4 weeks in at Makersquare coding bootcamp

Week 4 about to end here, incredible really because we're just about a few weeks away from another incoming group of juniors. In that time, we've sprinted from bare-bones javascript through ES6, data structures, using Node.js, and are hitting databases.

Being in the midst of it makes it difficult to gain a perspective on how much I've learned in the past few weeks, but I can recognize many changes. For the first time in my life, I don't find myself dragging my feet on the way out of the door at home, or jumping up from my desk the second the workday has ended. This even though we end at 8 and are technically working >60hr weeks. I find myself approaching problems from a much more organized perspective than ever before. If only I had the note-taking ability I have now back in college.

Paired programming having possibly the greatest effect. Learning a great deal about how I work with others, the kinds of responses my behavior garner. Getting better at talking about the code I'm writing, the plans I have, sharing it with someone else, working together to find solutions and teach eachother. Learning to identify what's important in a certain exercise, how to manage time to achieve those important things.

Home not getting much easier. First roommate, Zhou, subjecting Kailin to daily verbal abuse and manipulation, to the point where Kailin spends most of her time at a library just to avoid her. Not only does she have to deal with Zhou's abstracted and absurd issues with Kailin herself, but because Zhou has somehow failed to learn even a modicum of English in her years in the States, Kailin has to deal with her complaining about my capital crimes - wearing my shoes in the house, or accidentally leaving a chive fragment on the kitchen floor. The manipulation is reaching hysterical levels - yesterday Zhou complained that "Caleb didn't move the TV to be recycled like he was supposed to." The landlord's TV, not Zhou's. The landlord who didn't indicate to us she wanted the TV moved. The landlord who, by the way, has yet to fix the kitchen light, leaking bathroom and kitchen sink, or mold in the bathroom shower.

This on top of the fact that a family of 3 has moved in and Zhou is bringing in her mother and five year old son to claim asylum for them as well makes me glad I can spend the majority of my time in the city away from that insanity.