Hello my dear Coder Kittens!

I wanted to update you all on my progress so far. If you don’t already know I had finals due on Sunday 7/30 and I posted an article about posting less due to needing to focus on studying for my finals. Well, I finished my finals with flying colors! Here are my grades at the end of the semester organized by higher grades first:

Computer Applications: 106.77%

Web Programming I: 100%

Network Concepts and Operating System: 98.9%

Principles of Computer Programming (Java): 94.67%

I’m proud of my end results, though my Java score being the lowest motivates me to review the course material again. Since programming is central to my website, expect more Java-related posts soon!

This semester, coding confronted me with issues at every turn. I lost hours battling bugs, misplaced semicolons, forgotten brackets, and misnamed variables. The frustration felt endless. After thrashing all evening against a problem, I’d surrender to sleep, defeated. Yet dawn’s fresh perspective often illuminated solutions within minutes. The old advice to “sleep on it” proved profoundly true when applied to tackling coding challenges.

Coding exposed me to the unease of uncertainty. Some concepts and algorithms appeared impenetrable, like trying to navigate a maze without a map. Yet through tenacity, online resources, and developer communities, I found passages through many of these coding labyrinths.

Balancing coding with other responsibilities was also a challenge. Sometimes, I found it hard to focus on the screen or I felt guilty about not spending enough time with family and friends. However, I learned that it’s all about balance. I had to remind myself that it’s okay to take breaks, to step away, to let my mind relax and reboot. I’ve learned that a rested mind is a productive mind.

In conclusion, my journey in learning to code has been a mosaic of victories and snags. Each day presents a new opportunity for growth, and each challenge is an invitation to deepen my understanding and sharpen my skills. I look forward to where this journey will take me and am excited to share more of my coding adventures with you all!

Here is a video about the mindset you should have as a programmer that I wished I had at the start of my journey into coding.