Finale

It finally happened. I am pleased to say that I finally caught my big break and I am now working as a Software Developer!!!

After another temp job ended back in November I finally got fed up spending all my time doing stuff I hated. Sure the pay was steady, not much mental energy was required, and it kept me from thinking about the dev job hunt but I didn't want to waste my time any further. So I declined other temp roles and forced myself to focus completely on the job hunt. Sure rejection sucks but everyone has to go through it.

So started then I've been applying to an average of 25 jobs/week and reaching out to recruiters I knew on LinkedIn or through a mutual friend. I also sat down and started working on further with coding practices. It was demoralizing as usual and it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. Then I started getting feedback. People calling to schedule a phone screen at least once a week. As expected most interviews ended in rejection, one of which was really brutal I felt like a sucker for choosing this line of work.

I still kept my remote job, which helped me out because recruiters like to see that you are still working. One of the perks of remote work is that you can work from wherever you want, which I took advantage of in February when I went to Europe for two weeks. First week was in London, where I did the usual tourist stuff; the second week was in Germany where I reconnected with an old friend and spent some time with his lovely family in a small village.

Things picked up the moment I returned home. The day after my return I was taking two phone calls from recruiters, including a coding challenge. I was submitting resumes weekly through Angel List and Dice, and attending networking events. It was demoralizing but nothing I could do but keep moving forward. There was no temp job waiting to distract me any further.

Finally about two months ago I got a call back for a Software Developer role at a university. The university is in the process of developing a new web application and they needed an experienced Rails developer to help them out. It was a good thing I had that remote Rails job, which played really well in my favor. After a couple of phone calls with the recruiter and the lead developer I was offered a job! It's a contract role which could transfer over to full-time if the project goes well.

I'm on my fifth week. I apologize for waiting this long to write about it but I didn't want to jinx myself. I didn't want to start bragging about this, only for someone to tell me it was a mistake. I wanted to wait until I knew that it wasn't a mistake, or a misunderstanding of some sort. And it is real, and very satisfying. I'm up every morning at 5am, sitting in traffic for an hour, get to work at 8:30am until 5pm.

Two years ago I was working at a startup doing mainly administrative work. At the start of each day I'd take the long way to my desk so I can walk past the dev team's corner. I didn't understand what they were doing but I was intrigued. I resolved to do what they were doing. I was clueless as to how: I didn't understand basic programming terminology, I didn't get good grades in college, and I didn't know anyone who would mentor me. There was a point where I felt like being an admin was the best I could ever hope to become. Then things got better; little by little. I found Coding Dojo, I met people, I traveled, I took more chances and walked away from old habits and lifestyles that didn't fit the image for my future.

It probably would have happened sooner if I hadn't been so scared of rejection. If I had kept pushing through all of the bad stuff I would have noticed sooner just how smart and important I am to a lot of companies who were desperate for good programmers.

I'm not really sure what advice I could part to you at this final post. I'm not really good with final words. I've ranted a lot and I'm sure you picked up some do's and don'ts about coding bootcamp and job hunting. If you'd like to know something else in particular feel free to shoot me a message.

I guess I'll leave things like this: Thanks for following me. You've all been the greatest.

Post Graduation Entry #3

Wow, I've been away for a long time that I forgot for a while about this blog. My bad. Anyway, since my last entry I've been applying to dev jobs while working temp jobs to support myself. It was a roller coaster ride and I admit that some weeks I didn't follow up with anything and just distracted myself with the current work and my social life. Job hunting does get demoralizing and sometimes I didn't want to think about it.

Then came July when I caught my first break. Back in June one of the dojo's career counselors posted a job opening for a remote web developer position. I applied and a couple of weeks later I was speaking with the manager. We exchanged a few emails and a month later he offered me the position. It's part time, and remote, but it was my first break.

The main language and framework being used for this position is Ruby and Ruby on Rails. This was one of my strongest fields and so getting started was really easy. Most of my tasks involve front-end development and the implementation of API's for converting databases into PDF's. When the manager first gave me these conditions I panicked for a moment before tackling and I found that I quickly adapted to learning new materials. I guess that's one of the benefits of learning three stacks.

So that's my current dev job. Since it's part time I take other temp jobs to fill up my schedule and increase my income. Most of my temp jobs involve data entry and they do get really boring, even when the pay goes above what I usually get. I get excited when the job is over so I can head over to a Starbucks and spend a few hours writing code while drinking an Americano (traffic gets really heavy and I can't concentrate at home). It's not ideal; I'd much rather be in an office setting and coding full time but my dad often reminds me that I'm still starting off and I have my entire life to progress to my dream job. I try to keep that in mind when the days end.

So yeah, that's my first dev job. I said that I'd keep writing entries until that finally happens but when I wrote that I was thinking that it would be full time. So it feels like this blog is not yet complete. Maybe I should't conclude it just yet until the next opportunity comes up. I'll keep you posted.

Post Graduation Entry #2

I spent the first two weeks of the new year on the road. I've been wanting to check out the Pacific Northwest for a long time and I thought about getting this new year started with a trip. After that finished I returned home and went full mode on the job search. I also got another temp job to keep an income while looking for something permanent. I posted my resume on Dice and Indeed and applied for jobs through there. For most of January that was my job hunting strategy but it didn't pan out so well as I usually got silence but whenever a recruiter did contact me it was to tell me that I lack experience and therefore am not a suitable candidate for consideration. I try to explain that this bootcamp and my projects can show them that I more than make up for in experience but that didn't matter as much as years I have under my belt as a developer. 

