Bang your head! Tech stuff will drive you mad!

If at first you do not secede, bang your head on the desk a couple of more times. Then step back and look at it all again.

Trying to install custom HTML snippits in VS Code. Looks super easy. Follow the tutorial perfectly. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/userdefinedsnippets#_create-your-own-snippets

Go here.
Select HTML
Paste this in the json file that opens.
Save it.
Done.

Fails to work. OK, delete file and try again.
Fails again.
What the... oh wait. The html file I am trying it in is coming up as a django-html file. What if I pick django rather than html?
SUCCESS!

Get A Big Picture View

 One of the things that has come up when I am helping people is that they don't just need to create a solution, they need a solution that works well with what others are doing. Your solution shouldn't create headaches for others.

This isn't just a coding thing, but in all things. Moving the teapots to the 3rd shelf might be a solution, but some of the folks who use the teapots are not able to reach the 3rd shelf, and now they have to get the step stool to make tea.

Sometimes you need to step back for a minute and get a big picture view of what's going on.

I think I work better on a team

 I have an interview today with Boeing, so I fired up our capstone project, and realized I am missing the insanity of that time, chatting with folks as we try and solve problems, playing with all the different personalities as each person takes different ways to approach them.

I've been doing some stuff on my own, but I think I work better on a team. 

My 1st interview

 I had my first real interview. Not just for a coding job, but ever. All the jobs I have had in the past were the type where you talk to someone for 10-15 minutes, and they say "Can you start Monday?", or my 20+ yr office job where I came in as a temp, and after 6 months they asked if I wanted to become an employee. 

I bombed it. Big time. 

In the first 2 minutes, I said something that was overly friendly, and then all I could focus on was how I messed up, so then I did it again, and again, and it became a downward spiral.

Afterward, I could tell you every single part I messed up. 

Meeting with LaunchCode giving me feedback on the interview.

Them: We got feedback. 

Me: I ::: covers everything I did wrong :::

Them: Yep, that about sums it all up. So what are you going to do about this for the future?

Me: I am going to ::: list out the things I need to do :::

Them: Yeah, that is what I was going to suggest. I think this is the fastest meeting like this I've had. You know what to do, now you just need to practice more.

9 Rounds project

 Since I am trying to come up with projects that I can make to improve my coding, and to show what I can do, here is an idea I have. 

You have 9 rounds of 3 minutes, with 30 seconds of rest between each round. 

Push the button, you get a countdown: 3, 2, 1, Beep! [start timer]

At 3 mins, Beep! [start rest timer]

At 27 seconds, 3, 2, 1, Beep! 

Must avoid having the 30-second break after the 9th round. 

After the MVP is made, go for being able to pick the number of rounds, length of round, and length of break. 

Nice easy JavaScript, HTML, CSS. Might add-in sounds to go with the countdown. 

Things that make you wonder

I connected my project to MongoDB. Nice and easy. 

The tutorial shows what happens if there is an error in the .env file. 

I duplicate it, changing the url in the .env file, and stop nodemon from running, as nodemon does not rerun if you make changes to .env files. 

I start it back up, and it crashes as expected. 

I fix the url, and start it back up. 

It crashes. 

Using that weird logic that says "What if you do this semi-random thing?" and added a space at the end of a line in a non .env file. 

Boom! it runs. 

I remove that useless space. 

It crashes. 

I feel like I need a comment that says "Leave this space alone. If you remove it the system crashes. We have no idea why". 

Also, I am getting a lot out of this tutorial by Raddy: 

MERN Starter Tutorial for Beginners - https://youtu.be/0osXx2oJu44

Being a teacher... again

 Woke up, started the coffee, sat down at the computer. 

"Hey, I might be building an app for someone. How do I set up a full-stack project? Like, what did you use to set that up?" 

::: Blink blink :::

So I am trying to walk them through that on a high level.