anywhere, in fact if the rate at which things are becoming more and more technological keeps growing, we’re going to need more and more devs at all kinds of different strengths and experiences.
Check out the vlog for a way more detailed and in depth explanation of this subject and quick side dig at RUBY… -Enjoy!
Should you learn it now or is Rust and Wasm an amusing diversion?
Alright so I’m not gonna lie, when I read “RUST”, the first thing that came to my mind was some kinda terrible alternative rock band from an even more terrible ROM-COM movie where the guy is like this pseudo tortured soul that looks like a Kurt Cobain knock-off and he’s so cynical and a drunk, but a “hollywood” drunk and not a serious one, cuz he’s still gotta be attractive to the ladies and he meets one of the bartenders (new hire), at the bar they play at and they start a casual, friendly relationship but it starts to become something more and he can’t get his act together cuz he’s been hurt and he’s scared so he drinks and ultimately chases the bartender away but one night he gets really drunk onstage and improvises a song where he basically uses all the most played out and cheesy mellow-dramatic cliches and everyone loves it and RUST have their first hit and they become famous and some more sophomoric crap happens and they end up getting together because love conquers all and he sings the bartender an acoustic version the infamous song but it has a whole new meaning now and they kiss and roll credits. Oh, and the movie is called “(t)RUST”…
…sorry…
“Rust and Web Assembly (wasm) allows you to write ultra-performing browser-based applications, because it basically compiles your code down to a binary format which all the major browsers today can run; so then it’s much faster than browsers reading JAVAscript code.” Rust is the programming language, and Wasm is a binary format that basically allows you to write super fast performing client-side code. But with all the other languages and frameworks out there, is it worth your time or just a fun distraction?
Well, “you would only really use this when you have client-side applications (meaning in web-browser applications), in web-browser processing that has to be done that is a little slow with JAVAscript. So it’s a pretty niche tech in my opinion…” Most people have computers that can handle the processing needs of most web apps when it comes to JAVAscript processing, so it sounds more like a fun distraction. “…maybe do a ‘hello world’ just to see what it’s about, understand the ecosystem, …where RUST and web assembly might come in handy”… so if you ever run across that situation where you need it, you can use it, but “it’s pretty niche, it has it’s uses and consider it a secondary thing: a tool that you have in your tool belt that you can pull out at the right time”. And as a general rule, people are going to have different opinions and that’s fine too.
Checkout the rest of the vlog for a more articulate explanation and stick around til the end to see a boat on the water from what looks like a scene right out of the (straight to DVD) movie: ‘(t)RUST’. I think I have a script to write… Enjoy.
Super quick vlog… Just wanted to say that I love all the questions I get from you guys, especially the really interesting ones that inspire me to make a new vlog. But alas, I am only one man. And I’m one man who also has to run a business… I sometimes can’t answer the sheer amount of questions I get asked. Please don’t feel like I’m ignoring you, chances are I may not even have seen it yet… Please feel free to repost questions on the comments section of the video; I do read those…although, sometimes I wonder why (the comments made can be ‘interesting’)… Keep asking your questions, I do love seeing them and answering as much as I can with the given time I have… Thanks so much and keep ’em coming!
