Explosive Learning

Right now my mind is exploding with possibilities. I’ve come so far in these past few months but the learning I have experienced is only just the begining. It feels like fireworks are going off inside my chest.

This course has been defined by explosions for me. Every day my mind is blown to pieces and scattered to the ends of the earth. Some days all those pieces find a way to fall into place, and other days I have to go around with a broom, sweeping them all up into one place where I can examine them and attempt to ascertain how they are supposed to fit together. Today though, the explosions aren’t pushing apart the bones in my head they’re illuminating the road ahead.

The instructional phase of this course is coming to an end, and soon we’ll be diving into an intensive application process. It will be at that point, I expect, that I’ll start to see how much I actually know. My intake of new information will slow way down and I’ll begin to sort through everything that has made its way into my brain. I have a feeling there’s going to be more in there than I would typically tend to believe.

Jake tells us that understanding the concepts is the hard part. He says that writing the code is the easy part. I trust the man, even right now that’s the opposite of true. Understanding and what things are for and what they should do comes pretty easy to me, it’s trying to figure out how to make things work in my code that’s tricky.

I’ve been focusing on the planning aspect of coding lately because I know that the better I get at thinking through all of the steps in advance the better I’ll be at writing code when it comes down to it.

I believe Jake when he tells us that writing code will become easier, even though right now it’s terrifying. This process reminds me of what it was like learning how to drive. In class everything made sense. The gas pedal is on the left, the brake pedal is on the right, keep 3 seconds between your car and the car in front of you. Easy stuff. The problem started once I got in the car. I became terrified that I would make a mistake or do the wrong thing and by the end of my first few driver’s training sessions my back was covered in sweat. These days driving is just a way to get from one place to another. I just have to think about the turns I have to take to get there.