New Blog - Aims and History!

So, here we are again! 2 and a bit years since I did anything coding related. Why come back? Well, there a number of reasons...

1. I miss it! I miss that feeling of having a problem to solve, cracking it and getting the satisfaction from doing so

2. I've got glasses now that make a big difference to my eye strain and headache. Last time I did anything with Swift, it was after the dreaded working from home/lockdown... I couldn't face using my computer after any of those days!

3. I'm thinking about the future. This may well not come to anything - especially given that this is now my 4th attempt at really deciding to learn code - but it would be amazing in many, many ways to switch careers and have a rewarding well-paid job

4. I'm not bothering with Swift. It seemed logical to at the time - it makes more sense to use Python as this and JavaScript seem to be the most used and useful languages. I persevered with Swift for so long but ALWAYS got to a point where the next level up was just too much, with my limited experience. Having a new Python project means fresh motivation!

This entry is just to set out the stall. I don't want to make it too finicky but there have to be some parameters, you know! Yet, I CAN'T do a guaranteed x number of hours per week. It just doesn't work. The most I can really look at is - I'm plucking this out as a I speak - two hours a week. One hour during the working week, and one at the weekend. That is a good starting point.

Now onto other things. Let's go on to Aims...

Aims

It's important to have these. Again, I'm pulling this out from where my mind is at, but I need a starting point. Let's break it down...

Short Term Aims (i.e. until Christmas Break) - complete any beginner courses on Python. Have a feel for the basics 

Medium Term Aims - be proficient enough in Python to work on my own projects and pro-actively get involved in whatever I can. Build a portfolio, seek out other courses and stick with it!

Long Term Aims - become a fully qualified and skilled app developer, which means I can have it as my full time career...

That's very general but it's what I need to see right now. Now onto the next bit before I start the practicalities of actually doing a course!

History

This could end up being a LONG entry, so I'm going to keep it as succinct as I can. It's for my own benefit, not for anyone else's; it is a cathartic process. 

I've been interested in data for as long as I can remember. As a child of eight years old, I loved looking at Formula One results, writing out the results again with different scenarios e.g. if Williams had not been in the 1993 season, how would the results have been affected? I used to play with toy cars - pushing them with a similar force, writing down the results and creating different divisions. I would play a game up and down the stairs with a tennis ball, hitting it with my hand and pretending to be different 'players' to have tournaments, games and ultimately, scores to record. 

I'd create my own lineup of drivers based on people I knew - Mum, Dad, sisters, friends, other relatives (yes, this is sounding strange and Freudian I'm sure!) but it was just to see what the points scores looked like. My dog, George, always featured prominently in those championships! I would use an old racing game, changing the names and going through the races to do the same thing. I had a Sega Megadrive game called 'Lotus RECS', where I would record points scored by me, family and any friends who played - working out averages. I'd use dice to simulate a cricket game, tallying the batter and bowler runs in every over, then recording the entire game and working out averages for everyone. 

Yes, you could argue I should have got out more! But that was what always fascinated me. Did this carry on into my teenage and older years? Yes and no. When I was in Year 9, I was the official recorder of who got told off in German by our teacher. A lot of us did - not me so much - and it became a competition for who could get the most points! Being sent out was worth 5, but a strategic player could get regular, minor telling offs and surpass them. 

You get the idea.

Something I excelled at as a Psychology undergraduate was statistics. I had a knack for interpreting data - from research studies. I got the job as TA in my third year, which was a big deal at the time as only 2 on our course got it! After Uni, I qualified as a Primary School Teacher, where the statistical element wasn't obvious, but still useful. When it came to analysing student data, I always excelled, spotting trends and patterns. This ultimately led me to my current role as Head of Assessment, which involves numerous analytical elements. 

So that is the background, in terms of the link between numbers/data and coding.

My first foray into coding actually started back in 2012 (or maybe 2013) - I can't exactly place when. But I didn't get far - I found a couple of free programmes and experimented with typing in code into this app on my iPad. I soon realised that this was all rote and I wasn't learning anything. 

I went in again in 2015, when I bought an Apple Mac. This was much more fruitful - I learned quite a bit then between April and August, using courses from Udemy, Tuts, I loveSwift and other sources. I got the basics then. Then I moved to Dubai in August and it all dropped off, though I did pick it up here and there - usually when traveling around the UK when visiting friends, going over content on Treehouse, though it wasn't effective - just going through the motions. I started it as a blog in December of 2017, but nothing was picking up steam.

In June 2018, I resolved to get back into it, and I had a great run. Between then and November, I went back to basics with Treehouse, Udemy and other sites, picking up plenty and surpassing where I got to before. I started making my own projects - the best one still to do this day is "How Many Letters", based on my girlfriend's random yet impressive ability to instantly work out how many letters there are in different words. I got it as an app on my phone and was so chuffed to show it. I had applied various concepts of what I learned and had to borrow some online code - for a timer - and it was great!

I continued this path, seeking out other courses and then working on other projects, the next one being a F1 quiz, which was less impressive as it was only a 'true/false' but it still worked. I got disheartened when I faced set backs but still regularly coded - my first blog folder, which totalled 275 entries, dried up during Covid/lockdown, as mentioned briefly at the start.

I started again in that summer - of July and August 2020 but had to stop again. It was the screen time and the feeling of it not really going anywhere. And I haven't touched it since!

So two years away and I am back!

I've been foolishly optimistic before, but I'll do my best. It's just about finding the right course at the right time. So that will be my next entry - finding the best starting point and what I need to do all that.