I spoke to a Dojo friend who found a job in the last month of the previous year about my approach and he admitted that job boards like Dice and Indeed charge recruiters to post jobs on their site, meaning recruiters will want to get their money's worth and find a candidate who is at least mid-level. His advice was to keep my resume on those sites and perhaps I'll get a couple of responses but in the meantime look for jobs through other means. He recommended Angel List, since there is no middleman agency and most resumes and inquiries go straight to the hiring managers and company founders. He also suggested that I subscribe to Coding Dojo's job boards for their Seattle and Bay Area branches. 

So I changed my strategy. The number of applications I submit each day went down significantly but I was getting a few more responses for interviews. Since then I've had maybe half a dozen phone interviews. They seemed to go well but I'd end up getting rejections in the end. The market is competitive and it may not seem like it at the moment but the recruiter is also speaking to other people who are way more qualified than me. 

Most of my classmates are in the same predicament as I am. At least two got jobs straight out of the Dojo; one went back to his old job; one is working remotely; one has moved away to escape the expensive cost of living; I heard another one has given up entirely and will be taking a sales position; another one is doing a startup; and two went back to college with one of them getting an internship not related to development. The rest are still on the search. 

I speak to VT every now and then. Before he left he said that he was going to work on projects and algorithms until January before starting the job hunt. Since January whenever we do talk he's usually vague on his end. I don't know if he's going through the same struggles as all of us are. 

One of my instructors left the Dojo in January to become a freelancer and asked me if I wanted to help him out as a volunteer for a startup he's working for. I agreed to; good experience opportunity and it was a chance to learn more about Rails, which I neglected to back in that stack. 

I got a few calls from recruiters and they managed to set me up with a couple of interviews. Most of them didn't pan out either but one of them did offer me a position as a developer in the east coast. My initial reaction was to say no but after speaking with my family I realized that I shouldn't be picky. They cite my desire to travel and the harshness of the currently job market that requires me to have experience. I admit that this position is tempting for all those reasons they said but I am uncomfortable of leaving the Bay Area for a couple of years. I haven't spent too much time in the east coast and am not sure what might happen over there. But then again I have spent most of twenties in the west coast and not much as happened since I finished college. So I won't say no but I won't say yes just yet, fortunately I have a small window to consider this further. 

It's tough and trying. There are a lot of jobs here but way more qualified people competing for it. A nice college degree and a coding bootcamp can give you a leg up in this market but you also have to be a little creative, whatever that might mean to you. 

Post Graduation Entry #1

A lot of time has passed by that I feel like I should give some updates on life since graduating from Coding Dojo.

The week after graduation I got a call from the temp agency I use to work for and spent the next month working as a data entry clerk in Gilroy and San Jose. It was great to be back to work and taking a break from all those lines of code but I knew that I still needed to attend residency and work on the job hunt so I spoke to the instructors about delaying residency until the next month, in December, and they were fine. I still came in from time to time to use the office space to get some work done. I also joined a gym to get back in shape after three months of sitting in front of computer screens and stuffing myself with protein bars.

December came around, I finished my temp work, and I was back in the Dojo. For residency the instructor wanted me to work on at least three projects since that amount of work will often gain students notice for jobs. After much thought I thought about doing the following:

1. Treedentity - In the Fall of 2014 I took a class in college that was centered around applying technology for the community. The team I was with was tasked with designing a tree-leaf identification site for a middle school in Cupertino. I was the main developer for this project and without any knowledge of frameworks and libraries much of the code was written in manually, resulting in a rigid site with content that didn't change with the device it was being seen in. After this bootcamp I went back to the code, cleaned it up a lot, applied Bootstrap and the MEAN stack to make it into a single-page application that was more fluid and changed depending on the device it was seen in. Final code is on GitHub. 
2. Paper Crane Translations - Do you remember my German friend starting up his own business and asking me to design the website for it? Since the site was very simple and didn't require any back-end I figured it would be easier to do the entire site as a single-page application, henceforth used the MEAN stack. My German friend wasn't always available to give me his inputs so I used my spare time to create the logo and background images for the site. By the time he finally got back to me and gave me his inputs the site was ready for deployment. Today you can find it under www.papercranetranslations.com. 
3. Graffiti - My first two projects were easy and was not the best use of everything I learned at the Dojo. The instructor reminded me of that and encouraged me to pursue a more challenging project. The main bulk of Coding Dojo's curriculum focused on CRUD designs (create, read, update, destroy). Sites that allow users to make posts, update them, show them off to other users, and delete them if necessary are CRUD sites. Think about social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. So I decided to make my own social media site called Graffiti (you can write on the "wall" like graffiti) and using Ruby on Rails. I tried initially to do it on MEAN since I am very accustomed to it but after a week of solving one problem after another I realized that MEAN is not built for something of that magnitude. MEAN is centered around single-page sites and in social media sites often involve changing pages when users log in/out or visit static pages. After about two weeks of working on that project I deployed something basic. Check this out. It's not complete and there are a lot of bugs that I am unable to work out but I felt like a learned a lot more about Rails and how to implement complex designs. I also learned that it is important to work with others since sites like Facebook are so big and complicated that one developer cannot hope to understand every single detail on their own. 

Also, you might have noticed that I used the word "deploy". Up until residency I had no idea how to deploy sites after completing them. It wasn't until I got around to Graffiti that I was forced to figure that part out. It took a whole day to get it up online but once I did it became easy for Paper Crane Translations, which really pleased my German friend. I used Amazon Web Services for both cases and for the domain name I used Godaddy. 

I wish I could go into more detail about that and what else has happened since December but one of my college friends has asked me to help him out so I have to go and meet him. I have a lot more to say and perhaps it would be better to split this into two entries. 

Thanks for sticking around. 

Day 74: Graduation

The last day was yesterday and I should have written about it then but I missed that entry. I'll explain what happened.

