Week 10

Tech tests, reviews, practise interviews, algorithms... it ended up being such a busy week I ran out of time to write about it!

Review

Part of the Makers process includes a review. Students practise their developer process throughout the course, and during week 10 we're invited to attend a process observation with a coach, and to book a review. The review involved a non-technical spec with not much information ('build a thing`), so the reviewee has to probe to get the information needed to start designing and coding.

I was pleased with how I demonstrated good process in writing code that was easy to change, using an agile development process, refactoring, and debugging! With the help of the review feedback I will make opportunities to become faster at writing code, practise modelling and, explain the rationale of my decisions (rather than articulating what I am doing, explaining why). The easiest win I learned from the review process was about prioritisation of building program logic in balance with the quality of my code (I simply love style guides, sorry not sorry). Programming decisions are rarely black-and-white, and context has to be taken into consideration each time you plan or make a feature; by putting acceptance criteria highest on my to do list (and worrying about linting less often) I will hone my craft way more efficiently.

Improvisation Workshop

Makers held an improvisation workshop, led by improv comic, developer, Makers student and my cohort pal, Rhys Collier! Rhy's workshop was great fun and filled the 'Joy Room' with laughter. Having done some improvisation in the tap dance realm before, I was curious in how this spoken approach would compare. The skills which have everyone working smoothly together are pretty much the same; eye contact, gesture, listening, adapting, and even rhythm. We created stories together in groups and pairs, and the perculiar directions the stories would take was naturally funny, sometimes childlike, and mostly silly!

I had a right laugh and would recommend everyone to give it a try, even (especially) if the thought of this is terrifying! 🦄

Misc.

🌹 Sandi Metz's talk All the Little Things is a great look at the Gilded Rose kata

❤️ Big love to Jodi from Makers for taking care of me with an ergonomic mouse

🙌 shout out to Becks from Makers who gave me a huge boost this week

🙀 you don't need a face swapping app to swap faces with your good friends

🦅 eagles are amazing