Week 2

This week, I’ve had a lot of breakthroughs. I’ve really gotten to understand how everything works together in HTML and CSS. I can diagnose and fix a lot of the bugs in my code, and I have a better understanding of what everything means. I can sit for a while and work independently on code, and I’m very proud of that. I feel like when I learn something new, I commit it to my long term memory and that I’m not just receiving new information; I’m internalizing it.

This week, I have also had some setbacks. It takes many hours to get even one simple website complete with all the text and styles desired. As a person who is pretty impatient, I just want everything to look nice after working for 30 minutes. So, when, after two hours, I’m not even halfway through what I have envisioned, I get really frustrated. This leads me to become restless, unfocused, and even a little aggravated. One could say that I feel unempowered. However, by the end of the week, I became a little more accustomed to the slow pace that comes with coding, and I set small goals for myself, so I can be happy with my product. One of the people that help us with our coding, Sasank, has repeated the phrase “Trust the process,” and I keep that in mind every time I get a little inside my head.

I’ve also been holding on to the few things I don’t completely understand. I feel like I cannot move on unless I have an extremely strong grasp on a topic, no matter how small or insignificant the topic is. Google has been my best friend when it comes to this, and I’ve become more comfortable with asking my coworkers and people in the office to clarify things for me. Again, me trusting the process and accepting the fact that I will understand concepts better as I learn more has been a good mechanism that helps me not grow frustrated.

Overall, I have made progress that I can hold onto, even if that progress is pretty slow. As long as I keep growing patience and the ability to embrace the unknown, I’ll be able to move on the way I want to and stay empowered.