It’s official. I’ve earned my Master’s in Computer and Information Technology. It’s a wonderful and strange feeling. I certainly went out of my comfort zone, learned a new skill set, and loved every minute of it. But of course, I’m not done learning yet.

While I’ve been job hunting, I’ve been trying to learn new programming languages while strengthening the ones I know. To be honest, there really isn’t one aspect of development that I love over another. I love coding the full stack. I honestly don’t care what programming language I’m using either (well…as long as it’s not C). I stumbled upon CodeEval, a website full of programming problems. I decided to do at least one problem each day. At first, I was only doing the problems in Java since that’s my strongest language. According to my CodeEval profile, I’m one of the top 15% Java developers sitewide (out of 6,000+)! Then I realized this would be a great way to get better at coding in other languages I’m interested in. So besides a not-so-little side project in Python/Flask, I decided to start solving CodeEval problems in Python. It’s taught me a lot of the ins-and-outs of Python. I really get a kick out of successfully solving some of these intricate coding problems!

As I said earlier, I’m not partial to front-end or back-end development. I truly enjoy doing both. While looking at job descriptions, it seemed to me that many companies might actually benefit from having someone like me - someone who can code Java one day, and JavaScript the next. JavaScript and I have a funny history. Sometimes I love it (you know, when it works) and sometimes I hate it (let’s face it - sometimes JS forces you to write ugly code). But with all the frameworks to choose from, JavaScript can be tolerable, even enjoyable. I enrolled in Free Code Camp. Supposedly, it takes a year to complete, but I’m already more than half way through and I just started 2 weeks ago. It was a good brush-up on HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, and jQuery. I completed all the JavaScript lessons (through Codecademy) and now I’m doing JavaScript “bonfires” (through Free Code Camp): programming problems to get you familiar with common built-in functions like Array.split(), filter, etc.

As I started completing the JavaScript bonfires, I thought to myself, “Hmm, wouldn’t it be fun to try to solve CodeEval problems in JavaScript?”. So I tried…and I was able to do it! I’m the only one in Philadelphia who has solved any CodeEval problem in JavaScript! I AM THE FIRST! Currently, I’m in 11th place on the Philadelphia All-Time Leaderboard. I plan on getting into the Top 10 this week.

So that’s what I’ve been doing since I graduated: Improving. Job hunting. I hope the job hunting will end soon, though. As much fun as I’m having learning on my own, it’s nothing compared to when you’re completing a real project with real requirements for a real client. Hopefully my next blog post will be about my first day as a software engineer! Until next time!