Day 28

Today started with multiple review videos on the CLI Gem Project. I also was able to schedule my project review for Wednesday night. I’m looking forward to some one-on-one time with an instructor talking through my code. The project states:

BE PREPARED TO:
1. Explain your code from execution point to exit point. We’re making sure you wrote it and understand how it works, nothing else. 10-20 minutes
2. Refactor code. 10-20 minutes

If necessary, after the assessment, be prepared to:
1. Extend the application with a new feature, more data, a different domain etc. 20-30 minutes
2. Submit an improved version.

However, until then I’m pushing on.

Today I got through most of the SQL (Structured Query Language) section of the curriculum, 89% to be exact and I’m committed to finishing it up tomorrow. In this section I’m learning:
– How to create SQLite3 databases.
– How to create, update, select, and delete data from database tables.
– How to relate data within a given database.
– How to write SQL code in both my command line and my text editor and execute the code against a database.
– How to write Ruby programs that talk to and save data to my databases.

I have to say it’s more interesting that I thought it would be. In addition, I can see perfectly how databases fit into the whole web app ecosystem. It’s also fairly easy to pick up the SQL DSL (domain specific language) because it’s pretty much just procedural coding. I also have done a couple intro SQL Server courses in the Microsoft Virtual Academy so the vocabulary wasn’t new to me and I understand the 30,000 ft view of databases and relational databases.

I feel good about progress again after today. I had felt stalled (I know I was making progress though just couldn’t see it as much in the “numbers”) for a bit. Coming after SQL is Object Relational Mapping (ORM) and ActiveRecord, then Rack, then Sinatra where I’ll build my next portfolio project. After that comes Rails and when I’m done with Rails the job hunt can commence, although, I’ll still have more learning to do to graduate. After Rails is a bunch of Javascript, Rails and Javacript, React and finally Redux. It’s a lot but I know will move by at a good pace. My ambitious goal is to be done with or working on the Sinatra projects by 4/9/17. Two weeks to complete 40 lessons and 55 labs… that’s 7 per day. I think I like that. Instead of setting an amount of time to get things done completing a set amount of the curriculum. As long as I pull out projects which take much more time I think this could be doable in the long run. I wonder what my pace has been so far… 10.96/day is the pace I’m sitting at. Hmmm… maybe I’ll stick with the time format as I seem to be getting more done that way. Either way, I’m going to benchmark and see if I’m at 48 more lessons complete by next week and on pace. This is good.

Time spent today: 6:00
Time spent total: 124:21
Lessons completed today: 17
Lessons completed total: 307