1,050 hours

It took me 13 working days to complete my first 100 "work" pomodoros as a Junior Software Tester at Profectus Group.  Much of my time has been spent deep in documentation, trying to learn the key rules that govern Profectus RDM software, and I have even knocked off a couple of very simple testing and support cards.  My definition of a "work" pomodoro is time spent either in research or in writing, or put another way, time spent that I have something to show for afterwards, be it a completed card, communications with the team, or my own notes.  Breaks, chats, meetings, exercise, and anything that cannot be classified as productive work is not counted as a "work" pomodoro.

My daily average of "work" pomodoros for this cycle was 7.69, or a bit over 4½ hours, which taking into account time spent in meetings, stand-ups, and generally finding my way around the office, it's not too bad.  I predict that over the long term my daily average will sit between four and five hours, with the other two hours being taken up mostly in meetings of various kinds.

Everyone in my team is friendly and helpful, and although there is plenty to learn, I haven't been thrown in the deep end, and I am entrusted with the autonomy to chart my own path to proficiency.

We'll have to wait until August for my second pomodoro cycle, as I will be off from work after this week until I get back from my honeymoon.  Life is a lot brighter in light of a job to come back to.

Looking forward to doing plenty of good work upon my return.

1,000 Hours in Code: What Do I Have To Show For It?

It was not a happy day when I passed the official milestone of 1,000 hours of trying to become a developer.  I was still without a job, and long, painful experience had taught me that interviews in the offing counted for little.

So I saved this photograph in a draft of this post, wiped my board clean, and stenciled out the twenty-first matrix.  I intended to write a blog post about how far I've come in my coding journey and all the things that I can work with now, of which I had scant knowledge a year-and-a-half ago — Ruby, Rails, coding puzzles, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.  Instead, I turned off my computer and went to the gym.

A career change is always hard, and these days no-one cares much for the travails of a married man who dreams of providing for his family.  Looking for work is laborious, thankless, frustrating, exhausting, and depressing.  But what's the alternative?  I had to keep on going.

So the next day I turned on my System76 computer, for which I am most grateful, and spent the next few days studying hard on Udemy.  I put thoughts of whether I might get a job out of my mind and concentrated on studying and writing code — which, despite all the frustrations, I enjoy for its own sake — and to cut a long story short, fortune smiled on me two weeks later.

Those of you who follow me on LinkedIn will have noticed a small, but rather important update in my profile:

It's been two weeks in the job and I've almost completed a full cycle of pomodoros of productive work.  After going to roughly twenty interviews, someone finally agreed to give me a chance, and I think my colleagues will agree that I've grabbed it with both hands.

So, it didn't take me exactly 1,000 hours, but rather 1,015½ hours, but what do I have to show for it?  A mission accomplished and a career change effected.

Of course, in an important way, my work has only just begun: time is limited and there's lots to learn.

But if there's one thing I'm good at, it's making the most of my time.

Tick, tock, and all that.

112 Things I Have Learned about Ruby Programming

I worked through the excellent introductory course to Ruby by Boris Paskhaver on Udemy.com (https://www.udemy.com/learn-to-code-with-ruby-lang). The following is a list of things the course has either taught me or refreshed in my mind, which I hope will be of use to others.

Functional programming in #JavaScript makes a lot more sense now

It's a small step, but I'm excited for the possibilities it augurs.

Spent two hours on #JavaScript closures, but it was worth it

Lightbulb moment: pass by value vs pass by reference in #JavaScript

@AnthonyPAlicea does it again. He makes these things so much easier to understand.

Insight of the day: an IF statement relies on coercion

From @AnthonyPAlicea's course on #JavaScript, Lecture 27: https://www.udemy.com/understand-javascript/learn/v4/t/lecture/2237498?start=0
A real lightbulb moment for me.