Level 10: Code everyday

I know y’all love fluff pieces, so here ya go. If you know anything about me, you’ll know that I’m very high-quantity consumer of information. As a typical melon-aisle (read: millenial),

I read, listen, lurk, watch, eavesdrop, stalk, write, and discuss information at ridiculous rates. The reason why I do this is because I like to train my brain to think in different ways, cross-functionally, and to keep up-to-date with various sources of data.

As of this year, the plan is to ramp up and start using my coding chops on practical applications. What good is it to know how to ride a bike in theory and never actually cycling? That’s no fun.

My soft technical goal for this year is to CODE EVERYDAY. It may sound trivial but a couple years ago, I’d be lucky to write a line of code a week. When I started, I sucked. I was afraid of code. I ran away from large codebases. It was overwhelming.

Complex codebases, undocumented code, legacy, gigantic soft teddy bears can be overwhelming. I’ve found that I just need to code a little bit every day and it makes everything easier. I have more confidence going into coding interviews. I have more confidence knowing that I can usually figure out a solution no matter what. Even if I have no idea how to start, the muscle memory (sidebar: are there even muscles in the brain?) kicks in and problem-solving mode begins.

All-in-all, if I write a line of code every day for a year, that’s already a small project or several small gists. That’s a start and I know it’ll give me the motivation to continue on in the future.

Good places to start would be online coding challenges or Euler. There’s a lot to choose from and the important part is taking the first step. :)

I’ll keep y’all posted on how things turn out.