Friday, April 24, 2020

Failure, and yet...

I had some thoughts during my free time last night. I’m kind of set on a programming job now, and there’s little reason for me not to go ahead and pursue it. I have no geographical limitations, and if I get a job then I can purchase a vehicle and pay rent. I am taking classes, but I should have some chronological leeway in when I finish the degree. Ideally, I would work for a year, and then with some experience and money I could return to education, and then go back to programming at the end of that.

I’ve got two weeks of class left in this semester and then a week of break (probably?), and after that I’ll have another eight weeks of class. If I get a job before I start those eight weeks, I should be able to drop them without repercussions. If I get a job and can start after those eight weeks, I can probably survive taking the one class I have left to finish the semester. The best case scenario would be for me to start a job in August or in the middle of the summer semester, work for a year while taking one class each semester, take a semester off from work to do student teaching and finish off my coursework, and then return to programming in what would be January of 2022.

SCHOOLWORK
I was generally productive. I didn’t complete any assignment, but I did (I hope) the bulk of a presentation as well as an interview which I also transcribed as needed. I also did a unit of the CLEP test prep.

EXERCISE
In addition to planking, I decided to work on my arms more when I think about it. I did bicep curls, dumbbell squeeze pressing (which felt like nothing—I think I need heavier weights), and decline push-ups from an exercise ball (which were intense).

SPANISH
I listened to a reading of the Alchemist on the podcast. Again, I didn’t understand several words, but I correctly answered all the comprehension questions at the end. I’ve been hearing Spanish in my head, and I’ve been able to come up with things to say, so I feel like I’m really making progress. I didn’t talk to Alexa or Mom yesterday, but I did two lessons on the grammar website—a review lesson about ser and estar, and another about negation. The latter was easy, but it solidified my murky understanding of words like nadie, ningun, and tampoco. I also found out that there is a CLEP test for Spanish, so I’m considering working toward that as a more immediate goal for the language.

RUBIK’S CUBE
I watched a couple of F2L videos and I was enlightened about two techniques that should improve my F2L. Generally though, I decided that I need to stop doing timed solves and focus on efficiency, especially with F2L. That’s what I did when I first learned F2L, and though it was a slow and slightly frustrating process, I think it was effective.

DIY
I sanded more wood. It takes a long time and isn’t the most fun activity. I’ll should be able to finish sanding with the 100 grain today, and then I’ll do it all again with the 220 grain.

PROGRAMMING
I discovered that my in-depth feature list and bug solution brainstorming document were not to be found in my transferred documents. I checked my old computer and couldn’t find them there either. Then I remembered that I lost several of those documents in one of the times that my old computer blue-screened. So, I gave up that route and decided to try just diving into the code to see what I could fix. The files that I transferred didn’t work, so I cloned the github files and they compiled. Unfortunately, the graphics were stubbornly reticent, and I couldn’t understand why from looking at the code. Thus, in a bit of disgust, I gave up on it for the night.

Yet somehow my determination to pursue programming remained undiminished. I looked up an old classmate on Facebook who works for a company that helps amateur programmers find jobs. I took a quiz on the company’s website, which apparently can get you an interview if you do well on it. I didn’t do well. I barely passed one section and failed the other four. Apparently, that still put me in the 40th-60th percentile of people who take the test… what? I didn’t feel like the test questions were difficult, but I wasn’t familiar with most of the languages or branches of knowledge. Anyway, I was still somehow undeterred and decided to look for jobs that I might enjoy.

I found two or three jobs not too far away that I would be interested in doing, required Java skills, but were not too strict about experience or education. I couldn’t ask for better. So, I think I’m going to apply to them. I also decided to research a few programming knowledge-based topics (as opposed to practical coding skills), and I might have a direction for portfolio projects as well.

MEMORIZATION
I spent over half an hour on this yesterday. Writing out the rest of Psalm 22 took time, and then I also typed it out with every other word missing. I think I’ll repeat this exercise today, and then try it without any help.

BIBLE READING AND PRAYER
I finished Mark with chapter 16. The devotionals talked about enjoying youth without clinging to it. This reminded me of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis and the fruit of the moment. I had less difficulty with prayer than yesterday, once I got going, but in the future, I’m going to do planking or at least some push-ups in the interim between reading and prayer to help me stay awake and focused. Maybe I can meditate while doing this.

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