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I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

blog.jenniferdewalt.com

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Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#261

Post by [deleted] »

edw519 wrote: post #99
sivers wrote: post #54

There’s this great story from the book “Art and Fear”, that's very appropriate here: === The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bath…

This is a great reason to do what is often frowned upon by us high achieving Hacker Newsers: get a job. I have worked on so many projects in so many jobs that I lost track long ago. But it's always been the same: Get it done, good enough, on time! At first, I was always frustrated that I wasn't delivering product up to my own standards. But a funny thing happens when you do that hundreds (or thousands) of times: You…

[deleted]

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#262

Post by kamaal »

rickhanlonii wrote: post #252
amerika_blog wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe in "just do it" and worry about the details later. However, on the internet, there is a worship of "hard work" that strikes me as emotional more than real. Hard work is 1/2 of the equation. The other part is your wiring: intelligence, skill, etc. Not everyone can do everything. We can dumb down any task to the point where anyone can do it... but at that point, it's a bubble waiting to pop.

Hard work is half of what equation? Is the equation 'success in life as measured against everyone else,' or is the equation 'success in life as measure against yourself'? If the question is the latter--which is the only question a person should care about--then hard work is very close to 100%. This isn't an emotional claim, it's a rational and evidence based claim. The reason that there is a rightful reverence to har…

>>Hard work is half of what equation?

I'd say the full equation is to find a worthwhile goal to work hard on. While learning, the 'How to build 180 websites' goal works fine.

Hard work is fruitful only when applied in the right direction. Work 16 hrs/day in a large corporate and all you will get is some middle manager taking credit for all your work, grabbing all the milk and honey for himself and throwing some peanuts at you along the way.

If you are good, find a lofty goal, which is in your best interest and work on that.

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#263

Post by lispython »

sivers wrote: post #54

There’s this great story from the book “Art and Fear”, that's very appropriate here: === The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bath…

Beautiful story, but when think about the details it may misleading.

If the only object or the judgment criteria of the quantity way is quantity, and without any deliberate practice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practice_(learning_method)#Deli...) why the students finally not just only develop a way to produce high quantity product?

It's not the same way MacCready solve Henry Kremer's problem (http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/the-wrong-problem/), although looks similar.

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#264

Post by chiachun »

edw519 wrote: post #99
sivers wrote: post #54

There’s this great story from the book “Art and Fear”, that's very appropriate here: === The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bath…

This is a great reason to do what is often frowned upon by us high achieving Hacker Newsers: get a job. I have worked on so many projects in so many jobs that I lost track long ago. But it's always been the same: Get it done, good enough, on time! At first, I was always frustrated that I wasn't delivering product up to my own standards. But a funny thing happens when you do that hundreds (or thousands) of times: You…

I like the story very much!

And that's a great project, Jennifer.

Perfect practice makes perfect!

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#265

Post by jmtame »

I looked through your comment history to see if you already answered and couldn't find it. What happened when you got stuck? I'd suspect there were points where you couldn't figure something out; it tends to happen when you become frustrated and you have to take a break. You mentioned that you had no previous programming experience. How much time did you spend learning before you created the first app on day 1?

I ask because this goes against the pattern I've observed in most students. I was involved in starting Bloc, which is an online programming bootcamp. I think the #1 value proposition is having a person there to help when you get unstuck. It's fascinating to see you overcome the learning curve on your own which affects most people trying to learn.

Just so I can fully understand: did you have any human interaction or assistance during this entire time? That to me is the most impressive part of this. A lot of us had TAs, professors, group projects where we worked closely with others. I don't know a single person in my own network who has learned to program on their own without any human help.

Hope it doesn't come across as if I'm belittling what you've done or seem skeptical, this is really impressive!

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#266

Post by samstave »

hkmurakami wrote: post #214
samstave wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my first jobs out of highschool was as a cad drafter for an architecture firm. As the low kid on the totem-pole, I was given the tasks that were not liked by the architects: drawing detail sheets and reproducing blueprints. -- both tasks were highly repetative. I took both as opportunities to find a meditative cadence to the work. I actually really enjoyed the rhythm of taking plots of large 30x42 inch drawing…

I've definitely had that moment before through repetition, in a rather unlikely subject: manually doing Fourier Transform integrals.

Is this something you could teach me?

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#267

Post by ceol »

petea wrote: post #235
eieio wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell this is an account that was created entirely to post negative responses in this thread. How sad. (it was created 1 hour ago and the only comments from the account are negative posts about the article: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=petea ) To me it just confirms what the GP said: plenty of bruised egos in this thread.

I created a new account to avoid precisely people like you psychologizing libelously about who I am. I feel reassured that it was a good idea to create a new account.

Translation: "I know what I'm saying is coming from a place of extreme bitterness, but I don't want search results for my name showing these comments to my potential employers."

If you're going out of your way to create a new account to voice your opinion, chances are your opinion is shit.

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#268

Post by unreal37 »

bencollier49 wrote: post #97
thenomad wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm, isn't 10 hours a day approximately one full-time job? If she's, say, taken a six-month sabbatical to learn to make websites, this seems eminently reasonable and doable without speculation about mental illness.

Also doing it out of a paid-for shared workspace. I mean, I love the stuff she's doing, it makes sense that she'd be able to do it working full time, but she must be independently wealthy to be able to afford it.

It doesn't take much to save $10,000, which is more than enough to fund 6 months off work to learn something.

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#269

Post by ceol »

eieio wrote: post #232
petea wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So let's see her repository ( https://github.com/jendewalt/jennifer_dewalt ). This girl not only became a competent front end developer in 100 days, but looking at the Gemfile, she knows how to use capistrano, redis, capistrano, paperclip, omniauth and devise? She knows the best practices for Rails perfectly. She not only grasped to use MVC perfectly, but also organized asset codes perfectly in like 50 days. I forgot…

As far as I can tell this is an account that was created entirely to post negative responses in this thread. How sad. (it was created 1 hour ago and the only comments from the account are negative posts about the article: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=petea ) To me it just confirms what the GP said: plenty of bruised egos in this thread.

These guys tend to come out of the woodwork when the focus of the article is of a certain gender, if you catch my drift.

Re: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115

#270

Post by ceol »

petea wrote: post #217
jenniferDewalt wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. This project is meant to be a jumping off point for learning to code. On day 180 I certainly won't be an expert at anything, but I'll have the tools I need to keep exploring.

>chacham15: For example, websites which require back-end technologies generally fall into the latter category. The skills learned in perfecting the former are somewhat different than the skills necessary for the latter. The funny thing is you already knows unbelievable amount of backend code for a beginner. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6099489 )

Did you see her initial commit?[0] It's the default Rails app. Any tech-savvy person can throw that up on github in a day if they know nothing about it. The next time she changes the app/ directory, where all the actual Ruby code goes, is two months later.[1]

Absolutely nothing she's said has given the impression she is trying to mislead.

[0]: https://github.com/jendewalt/jennifer_dewalt/tree/258e91c40f...

[1]: https://github.com/jendewalt/jennifer_dewalt/commit/c0d02c8c...

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