Heavy Lifting and JavaScript
01 Sep 2017
I’ve dabbled a little in JavaScript at my job at Distant Course Design and Consulting but not much. Diving deeper into JS made it clear that the knowledge of this language is pivotal for what I want to do as a career. I want to be a web developer and JavaScript is the backbone of the internet. Learning Javascript wasn’t too hard; it isn’t much different than other languages I’ve learned through my studies so it came quite naturally. From a software engineering perspective, I strongly believe that JS is a language you should know. The internet would not be what it is today without it. Most software engineers have to deal with the web whether it’s promoting your software through a website or even having the software hosted through the web. It just makes sense to know JS.
Practice makes perfect
I’ve never done sports in high school. I was never athletic and never thought I would be until I attended my first year at my university and my roommate who was a bodybuilder (an absolutely massive man) allowed me to tag along on his workouts. I found myself struggling for the first week, having to ask him multiple times if I’m doing this correctly, or if I’m going to hurt myself. After the first week, I decided I’m going to learn more about the upcoming exercises and familiarize myself with them. I went on YouTube and watched tutorials on every exercise from the deadlift to squats to bench. I still wasn’t confident; I needed practice. After weight training for two years, I am confident in my abilities to move weights efficiently and with correct form, and that wasn’t possible unless I had a weekly routine of practice. This is the same way I feel about programming in general. We are taught to practice athletic software development, which is practicing everyday and developing confidence in our product. Sitting down, setting a timer, and trying to beat the clock puts on lot of pressure at first, but after doing it a couple times, it becomes more natural. We’ve only done a couple WODs (Workouts of the day), but I can certainly tell a difference. Sitting down with a problem and figuring out step to solve it feels natural, like a well oiled machine. Yes, it is stressful, especially when you know you only have 1 minute left until you DNF (Did not finish), but it is without a doubt enjoyable. Seeing your times slowly decrease after practicing is rewarding. Being about to physically see your progress though the times motivates me to get that Rx (prescription) time.