I got there at the usual time. There was no algorithm this morning and everyone was working on the last touches of their final projects. I called my German friend again but his phone is turned off. I sent him a video demonstration of what I had so far and told him to get back to me with his review. After that I filled in the contents with lorem ipsum, German and English versions, so it could look somewhat presentable.

Rough draft website for Paper Crane Translations

VT had to a plane to catch in the afternoon and was planning to the dojo at 10am to SFO. On the last day of college everyone was hugging, crying, and telling each other how enriched their lives were made because of the other person's friendship. That wasn't the case here. VT was determined to get as much work done as possible for his team before he took off. I sat on the couch, coded whatever I could and waited for him to start saying his goodbyes. When the time came he said his goodbye to everyone. We hugged and said that we'll stay in touch. RS drove him to the airport. 

I was pretty much done with Ruby on Rails so I opened up the MEAN stack book VT has given me last month and I started reading through the first two chapters in preparation for the residency program I'll be starting next week. Three months ago I would have panicked at all this information but this time I felt calm and in control.

At 1pm the MEAN stack class started presenting. I watched the first two presentations before I got bored and went back to my desk. I started thinking again about the future. What will I do? How will I do it? Will I muster up the courage to do this or that? Will my time here have meant something? I was also feeling hungry. Nobody went out for lunch and we were told we'd get served pizza after the presentations.

Our class presented next. While I was waiting to present VT messaged me and asked how everyone was doing and encouraged me to do my best and to sent him some photos. It made me feel better that we were keeping in touch like this. I presented and as expected my site was the simplest, shortest, but most applicable out of all of them. After our presentation we had pizza, took our group photo, and then headed out for drinks. A couple of us disappeared as soon as the presentations were finished and some of us were left in disappointment over what had happened. I'll go into detail about that in a little while. We went to the nearby pub and had a couple of drinks and chatted about our time there. Some of the guys talked about getting food afterwards but after one drink I was so tired and so relieved that the bootcamp was over that I wanted to go home and sleep early. I said my goodbyes and walked back to the dojo and got in my car. I went to bed early that night and woke up the today wondering what this all meant.

I came to Coding Dojo with high expectations. In reality it was both a blessing and disappointment. I went on small rants like this in previous entries but let me try to lay it out for accurately and neatly:

Pros:

• Education: College thought theory but Coding Dojo took that theory and applied it into practical material. I learned not just to code but to code for an application that will be used in real life by real people with the hope that it can do real good. 
• Resources: When studying on my own I'd often run into problems but couldn't find anybody to help me get passed it. In here we were all studying the same things and it was easy to find others who could help us out. 
• People: My classmates made a good effort to connect in and outside the classroom. We ate together as much as possible and went out to celebrate at least once a week. They made me feel like I belonged there and not just a number. When it was over I made a few new friends who I feel like I could stick to.

Cons:

• Education: Coding Dojo offers to teach three stacks to give us diversity and room to learn a new stack on our own. The problem with this approach is that you do not learn how to master any of them. "Jack of all trades, master of none" was the quote that got passed around here. 
• Resources: Many times the instructors would lecture only a few times each week and then leave us alone to figure out the problem among ourselves. In the beginning this was a great approach but as the material got complicated we needed them around more. When that wasn't possible we became disorganized. 
• People: My class started off with a size of 21. We were strong, energetic, and wanted to work and grow together. After the first stack the enthusiasm wore off and many of us drifted off to do our own work. Shifting into a new stack after putting in so much work on the first one left us drained. Some of us opted to study independently and rarely showed up while others dropped out completely. Being in a confined space like this also caused emotions to flare up and many times we fought and allowed minor annoyances to affect us. In the end there were 10 of us left; exhausted and apathetic. Yesterday as soon as the presentations were done at least one left before the group photo was taken and didn't bother sticking around for pizza and celebration. 

Overall my experience in the dojo was decent but not the best. In hindsight I would have gone for a coding bootcamp that focused on only one stack (MEAN) with a duration of less than 12 weeks. Most of my classmates felt the same way. Some of you who have been following this blog might feel differently and if you still feel like Coding Dojo is a good fit then I suggest you go for it. There are some benefits to coming here and I have met plenty of students who have enjoyed their time here very much. This place matched their desires and learning styles and perhaps it will fit yours too.

So what happens now? I think I'm going to sleep for the next few days. I'm not going to code, leave the house, or see anybody, just sleep. After that I got the residency and my websites to build. I'm not always going to be coding so I'll also need to go looking for a job, any job. I spent all my savings on this endeavor and I need an income as I'm applying for a tech job. I heard of a few places that are hiring and I'm going to reconnect with a temp agency I use to work for. I also need to reconnect with some of my old friends who I neglected these last three months. One of the biggest pieces of advice I got in this place is to network but knowing people makes your life easier. Applying to jobs won't be easy but it's best to keep good friends around to make the waiting enjoyable.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. I tried to portray an honest picture of life in Coding Dojo that included good and bad days. I am still going to make entries but they won't be as frequent as this has been. I'll let everyone know how the residency program is going along with the job search. I'll make my final entry when I get a tech job.

Thank you all for your support and please keep checking in. 

Day 73: Final Full Day

Today is the last full day at the dojo. It is also the last day I'll be hanging out with VT. I did some updates on my friend's site but without being able to speak with him I cannot do anything more. The guy is a good friend but he's not perfect. One of his flaws is that whenever he's in Europe it becomes really difficult to get a hold of him. He usually doesn't keep a phone on him, or reserves it for European-only calls. And other times he's too entrenched with life over there that he can't be reached. And of course the nine hour difference does make it difficult to coordinate a good time to reach him. Over the years I've learned patients in my attempts to reach him.

