Post-Bootcamp life is moving pretty quickly for me. I am freelancing, applying for full-time positions, networking, blogging, and building new projects, all while trying to research and stay updated on latest tech news and trends.
Needless to say, time management is of utmost importance.
How do I facilitate said time management?
Setting aside the appropriate amount of time for each obligation is made much easier with a time-tracking tool called Harvest. Harvest allows the user to track how much time they spend on a given project, making it a go-to tool to clock hours for freelancing.
Outside of freelance work, I have also been planning out my weekly activities in my own calendar, setting aside specific days and times for specific obligations. Assigning specific tasks in blocks of time in this way is very effective for me, in that I am able to hold myself accountable for finishing each task.
Projects
After finishing FlatIron’s Software Engineering program, I was encouraged to start learning new material on my own.
I was excited!… yet overwhelmed. There are so many useful and wonderful technologies that I find interesting, and I was not quite sure where to start.
As time goes on, I soon found out that I have been trained well enough to learn whatever technology I want on my own. FlatIron’s program has set me up for long-term success in this way; if I want to learn a new language or framework, then I just need to start reading the documentation, and get building!
Here are some of my current interests and post-Bootcamp projects:
Azure Developer Associate
Immediately post-Bootcamp, I knew that I wanted to learn Microsoft’s Azure services. I am fascinated by cloud services, and Azure quickly caught my eye. While researching the large public Cloud Service Providers (AWS, GCP, Azure), I was quickly taken aback Azure’s sheer number of data centers and high accessibility across the globe. I soon learned of some of Azure’s statistics and capabilities: Azure’s global network was used to stream the 2016 Olympics; Azure’s IoT capability is used to help prevent illegal rhino poaching in Africa; Azure is currently in use by 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
Needless to say, I was highly impressed with Azure, and wanted to start learning how to use it. Shortly after graduation from FlatIron, I pursued and obtained the Microsoft Certified AZ-900 certification (Azure Fundamentals). After learning the basics of cloud services, I started and am currently pursuing my next Microsoft Certification, AZ-204: Azure Developer Associate.
Node.js
Once I began freelancing, I knew the application I would be working on utilized a backend built with Node.js. To familiarize myself with Node, I wanted to build my own application with a Node API, so I began to brainstorm.
I ended up with the idea of scraping news sources that I follow and displaying them in one location. I want to include unbiased news sources all in one place, so that I have a desktop (possibly mobile) application that I can visit every morning for reading the news.
I have started building the backend API and scraper for this project using Node.js and Express.js. I am excited to finish the project and master these backend technologies.
Swift
Just yesterday, I was asked if I wanted to be sponsored for an iOS/Swift development course. I would take the course and the sponsor would pay for it, in exchange for the potential to do iOS development for the company.
Of course I said yes! I have my own iOS app ideas that have been bouncing around in my head, and I am excited to start learning iOS development to bring them to life!
Conclusion
I had been worried about my interests being stretched too thin across many different avenues. I struggled to answer the question: “What kind of developer do you want to be? Are you interested in Frontend? Backend? Full-stack?”
I never had a great answer, only because I am passionate about all of it!
I currently love my responsive frontend freelancing work, but I am also fascinated by the backend development skills needed for Azure Development, and I am excited to realize my full-stack and iOS app ideas in my free time.
I feel very lucky to be so interested and continuously passionate about tech. I am grateful to have found this field of study, one where I can constantly learn new things.
I genuinely believe that I will never be bored in tech!