It is very easy to be working your way through the curriculum, crushing lab after lab, but still question if you will be able to transfer any knowledge from this learning environment that we have all become so comfortable with, into a workplace that will inevitably be very forgein. I know this was how I was feeling until I had three different interations with friends who already work in the IT field and felt like I was able to hold my own when talking code jargon.
The first interation was with a friend from college who graduated with a degree in Computer Science and has been working as an AIX Admin for the last three years. Having known that I started an online coding program, he asked specifically what I was doing. I was able to explain what I learned about Ruby, I showed him my CLI Gem Project, and how my local environment was set up. He was honeslty astonished with the progress I had made in a mere 2 months. He said I already knew more about Ruby than he had learned during college. He also was impressed with my local environment set up, saying how he works on a very similar environment at his job. His praise was music to my ears. It’s scary working in isolation within the walls of an online school. I know I am learning, but there are always moments of doubt when I wonder if I’m learning the right things to get a job. After talking with my friend, I felt like I was finally viewing myself as someone who can make it as a software developer.
The second interation was actually with my fiance who works as a Data Protection Engineer. He is currently taking an online “Intro To Python” course within his Data Science degree. The class required a github account and for him to link it to the local environment he had to create. His school’s directions for setting all of this up were very confusing so he asked if I could help. Together we were able to set up his github account and make it work with his local environment. I even helped him to create his first repo and how to commit and make pushes to github. Two months ago I was terrified to use git commands, fearing I would break something, but now it has become so second nature that I was able to confidently teach someone else how to use git commands.
The third interation was with my fiance’s best friend who works as a QA Developer. He was also aware I had enrolled with Flatiron School. He texted me one weekday afternoon and asked if I had any experience with SQL. I was actually working through the SQL section at the time, and told him as much. He said a coworker had been asking him about how to parse through some SQL data, but he also did not know how and asked if I could look at the code. I was very nervous to offer my help, thinking there was no way I would be able to understand what REAL WORKPLACE CODE meant, but I agreed and told him to send it over. My first impression of the code was how messy it was. There was way too much going on within one file and the code smell was overwhelming. I was able to help him clean up the code, but without having access to all the information it was very hard to help him with the actual issue. I recommended a few ideas about how to work through some of the problems, but told him I wouldn’t be able to help much more without having all the information. He kept saying how impressed he was with how much I already knew and how I definitely knew more than most of his coworkers. AGAIN, WOW. The praise felt amazing. I really am out here learning. I can talk to people who are already working within the field and actually make legitimate contributions to a project or tech related conversations. It really is just an amazing feeling, knowing that all the time and frustration is paying off. I know I still have a long way to go, and a lot still to learn (the life of a forever learner :) ), but it definitely is worth it to stop and reflect on how far I have come.