Discuss

Tell your non-tech friend a story about a time you:

1. were blocked on a simple problem:

what was the problem?

During the kata challange there was one problem I was stuck on for ages. All the logic made sense in my head and I just couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. Turns out I was just using the wrong brackets, need to be [] and I used {}...

what problem-solving techniques did you use?

A lot of trial and error using the console.log which just ended with a lot of error haha. So I scowered the internet trying what felt like 100 different phrasings of the same question until I finally found a post which had what I need

how did you feel throughout the process?

I did start to feel quite frustrated near the end as it felt like I was doing everything correct yet it still wasn't working. When I did finally get it working I felt incredibly relieved but also so annoyed at how simple the solution was.

what did you learn?

I learnt to triple check all the syntax while I code to make sure simple mistakes like that dont happen too often.

2. elegantly solved a problem.

what was the problem?

While I was working on some code for my own website I wanted to see if I could figure out how to make a button the could change the background image on the site. The challenge wasn't too tricky but for my first time trying to code something by myself it really tested my logic and problem solving abilities

what problem-solving techniques did you use?

I wrote some pseudo code and figured out the logic path I needed to get everything working. Then at every step in the coding process I would be console.logging out different bits of info to make sure everything was working.

how did you feel throughout the process?

I really enjoyed the learning process. The time went mostly smoothly as I was kept on track with my pseudo code and the the constant console log checks

what did you learn?

I guess the biggest take away from this experience was really how useful the console.log is. Debugging would be an absolute nightmare without it.

3. Reflect on how confident you feel using each of these problem-solving techniques/processes:

Pseudocode: really confident I do this everytime I code as it lets me see the path I need to follow.

Trying something: I feel pretty confident. Good pseudocode really is the key for me when trying something new.

Rubber ducky method: semi confident. Sometimes it can feel like im going insane repeating questions in my head over and over

Reading error messages: pretty hit or miss. Having it noteate the exact place the error occured definitly helps, but sometimes the error meassage can a bit over my head

Console.logging: I do this all day everyday this my shit

Googling: While I use this heaps I feel that I could get better at typing out good questions and get better results faster

Asking your peers: I usually try everything I can first before reaching out for help. I do feel however that sometimes I spend too long on simple issues

Asking your coaches: same as asking peers

Improving your process with reflection: I honestly probably need to do this more

4. Reflect on a time you were reluctant to ask for help. Consider what made you reluctant to do so. What might you try differently next time?

Just recently while do the Kata challenge there were a few times where I definitly couldve reached out for help. Sometimes I feel that questions arent worthy to be asked. Like, "this problem is too simple, I dont want to waste peoples time". I think that in future I shouldn't put too much weight over asking for help.