I started programing with the intention of gaining a new career.
\nIt was quickly apparent that I would be good at it because I love to solve puzzles & to create.
\nAfter finishing DevBootCamp, I see that being a programmer isn’t just a job\/career but a lifestyle.<\/p>\n
LIFESTYLE CHANGES:<\/p>\n
#1
\nI wouldn’t normally write a blog. I’ve kept journals in the past but I’ve never felt the need to publicize them before. I asked my friends as to why it was important to make a public record of my thoughts and the struggles.<\/p>\n
There were two consistent replies:
\n1) To show employers who you are.
\n2) To give the community an opportunity to help you though your struggles.<\/p>\n
I dislike the first answer. \u00a0As I write these entries I don’t want to be worried about how they make me look to employers. \u00a0I would censor myself as thus invalidate the ability for other programmers to give me guidance while I struggle.<\/p>\n
#2
\nI normally avoid noisy social media. Previously, I would rarely look at Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. \u00a0When I use these I often get lost in the sea of noise. I understand that they can be extremely useful to keep in touch with developments in the tech community. Once I have a better focus on what I need to know and who are the right people to follow, I’ll give it another attempt.<\/p>\n
#3
\nThere is always something to learn. Let me try again. There is always, ALWAYS something you MUST learn. \u00a0The constant development in this field doesn’t allow you to become complacent. The first thing I would tell anyone who wanted to become a developer\/programmer, “Be prepared to spend 4 – 12 hours every week outside of your job on self improvement. That you will have to attend conferences, meet-ups, and research just to keep up with the changes in the field.”
\nIf you don’t have the drive to keep moving forward after achieving your goals to ask “How can I do more? How could have I done that better?” Then a career as a developer isn’t for you.<\/p>\n
—
\nI love programming. I wake up each day wanting a new problem to deconstruct into little solvable chunks. \u00a0Each chunk has a hundred ways to solve it, but can I find the most elegant and efficient way to do it.<\/p>\n
Finding a job is that same challenge. It isn’t just finding a solution to unemployment. It is the search for a community that will keep the fire within me burning so that I will want to keep learning more.<\/p>\n
The worse thing I could do is take a job that feels like a job. Something that makes me want to escape everyday at 17:00. \u00a0I rather than stay until 20:00 because I love the problems I’m solving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I started programing with the intention of gaining a new career. It was quickly apparent that I would be good at it because I love to solve puzzles & to create. After finishing DevBootCamp, I see that being a programmer isn’t just a job\/career but a lifestyle. LIFESTYLE CHANGES: #1 I wouldn’t normally write a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-developing-programmer","category-personality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35,"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karstencode.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}