Even though this is VT's last day there really isn't anything special we can do. We're treating this like any other day. He won't be around too long tomorrow to present his project but he wants to get as much done and have his partner present it. His partner is a student from one of the new classes. As for me after a few lines of code I took my computer and sat down on the couch and browsed through job listings and contemplated my future. In less than two days all of this will be over. What will I do then? I have my friend's site to work on but that shouldn't take too long once I get a hold of him. I do have to go looking for jobs. That's always been a daunting task, especially since my past experience with searches usually results in silence. I'd apply for a job and rarely hear back from anybody. I try to follow up but they either don't respond or tell me that they'll look into it further and disconnect as soon as possible. 

VT is always telling me that networking is the key to finding jobs since most positions aren't advertised and most recruiters want to speak with someone who they've seen in person at least once or a friend could vouch for. The career counselor did say stuff like that already and she advised us to attend meetups to connect with more people. I miss those days when you could just submit an application and you'd expect a letter or phone call in a couple of days asking to come in for an interview and if not then a rejection notice. Applying for college worked that way so why not it apply for a job? But I guess this is just another reminder that the real world is way more different than college.

Around 7PM most of the people went home, leaving only VT and I from our class here. Earlier in the day I suggested we go out for drinks or see a movie or something else before he heads back but he said that he has work to do so we settled for dinner at Denny's. We usually drive there but neither of us were in a hurry so we walked there. We talked about his life back in London and what his plans are for the next six months. He plans on dedicating the next couple of months to hone his skills and algorithm knowledge and then begin applying to jobs anywhere he can. In the meantime he'll work whatever job he can get and save up money. That's kinda my train of thought too. We both have our works cut out for us but it's important that we remember that we're not alone in these endeavors. Dinner went by and we returned to the dojo late. He went off coding all I could do was make this entry. Nothing else to do. 

I am worried about the future. I signed up for Coding Dojo to escape a rut of not being able to learn anything useful to apply for a job. I ended up escaping it but now I am in a new rut of not knowing how to get a job and do more with my life. Everybody kept saying I shouldn't be thinking about these things while I am in the dojo but now that I am on the eve of graduation I am filled with this feeling of uncertainty. 

Day 72: Saying Goodbye to RP

We said goodbye to RP today the best way we could: Korean BBQ. RP told us that back home beef is a rare commodity since land is limited and cows take up too much grazing space. So imagine our surprise when everybody stuffed themselves with steak and briskets. I asked RP if this stuff reminded him of home and not to my surprise he said it didn't. Well regardless the food was amazing and I ate more meat than I should have. I was even feeling daring and tried out cow intestine, which was chewy and had an aftertaste that reminded me of something you normally expel in the bathroom. We split the bill among ourselves but we covered RP's part. Everybody loves the little guy and having him leave us two days too soon was just hard.

The lunch lasted two hours with everybody eating up more food than they normally have eaten. The topic of conversation fluidly changed each five minutes and in the end it was about the freakiest Asian cuisine out there. One guy said that he once ate at a restaurant where they serve live baby octopuses. They float in your bowl and you just need to pick one up and stick it in your mouth but you need to chew it carefully unless you want it alive inside you. God forbid it tries to crawl out. I was visibly disgusted by it and one guy said that if I thought that was disgusting I should try eating live squid. He pulled out a video on his phone and showed it to everyone. I didn't see it but saw everybody disturbed. VT was sitting between us and when the guy turned to show it to me I burped simultaneously. VT thought I was going to throw up from the video and jumped up the table screaming. Everybody broke down and started laughing except me. I would have joined in on the laughter but I was disturbed by the one second of video I saw of what appears to be a squid trying to escape a bowl. It was like something you'd see from an alien movie.

During lunch a friend from college texted me asking if we could meet tonight so I could help him with a web development problem, which I agreed to do. I also needed to go to the car dealership to deal with a maintenance issue. RP also asked me to drive him to the place he was renting so he could pick up his stuff and then drive him to the Caltrain station so he could go to San Francisco where he'll crash at a friend's place and be near enough to the airport to make it there on time. So I had my day scheduled and it wasn't looking like I'd have any quality time at the dojo.

RP said his goodbye and everybody hugged and wished him the best of luck. At his place he gave me his spare travel bag and accessories he wouldn't be needing that including Korean facial cream. At the Santa Clara Caltrain station we hugged and said we'd see each other again.

After dropping him off I drove to the dealership and they said that my car needed to stay with them and gave me a loaner car. I was emptying out my car when I noticed RP's water bottle that he had forgotten. He loved that bottle and emphasized that he couldn't leave it behind. I have to remember to bring it with me when I go to Korea.

After getting the loaner car I drove home to rest for an hour before heading back to school to see my friend. He was working on a project that was very similar to Rails and I helped him the best I could. Afterwards he took me out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. That's two times today I had Asian.

Am home now. Super exhausted. Eyes are barely open. Need to sleep. Just two days left. Oh my god, how things are just winding down when I don't want them to.

Day 71: Sky High And Oakland Trip

After lunch everybody took a trip to Sky High, a trampoline center in Santa Clara, as an alternative to our game day in the park. We got passes for two hours and believe me that those two hours were more than enough for us coders who spend more time sitting in front of a computer screen than at the gym. All that jumping around and playing dodgeball on trampolines exhausted us and our muscles sore as VT and RP would describe later in the day. Even now my back is aching and it was a burden to carry my backpack around.

