Week#1 - Git is good

Dauren Dyussupov — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 18:52:54 +0000

It's been a week since I wrote my first blog here and now it's time to report what's been done in last week and prepare for next one. So let's start:

To-Do 17-23 September (week #1)

NOT done 1) Daily physical exercise

Exercised only for 4 out 7 days.

done 2) Solve 1 problem each day on leetcode

Solved 11 problems this week. I participated in my first contest this week, only managed to solve 2 problems on time and later after the contest I solved one more. Contest was quite fun, I remembered good old days from high school - I've found that I still enjoy solving problems under limited time.
I also find leetcode to be very useful when I am feeling asleep, tired, lazy to start learning - I just solve one easy problem and then my brain starts to turn on:)

done 3) Complete week 1 - course #1 Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML and CSS
done 4) Complete week 1 - course #2 Java Programming: Solving Problems with Software**

This courses require BlueJ IDEA to complete assignments. I've had trouble installing it, since the coursera/duke university version of BlueJ was not supporting java-11-oracle. Spent 2-3 hours trying to figure it out and ended up importing required libraries to my favorite IntelliJ IDEA. I am very proud of myself that I managed to do so without googling. Felt like a top-ass DevOps :)

done 5) Complete CoffeeMachine project on JetBrains Academy**
NOT done 6) Complete one more easy project on JetBrains Academy**

Current JetBrains Academy progress:

Unfortunately, didn't manage to complete Flashcards(easy) project this week.

Thoughts/Other

Way too much social activities that I couldn't decline, fortunately upcoming week looks less busy.
I also spent ~20 hours researching graduate/secondary bachelor in CS programs in the USA/Canada. My end goal is to legally immigrate to USA/Canada. Currently I see 2 pathways to achieve it:
1) Junior Developer in Kazakhstan -> Middle/Senior Developer in Russia/Ukraine or Belarus -> Middle/Senior Developer in USA/Canada. In meantime try to get online CS Masters degree from top USA university.

The downside of this path is that Junior Developers in Kazakhstan only make $300-400 per month and I my salary would drop 3-4 times for 6-12 months compared to my current Chemical Engineer job.
2) Getting CS degree in the USA/Canada -> internships -> work permit. This path looks to be shorter than previous one and with better benefits in long-term(MSc in CS).

The biggest downside of this path is preparation for GRE and taking huge international student loan. I may need to commit my time for preparation to GRE instead of focusing on learning computer science.

Git

Biggest progress this week was learning some Git and practicing with Git in command-line, GUI and VCS in IDEA

Pomodoro technique

I am using pomodoro technique to help me focus. It is also really good for cutting all bullshit. You can't fool yourself with pomodoro. Without it you may think that you've done a lot if you spend 10-12 hours in front of your laptop, but the focus time could be only 1-2 hours.

Pomodoro stats are showing that I am not effective with my time.
However, I am not sure about 25 minutes focus+5 min break approach. When I am focused on solving some problem or trying to catch bug - 5 min breaks take me out of "flow" and sometimes it's hard to get back and catch the wave.

Goals

Long-term: Legal immigration to USA/Canada as a software engineer
Mid-term: Get Oracle Java Programmer SE I certification - by 1st March 2020
Short-term: Complete Specialization "Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals" by Duke University on Coursera - 5 courses in total, I currently received financial aid for the first 2 courses

To-Do 24-30 September (week #2)

1) Daily physical exercise
2) Solve 1 problem each day on leetcode
3) Complete week 2 - course #1 Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML and CSS
4) Complete week 3 - course #1 Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML and CSS
5) Complete week 4 - course #1 Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML and CSS
6) Complete week 2 - course #2 Java Programming: Solving Problems with Software
7) Complete Flashcards project on JetBrains Academy
8) Go to foreign universities fair, 25th September
9) Average 8 pomodoros for 6 days

In my last post I've got <500 views, huge success! What do you think about my study plan? Should I change it? Maybe I should add studying some core CS concepts, not just java? Or less courses and more practice? I would love to hear any feedback! Thank you!

Start of my journey to becoming Software Engineer - Week #0

Dauren Dyussupov — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 13:08:06 +0000

Intro

Hello! My name is Dauren, 26 y.o., from Atyrau, Kazakhstan. Happily married and I have 10 month old absolutely awesome daughter! I have undergraduate degree in Petroleum Engineering from noname university in my hometown and I've been working as a Chemical Engineer for last 3 years.

This summer I realized that I don't enjoy my current career and don't want to spend rest of my life pursuing something that I don't like at all. I do realize that Software Engineering is not always about fun and exciting projects but like other jobs also has it's share of routine and boring tasks. But still the most fun I had doing something that can also earn you money was coding!

In high school(8-9 years ago) I was doing OK in programming contests - leetcode type, mostly math & algorithms. Even won some international competitions among high school students with my team(one of my teammates currently works for Google). But after high school I didn't really code much except couple programming courses in university. Last month I started programming again and messed with mostly front-end, also got 2 certificates from Coursera for Python intro courses. Currently I am enjoying Java and trying to learn back-end stuff.

I was inspired by reading weekly diary of some Russian guy, who switched careers from low-paying salesman job to front-end developer with no prior programming background while working full time. From week 1 he was publishing detailed weekly reports and his plans for next week. After 4-5 months he got his first job as junior front-end developer. Seeing his simple short weekly reports and progress over time personally motivated me more than thousands of polished articles on web where people write about end result. The website that he used to document his journey was very popular but not IT related. He was rarely getting comments. I though that this website is more suitable and your comments & feedback is always welcome!:)

Goals

Long-term: Legal immigration to USA/Canada as a software engineer
Mid-term: Get Oracle Java Programmer SE I certification - I need to set deadline
Short-term: Complete "Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals" by Duke University on Coursera - 5 courses in total, I currently received financial aid for the first 2 courses

To-Do 17-23 September (week #1)

1) Daily physical exercise
2) Solve 1 problem each day on leetcode
3) Complete week 1 - course #1 Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML and CSS
4) Complete week 1 - course #2 Java Programming: Solving Problems with Software
5) Complete CoffeeMachine project on JetBrains Academy
6) Complete one more easy project on JetBrains Academy

My current progress on JetBrains Academy:

My current progress on leetcode.com (registered yesterday) :

I work on a rotational basis 28 days on shift and 28 days offshift time. I am currently offshift and can study 5-6 hours per day. I wanted to study 10-12 hours day but real life stuff is not letting that happen for now. I doesn't want to start heavy and abandon it halfway, that's why first week's To-Do list is so light and short

P.S: Sorry for the mess above, I wanted my first post to look nice with fun pictures and smart spreadsheets but I will keep postponing it forever if I aim for that:)

Forem: Dauren Dyussupov

Week#1 - Git is good

To-Do 17-23 September (week #1)

Thoughts/Other

Goals

To-Do 24-30 September (week #2)

Start of my journey to becoming Software Engineer - Week #0

Intro

Goals

To-Do 17-23 September (week #1)