When I grow up…. A React Javascript Story.
I had no idea I was going to write this article until I finished my first Chingu Voyage.
Prior to starting my journey in Chingu, I was working through my freeCodeCamp Data Visualization projects. I was working on the recipe box.
Once I started on the non-profit project with the Cohorts, the recipe box sort of just died off for the time being. I was excited about this new project that would be a real-world solution.
Since the conclusion of the first session, I have started to revisit some older projects, starting to clean up some code or finish them. I found myself staring at the code base of my recipe box.
I mean literally staring at the code blankly.
What the….
I spent the better part of a day trying to figure out my thought process in this code. Every time I thought I had a handle on it, I found something else that was WAY out there.
Folder structure was one huge blob mess, imports in components were spaced out all over with things that were no longer used, tabbing and spacing, comments… That was just some of the syntax issues.
As for the code, I was redundant with a lot of my form onChange handling, setting states in weird spots. Too few components which led to huge components.
I won’t even mention the styling because I really don’t understand even until today where I was going with it.
It honestly felt like I was peaking in on someone else’s code. I thought at first maybe I pulled down some other repo by mistake. Nope, it was all mine. I cannot explain, and I have been sitting here trying to, how weird this felt.
Why the…
So back to where I mentioned above, I started working in the Chingu Cohorts group on a project.
When I first started this project I was VERY worried about working in a team. Especially not just some random team, an online group forming teams to work on random projects, and there was going to be a “project lead” to tell me what to do! I had no idea what to expect and actually was nervous.
The very first remote call we had I had this guy Matthew Madden trying to tell me how to do what I am a master of already! Silly man. (the man would be me…)
See above articles for my in-depth thoughts and process on this project so far.
I was thrown into the deep end of the previous group’s code, and learned quickly this was the way it is. You will experience code of all kinds and there is no “wrong way” (well maybe there is some wrong ways but this was not the case here) to code. You can come to the same solution a hundred or thousands of different ways.
What I experienced was very solid code from my point of view from a group that was just learning ReactJS. Little did I know at that time I was still just learning it and now I recognize I still am and will continue to for as long as I’m coding it. I was cocky and thought I could improve everything!
I didn’t improve anything on the code foundation, I just refactored things to es2016, I implemented Redux to make what they already had working using state and props. I threw some make-up on the project is all.
When all was said and done after a few days of thinking I was the man, it functioned the same exact way, but with a little less code and some extra tools.
Over the course of this session (2 months), I honestly cannot believe what I learned. How much I pushed myself, how much Matthew push himself and from that, we pushed each other. He proved me wrong about working as a team, we worked and continue to work well together.
Alrighty, now lets get to work!
Ok now lets back to the RecipeBox…
With all of my new found knowledge, experience and desire to write better code that I know someone else will eventually look at. I stared, and stared and…. stared.
Then I did the unspeakable for a beginner. I deleted everything except for the basic component structures, re-structured the folders, fixed up most of my syntax issues, and continue to today to try and rework it.
I currently still have some bugs from the conversion, and yes I simply could have started over 100% and called it a day. Though I wanted the experience of working on some “shitty” code and converting it over to “better” code.
In my opinion, this was an “ah-ha” moment for me as a developer. I felt I am no longer a beginner, a noob developer. Making the decision to not just force the old code to work and push it through to get another project out there, or just start over from fresh was that step. I was thinking as someone who wanted better, not just show better.
Now the recipe box is not a life-changing application to the world, but it was to me so far. It has elevated my self-worth as a developer and my motivation to continue forward.
I truly believe this is due to the Chance Taken and the Chingu Cohorts, the Build-2-Learn project concept, and a huge portion to Matthew for constantly pushing me one step further.
Learning to work in the team environment and striving for better made me already a better developer, and will continue to do so as I have requested to stay on board with the Lost and Found project moving forward.
I eagerly look forward to the opportunities that await me as a developer.
You can find my portfolio and other links below.
If you would like to learn more about freeCodeCamp, or Chance Taken and the Chingu Cohorts check out the links below.