Today was RP's last day at the dojo. Tomorrow he will only be at the dojo briefly before leaving to SF to be near SFO so he can catch his flight on Thursday back to Korea. VT and I wanted to give him a proper goodbye so we decided to go out with him. He expressed an interest in Oakland, a place he hasn't seen yet so after Sky High we got in my car and drove off. We parked at a BART station and walked to Lake Merritt. The last time I was in Oakland was in December 2013 as part of a weeklong school trip and on our final night my group took a walk around the lake. That memory stuck with him and I wanted to show them the lake and we got dinner at a restaurant that overlooked it. After dinner I took them on a walk around the lake as I had done back then and halfway through we stopped at a bar to split a bottle of wine. Why wine? It was the first thought that came to my head and the others were ready for anything. We continued our walk and the guys talked about their plans for life after the bootcamp. We all want to get jobs but understand that it will take time. VT talked about working in the UK, then switched to Canada, then the US, and then suggested going back to school. RP expressed an interest in returning to the US because he doesn't want to live in Korea any longer. I talked about the goals I want to achieve as well. Everybody has ambitions to be somewhere and do something with their lives but I don't think any of us have a clue on how to achieve it. I mean job hunting takes time and for the ones who want to live in the US immigration is an issue. Most of us made things up as they came along, which is how life progresses for most of us. We ended our walk in an unknown location and with another long walk back to the car that none of us wanted to take. So we called an Uber back to BART and returned to the dojo. That was the first time I used Uber and it was very efficient. Along the way we listened to 90's boy bands on Pandora so we can reminisce about our youths. VT sang to almost every song that came up while I enjoyed the pleasant nostalgic feelings in silence.

I'm back home exhausted from the day, unsure about how to say goodbye tomorrow. I think back to my German friend and how in the early years of our friendship I'd be sad whenever he'd leave to Germany. I'd act like I'd never see him again but no matter how many times he left he always came back. Saying goodbye got a lot easier each time cause I knew I'd see him again. The last time he left home was in 2012 and when we parted we hugged and I said "I'll see you around", cause our goodbyes are never permanent. I told RP and VT that we'll stay in touch after the bootcamp and I'll make an effort to visit so our goodbyes won't be permanent either. When tomorrow comes all I could do is just say "I'll see you around".

Day 70: Start Of The Final Week

And so begins the final week at the coding bootcamp. I can't believe time went by that quickly. I don't even remember going home most nights. Maybe that's why I feel so tired most of the time. And yet I don't want it to end. There's still so much I feel like I haven't learned yet. I don't want to go home yet, even though there is nothing else for me to do tonight.

I spoke to my friend in Germany today and after catching up he told me about what he's expecting for his business' site. Three months ago I would have panicked at everything he listed out but this time I ended the conversation feeling confident about this project. Since this is the final week I am going to work on this for Friday's presentation but I don't expect to finish. I signed up for the dojo's one month, post-graduate, residency program and spent that time working on the site and two other lesser projects to create a solid portfolio for the job hunt.

After the call with Germany finished VT and I went to get lunch/dinner at a Chinese restaurant. After we ate we walked to an Asian grocery store and got some pie cakes, which are like quiches but sweeter, and ate them in my car. This is going to be one of the last few times we'll be able to do stuff like this. I can't believe that it is finally hitting me. And he's not even going to stay until the Friday presentation; his plane is scheduled to leave on Friday, making Thursday his final day. I am going to miss him. I've said goodbye to plenty of good friends before, and after a while you learn that it's not forever, if you're good enough friends you'll see each other again. I said that I'll come and visit him and he said that he intends to come back next year for work.

We got back and I sat down to get started on the site. Setting up the site is easy, now the real fun is getting the statements from my friend to post it on there.

After 6PM I tired down and decided to call it a day and watch some videos on Hulu. VT did the same. I thought about leaving early cause I was feeling guilty about not doing any work here but VT encouraged me to continue since this is our last week together. So we sat and watched our stuff together.

Day 69: HackingEDU

Yesterday as soon as the morning lecture was finished everyone was getting ready for the weekend hackathon. The event was HackingEDU, a hackathon focused on changing the US's education system. We grabbed lunch, I went home to pick up some clothes for the weekend, drove back to pick up some participants and we drove out to San Mateo. Traffic was thick and we got there before 6PM. Some of us, including me, signed up a little late as participants so we had to go in as volunteers. We were given volunteer shirts and assigned to walk around the event and assist anybody who needed help. VT said that the good part of volunteering is that we can participate the following day. 

Our shift lasted four hours and I spent most of that time talking to participants and company representatives. It was fun but after about three hours I began to get tired from all the walking. By the time we finished and were ready to head back to the dojo to sleep I told the others that I think I'm going to skip out on the events today. I slept at the dojo and today I drove the guys over to the event before going home. I figured driving them there was the least I could do. I got back home and am taking the weekend off. I am really exhausted and I can't believe I'm saying this but I am looking forward for the bootcamp to finish. 

This weekend I need to contact my German friend and get the specifications for his website so I can begin my final project. And sleep, man do I need more sleep. 

Day 68: Dave & Buster

I overslept again and got there a little before 10AM. After algorithms VT, RP, and I went to the Santa Clara library to do some work away from the noise, bad internet connection, and distractions of the dojo. On our way there we stopped by Safeway and I picked up some more Red Bull. I think I'm starting to get addicted to the caffeine; I was grumpy until I got some caffeine in my system. VT says that's fine because every man has their vices and I would be foolish to try to monopolize on a single vice as I had been trying to do for the last year. I hope this doesn't become the case after the bootcamp is over. We got back before 3PM, when we were scheduled to have a lecture on Ember.

We didn't end up having lectures for some reason but I did make a breakthrough with the Rails Black Belt preparation. Early this week I was having difficulty with rails because I didn't know how to run two forms on the same page. Rails has a designated protocol for moving data to and from a view page. I've been trying to get help all week but something all comes up that prevents me from asking someone for it. Finally one of the instructors came up to me and asked me if I was understanding the material and I told him about my struggle and in 20 minutes he helped me solve it. I made a little more progress today and ended today's material a little better off.

