First things first, can I just say that I've never had more need to snack, sleep, and recharge from all the extroverted activities we've had to do? I've never been much of a snacker...more of a sit-down-and-eat-a-nice-filling-meal-at-the-end-of-the-day kind of person. However, now that we're constantly being injected with so much new info and knowledge each day, it's like my brain is burning through its fuel so fast that it can barely keep up without an hourly dosage of granola.
Day 1: Excitement
I think I can safely speak for everyone in my cohort that there was not a single soul there not to be excited in the presence of other strong, likeminded women. Here I was, in the cream of the crop of picks at Hackbright, finally fulfilling my dream! We spend a good half of the day going through the long but necessary laundry list of housekeeping details.
Later, we split up into our Hogwarts houses (Gryffindor--I've always known I'd be in your house!), met our fellow housemates, came up with our attendance cheer ("Code More!"), and split for lunch. I had a great time getting to know a few of my cohort mates as we bonded over talk of food. In the afternoon, we had a short lecture on mazes and algorithms, and split into pairs for our first pair programming session. Even after having slogged through the painfulness of Scratch before, I was apparently still not immune to Blocky's similar traps. I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around these programs.
Day 2: Exhaustion
With the lack of sleep from the past week, the exhaustion had started to really kick in by Day 2. I found myself really focused in lectures and engaged in conversation, but by the afternoon I was really starting to feel that sleep would be a big component in ensuring success in this program.
Two of the biggest things I learned on this day?
1. Try to give things a try, and not just on the “try / except” statements (sorry, I had to do it), but in opening my mind to new ways of thinking and being willing to break code to make code (as aptly put by one of our TAs). I was so set on how my partner and I should place our code in this newly introduced method that I felt bad when our instructor came over, broke what we thought was a good code, and showed us that what my partner had suggested might be a solution was right after all. Also, being exposed to the beauty of the “while True” loop was not lost on me; thanks pair programming partner! You have opened my eyes to why two heads is better than one.
2. There is no way I should think that I could go out on a weekday night now and not suffer. I went to my boyfriend’s friend’s birthday dinner in Palo Alto after class, and as birthdays go, ended up staying there until close to midnight. What happened at the dinner? I can’t really say because the whole time I was there I wasn’t there; all I could think about was sleep and homework. Lesson learned: stay close to home on weekday nights lest you want to be the Debbie Downer of the bunch!
Day 3: Accomplishment
Nothing says a good week like a good Hump Day. Though I was still tired from the night/week before, I came in ready to tackle the day.
During pair programming, my partner and I honed in on math functions/operators and with every additional “Further Study” challenge we completed, the more I could feel my confidence get a small boost. My partner reminded me the useful range() function when it comes to iterating over an arbitrary number of arguments that a user inputs. range() has always been a weak spot for me as it hasn’t been drilled in my head that it is a number (or set range of numbers), and not an actual list to iterate over. I feel like I still need to solidify my comfortableness in using range() in the next couple of days.
In the afternoon, my partner and I were so engrossed with our self-made calculator that we decided to power through the challenges until the end of the day. It was an immense feeling of accomplishment that could not be beat by even the throbbing headache that ensued afterwards.
My boyfriend being the saint he is, came over to cook me dinner while I napped off the headache. Needless to say, I cannot be grateful enough for the wonderful support system I have so close to home!
Day 4: Rainy Thoughts
So I knew this day would come; I had always felt the self-doubt bubbling beneath the surface long before Hackbright, but it didn’t really come out to play until Day 4 when I felt myself struggling to keep up with my partner on coming up with solutions to create our own list functions that didn’t use built in list methods like extend, append, etc.
Just FYI My partner did give me full disclosure that she had experience in the material, which I really appreciated because when I was struggling to understand how she came to the solution she did, I was able to pick her brains on her thought process. She was really patient in explaining it over and over again until the light bulb started glowing, although it did not fully light up until I took the opportunity to read the code repeatedly while she was at her advising session.
I guess I thought I had the concept of lists down before this day, but it turns out that slicing them is a whole other beast.
To top it off, it started storming that day, which I’d like to think was a reflection of my own mood, and while I was walking in the rain armed with groceries to the Powell Muni station, I realized I had left my coffee cup still half full of coffee on the shag rug in the lecture hall. To ease my mind, I ended up walking back to Hackbright, found out someone had already cleaned up my mess, and decided to leave a “sorry” post-it next to my seat.
Day 5: Fri-Yay!
By the time Day 5 rolled around, I decided to take the encouraging notes plastered all over Hackbright to heart and reminded myself that hard as it may be, this is not an arms race. Everyone learns at their own pace and are their own benchmark of success. Did I acquire knowledge I didn’t know a week ago? Hell yes. Did I push myself out of my comfort zone? I would say so!
It was great being able to socialize with the Hackbright staff during our Friday night social. I got to know a bit more about Joel, Kiko, and Ahmad that I don’t think I would have otherwise been able to. It was also just nice being able to relax and have a good laugh with everyone during Taboo.
I can’t wait to learn more and finally be able to acquire all the knowledge I need to build my independent project and call it my own!
Just FYI My partner did give me full disclosure that she had experience in the material, which I really appreciated because when I was struggling to understand how she came to the solution she did, I was able to pick her brains on her thought process. She was really patient in explaining it over and over again until the light bulb started glowing, although it did not fully light up until I took the opportunity to read the code repeatedly while she was at her advising session.
I guess I thought I had the concept of lists down before this day, but it turns out that slicing them is a whole other beast.
To top it off, it started storming that day, which I’d like to think was a reflection of my own mood, and while I was walking in the rain armed with groceries to the Powell Muni station, I realized I had left my coffee cup still half full of coffee on the shag rug in the lecture hall. To ease my mind, I ended up walking back to Hackbright, found out someone had already cleaned up my mess, and decided to leave a “sorry” post-it next to my seat.
Day 5: Fri-Yay!
By the time Day 5 rolled around, I decided to take the encouraging notes plastered all over Hackbright to heart and reminded myself that hard as it may be, this is not an arms race. Everyone learns at their own pace and are their own benchmark of success. Did I acquire knowledge I didn’t know a week ago? Hell yes. Did I push myself out of my comfort zone? I would say so!
It was great being able to socialize with the Hackbright staff during our Friday night social. I got to know a bit more about Joel, Kiko, and Ahmad that I don’t think I would have otherwise been able to. It was also just nice being able to relax and have a good laugh with everyone during Taboo.
I can’t wait to learn more and finally be able to acquire all the knowledge I need to build my independent project and call it my own!
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