Although this is our second to last week of the bootcamp this is AD's final week because he needs to leave the country for immigration reasons. We decided to say goodbye by going to Dave & Buster for drinks and games. We were there for about three hours and then called it a night.

Day 67: San Francisco And Back To The Future Day

I didn't do any work today. Originally my plan had been to do the Black Belt review but VT got invited by AS to come to SF for the day and prepare for the final hackathon of the class that will begin on Saturday and he asked me to come along. I'm always in the mood for adventure so I couldn't refuse this gracious invitation.

We didn't get much done today but we enjoyed ourselves regardless. I'm always happy visiting the city. We got back to the dojo late and exhausted that neither of us will be doing any more work for the day.

Today is Back To The Future Day, the day in the future Marty and Doc Brown travel to in the 2nd movie. I guess you could say that VT, AS, and I celebrated this day by enjoying ourselves in SF and talking about our own futures that have yet to be written. The Doc could say it better than I:

Well spoken Doc. Happy Back To The Future Day!!!

Day 66: Korean Shopping Spree And Mr. Robot

I got my test results back very early in the morning and as expected I failed. I'm not concerned. I'll take it again on the weekend. Meanwhile I should aim to complete the review. The instructor posted it on Slack last week and the few who did it said that it was harder than the actual test.

I got in late this morning and the algorithm challenge for the day was to write a code for a tic-tac-toe AI. This was too ridiculous that most of us just sat down and worked on our own stuff. I stepped outside to call the recruiter from yesterday. I reached her and she said that she'll call me back in 10 minutes, which I told her was the same thing she said yesterday and never called back. That got her attention but long enough to tell me the same bs I heard before about the position requiring someone with a few years more of experience but she'll keep my resume on hold in case something more suitable comes up. I tried to explain that I am prepared for the roles but she didn't listen and the conversation ended with the chilly feeling of uncertainty these phone calls leave me. 

When I got back in VT told me that RP wants to buy a macbook pro before returning to Korea in two weeks since macs are cheaper here than over there and asks if he could drive them both to the mall. I was in no mood to code so we headed out. We grabbed an early lunch at Safeway before heading over. VT uses a macbook air while I'm preferring the macbook pro so I explained to RP the differences between each type. He found one he liked and tried to buy it but was told that as a foreigner they needed to see his passport. This gave VT and I the idea of making the experience a little more unique and suggested that after we pick up the passport from RP's place we go to Apple Headquarters and buy it straight from the source. We did just that and VT also bought a shirt. I measure my accomplishments at Coding Dojo by the number of belts I achieve while VT measures it by the number of shirts he collects. After buying the mac we went to Best Buy in Santana Row so RP can buy a keyboard cover to protect his brand new mac from dirt and oily hands. While in Santana Row we stopped inside the Tesla store where RP bought a jacket. When we got to Best Buy we were told that they don't sell keyboard covers at the store and we need to purchase them online. Even without the cover RP did spend a huge chunk of money on this shopping spree. He returned to the dojo with a macbook and a jacket, causing the class to surround him and see his new stuff. 

After our return I had stopped thinking too much more about the recruiter from the morning but I still wasn't in the mood to code so I curled up on the couch and continued watching Mr. Robot. In the morning the instructor had announced a new internet connected that is much faster than its predecessor, which eliminated the slow internet speed that annoyed everybody for a long time. I didn't have to wait for the show to load up. I watched and stopped after episode three cause I had to meet a college friend for dinner. When I got back most of the office had gone home. VT said that the class has given up on Ember and I shouldn't try so hard for the next few days. I'm tired, everyone is, and only now in the end are they starting to show it. When I told him that I finished the third episode of Mr. Robot he encouraged me to keep watching it, saying it is a better use of my time than trying to pick up Ember. I am ending the day with episode five complete. Feeling good. 

Day 65: Black Belt Test and Ember

Last weekend was fun. After my last entry I went to my alma mater and hung out with some old friends and affiliates. We were out late and I slept in somebody's couch. The next day I met up with VT and a friend from high school and we spent the day in SF. I enjoy my trips to the city by the bay and this one being VT's first time there made it special. It would be too much to go into detail of what happened there but I will sum it up by saying that we checked out some places, rode Lyft a few times, and did a lot of walking in between. Normally I don't like taking cabs since they are expensive and make me feel awkward but the service Lyft provides is affordable, adventurous, and makes me happy. I was also happy to see the two guys getting along very well.

Saturday did take a toll on me and I spent Sunday at home sleeping and catching up on my favorite tv shows on Netflix. The third season of Arrow is now streaming and I started watching Cheers. I thought I'd spend a couple of hours at least reviewing for the Black Belt retake but at this point of the course, with being so close to the end and having studied all those frameworks, I recognize the pattern and am not concerned any longer. Rails doesn't even fascinate me any longer. After the bootcamp is complete I want to focus my studies and projects on MEAN projects.

Today we began Ember, a javascript-based web application framework like the other three we had covered. Truth be told most of us have stopped caring. We signed up for three stacks, which were already a burden to learn, and now the dojo wants to squeeze in one last stack in one week before we have our Rails projects.

I spent the good chunk of the day prepping and taking the Black Belt test. After lunch VT and I moved to the library in Mountain View cause the internet and noise level at the dojo is terrible. AS joined us later for a couple of hours before heading home up north. For the test I probably failed but turned in what I could. I'm not concerned and I'll retake it again later this week. Have I stopped caring like the rest of the class?

I know VT does nothing but complain these days about how terrible the services had been. He thought learning three stacks was the key to landing a web development job but street talk is that to be a jack-of-all-trade meant being a master of none and companies are looking for masters to fill their entry positions. He's feeling uncertain about his future, as well as at least one other classmate, and it's spreading to me. Up until now I tried not to complain about the services Coding Dojo provided, considering the rut I had been earlier this year with being unable to learn anything on my own. VT's words hit me everyday and I think now it is starting to pierce me. That feeling hit me hard today when I called a recruiter to follow up on a resume I submitted two weeks ago. She picked up the phone but told me that she'll call me back in ten minutes and never did. She either forgot or decided my resume wasn't impressive enough. There are moments when I think to myself that I should have tried a different course of action earlier this year. After that moment I slap myself in the head and remind myself that nothing good ever comes from looking back and wondering how things could have been different. What's done is done and I need to make plans for the future. Regardless of how things have turned up I am walking away with a lot of good things and I need to use that to fight for my future.

MA showed us a link to download Popcorn-Time, an app for streaming free movies and tv-shows. I ended my day watching the first episode of Mr. Robot, a show much talked about in the dojo. VT said that he has work to do but he's just watching shows like me. He's asleep on his chair again and when he wakes up he'll either watch more shows or go home. As for me I'm heading out and thinking about calling the recruiter again tomorrow.

Day 64: Black Belt Exam

Today was test day and I'm sad to say that I didn't complete it. I tried for like an hour before realizing that there is still so much I have yet to grasp and needed more time. So I sat quietly working on different projects and letting the timer run out.

I was feeling pretty terrible afterwards. I was sitting on the couch and watching some videos when VT said he wanted to check out Santana Row, the most affluent part of the city, to eat and shop. Why not, so we went. We got there and he went shopping at H&M. He told me that he wanted to treat himself after the test, regardless of the outcome. I liked his perception and said that I should do that more often. We talked about what he views as fashionable. Since he's British and a world traveler he likes to think himself to have a superior sense of fashion than Americans. He talked about Church's: bootmakers to Kings and Queens, literally. He talked about cobblers, shoemakers who repair shoes and how important they are to shoe maintenance, which is what we Americans neglect to consider. Since the first day we met all he ever does is talk about how strange Americans and America is and ironically he would love to live here.

The food over there was expensive so we got something at Valley Fair. A friend from high school called and invited us to hang out with him in SF tomorrow. Another friend from college texted to get some drinks tonight at 9PM. We returned to the dojo early, to rest and meet up again tomorrow at 10AM to head out there.

Two weeks left.

Day 63: Black Belt 2 Review

Tomorrow will begin the first attempt at the second Black Belt. The feeling around my class is that most of us are far from ready for it. We'll probably take the test but shouldn't expect to pass. I thought I could get past the last four chapters today but that turned out to be a complete disaster and not because I didn't understand the material. That was a lot easier than it had been earlier this year. I think today I sort of gotten distracted. My performance throughout the bootcamp has been like a roller coaster ride with high and low days.

In an ironic twist of fate I am loosing interest in Rails. Ruby on Rails was the first web application framework I have ever heard about and was on my to-do list of frameworks to master. Now that I am almost done with it I want to move onto a different stack and a collection of other frameworks. Rumor has it that Rails isn't even popular any longer; it's all about the MEAN stack. So after the bootcamp I think I am going to focus my development on MEAN.

VT hasn't done much either today. I think our energy levels are in sync. He's at least three chapters behind me but he doesn't care any more.

I'll take the test tomorrow for exposure at least. I'm sure I'll pass it in the second attempt.

Day 62: Ruby On Rails Tutorial Book Update

I'm two chapters behind the Hartl tutorial and need to get back to that soon. I'm pulling what could be an all-nighter with VT as we attempt to complete the book by tomorrow night so we'll be ready to take the Rails Black Belt exam on Friday. The instructors told us that tomorrow will be a review day for the exam, which means that I'll have less time to work on the book. I need to stop watching these Youtube videos in favor us meeting the quotas for Friday.

On top of that I uncovered a potential Rails project. My German friend recently started his own business and he needs someone to construct a site and asked me. The winning project is determined based on efficiency and whether it could be used for a real business. I'll be killing another two birds with one stone. I'll need to call him on Friday night (Saturday morning in Germany) to get details of what he wants in his sight. 

Got to get back. This Red Bull can't last forever. 

Day 61: Ruby On Rails

Today marks the first day of actual Ruby on Rails. No more training wheels so goodbye Frank and Sinatra; may you rest in peace with Frank Sinatra. Bad joke, I get it.

Last night VT and I discussed studying today in the library for a change in scenery and to get away from the slow internet. So after algorithms and morning lecture we packed our bags and headed to the Santa Clara County library. There was a Safeway next door so we got some lunch first. The library was much cleaner and aesthetically pleasing with faster internet services provided. We buckled down and got started on the Rails chapter. I only finished half of the Frank chapter yesterday and wanted to do more but VT suggested that I let it go since the Rails setup will be much different than that stuff. I hate leaving things unattended but in the end I relented and began the new chapter.

I spent months struggling on this stuff and today I brushed through half of the model chapter with ease. Two Red Bulls also helped keep us focused. When the midway point was reached we encountered a problem and spend two hours working on it to no avail. Last week I had told VT about the Michael Hartl tutorial book and he suggested that we abandon the bootcamp schedule in favor of tutorial book for the remainder of the week. He pointed out that the bootcamp is doing a terrible job organizing the materials effectively and we wasted a week working on frameworks that didn't mean anything. I was against him initially: we paid to follow the course and I had too much of a bad experience reading the book on my own the first time that I don't want to go down that road just yet. But after more struggle and looking ahead to see that nothing else can get accomplished unless we solve this problem I relented and agreed to work on it.

There are 12 chapters in that book. The first Black Belt attempt for the Rails chapter will be held on Friday. That means that in order to prepare for it we have to cover at least four chapters a day. Having done this book earlier I figured the first four chapters should be a walk in the park. Turns out I was correct. After having studied the LAMP and MEAN stacks I have a much better understanding of how Rails is suppose to work and had an easier time piecing everything together.

I'm on chapter four and intend on finishing it before heading home for the night. This route is a little unconventional but not a big surprise. Coding Dojo teaches their students three full stacks so they can pick up new stacks on their own.

It's almost midnight, I'm freezing, partially starved, and staying awake from two Red Bulls but I feel amazing. The tutorial, this framework, has haunted me for almost half a year and now it's been unraveled with an ease I have never felt before. I might do in three days what I couldn't do in three months.

Day 60: The Weekend And Frank Powered By Sinatra

The hackathon didn't exactly pan out as we had expected it to be. We got there on Saturday morning and the first complaint we had was that they didn't serve any breakfast. The one rule about hackathons is that food will always be provided. After that we noticed that there really was no agenda or goals to be met other than promoting interest in space. Finally, the coordinators showed that they were not coordinating well among each other. We spent a couple of hours talking to others and working on three.js coding before we broke for lunch. Before we got into the car we discussed if this hackathon is worth going forward with and we decided that it wasn't. Our weekend plans were torn up in a moment but that didn't stop us from making the weekend count for something. We went to Smash Burger and had a pretty good lunch. I had a truffle burger with a Reese's Milkshake, a killer combination. During lunch I suggested that we do a trip to Mount Hamilton in East San Jose. One guy just wanted to go home so the remaining three: VT, AS, and I, went.

The trip up the hill was scary. The roads were narrow and steep. The hills had many corners, making it difficult to spot an incoming car and I almost collided with another car. We finally made it to the top and it was worth it cause we got an amazing view of the Bay Area: from San Jose to SF. We explored the Lick Observatory and VT encouraged us to check out the abandoned houses nearby. He was convinced that they were the scenes of murders and secret societies. We were on top of the east hills and I pointed out that if we kept driving the same path we'd start going downhill and end up in Merced County and San Joaquin Valley. VT said that we should just keep driving. I told him that if we do we won't be coming home tonight and he was down if I was too. I paused... sure, why not? I already have my toothbrush and a set of spare clothes packed up in the trunk for tomorrow. We'll be a bunch of drifters off seeing the world. There is a lot of world to see anyway. But then AS said that she would rather go home and we didn't want to make her do something she didn't want to, so we headed back.

The trip down the mountain was a lot faster and safer. VT felt that we could have gone faster but I reminded him that I'd rather play it safe than take the chance of falling off the cliff. We made it down to civilization and drove back to the dojo. On our way there we talked about tomorrow and VT and I agreed to check out Great America. AS didn't want to go so we called another classmate from South Korea, RP, and we all decided to meet in the morning.

The following day we picked up RP, had breakfast at IHOP, and then drove to Great America. Since VT is from the UK and RP is from South Korea they spent a good chunk of time criticizing America and pointing out the necessity to describe America as being "Great" even it does behave like a contradiction. They did admit however that the park was a lot bigger and nicer than any of the amusement parks from their respective home countries. It was Sunday and the park crowd was light, so we didn't have to wait in lines too long. We rode almost all the rides at least once, including the dreaded Drop Zone, which had been renamed Drop Tower from the last time I was there. I've lived in San Jose my entire life and the tower had been a permanent fix and symbol of fear since childbirth but VT encouraged me to get on it and once I fell it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. You got to love VT for that, he makes my fear irrelevant. We ended the park trip with a bunch of water rides and walked out of the there soaking wet. RP behaved like a child the entire trip, which was hilarious for a 23-year-old guy. The sun was still up and VT wasn't ready to call it a day and he asked what should we do next. Some quick thinking and we drove to the Apple headquarters in Cupertino where the guys had to have their pictures taken in front of the building and the hilarious "1 Infinite Loop" address. We grabbed dinner at BJ's and I had the pleasure of introducing them to beer that was superior to what they drank back home and a true testimony of American ingenuity. Great pizza, with great beer, and great people. They said that I should come visit them in their home countries some day and believe me that I will. After dinner we were all spent and I drove them all back home and I got home around 9PM and passed out immediately from the long day. I was cold, wet, and tired from the last two days of adventures and exploration but it had been worth it. Life is about collecting experiences, which was why I slept with the feeling of accomplishment.

Today we covered Frank Powered by Sinatra, which is a framework that worked on top of Sinatra. I couldn't really see the difference but I played along. Tomorrow we begin the actual Rails material.

I'm still pretty tired from the weekend so see you later.

Day 59: Hack The Moon

I overslept and arrived to the dojo an hour late. I fixed the problem I was having the previous night and got past the long lecture sections before having my phone interview with the recruiter. She couldn't go much into detail about what is expected of me in the job and the interview was just a screening. She asked me some generic questions about my education background, work experience, and the coding bootcamp and she said that she'll pass my information onto the employer. If they are interested then they'll let me know.

I spent the rest of the day finishing up the Sinatra chapter. After completion I messed around for a couple of hours before VT showed up and we all left to the hackathon. Tonight was just an intro that lasted only a couple of hours. The event is called Hack The Moon and we're going to design a project that is related to space exploration. After the introduction we talked about what to do and we decided to focus on making a moon version of google map. VT suggested the idea and how to approach it. We parted and VT and I got some dinner at Denny's and now we're back at the dojo for the night. I'll have to get some sleep soon if I hope to be up and ready to go by 8:30AM.