Forem: Moose Davis

Final Blog as a Student @ Flatiron School

Moose Davis — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 21:18:55 +0000

. . . Where do I begin?

WOW, it has been 5 months of trying my best to learn how to code at Flatiron School.

And, if you're reading this, this blog is a reflection on my journey over those long and also short months. So as a disclaimer, I apologize for the sporadic thought process. lol

The languages / frameworks that this experience has exposed me to and have learned from are:

Ruby
Ruby on Rails
Sinatra
SQLite3
HTML5
CSS
JavaScript
React.js
Redux.js

And I HONESTLY think this is so insane at how I just did all that.
During the First Mile, it took me 3 days to just figure out the difference between an IRB, Terminal (CLI), and the Text Editor were. I didn't know where the code is supposed to go, and where you're supposed to run the tests. How to run the tests, how to read the errors, or even how to communicate what I was trying to explain to AAQ on every lab I came to. It was actually quite scary and so daunting to take this plunge into this immersive process, but...like...LOOK AT THAT LIST OF STUFF I LEARNED!!! I am literally looking at the URL in the browser bar and I KNOW WHAT dev.to/new MEANS! LIKE HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! I can open the inspector window in this browser and actually read and understand what HTML is comprising this very same page I'm typing in now. If I can boil this down and compare it to anything, I just did 2 DCI summer seasons back to back (IFYK,YK). I'm utterly speechless rn.

Here is how the months were divided up when using these languages.

Month 1: 
Ruby

Month 2:
Ruby + Sinatra + SQL + HTML + CSS 

Month 3:
Ruby + Ruby on Rails + SQL + HTML + CSS 

Month 4:
JavaScript + Ruby + Ruby on Rails + SQL + HTML + CSS 

Month 5:
React + Redux + JavaScript + Ruby + Ruby on Rails + SQL + HTML + CSS

During the first 2 week, also known as FIRST MILE, that was the most intense form of learning I've ever experienced, and let me tell you I've experienced some fast paced learning on the regular in other situations, but this one is QWIK! 🏎💨

But once you get to week 3, there are a lot of things that began to open up like getting 1-on-1's with your cohort leader to practice or discuss anything coding you need help with or are curious about. I started to feel the flow, and wasn't as overwhelmed. The lessons seemed much less daunting because I knew now what to expect.

There were also some phrases that rang so so true in my mind starting in Module 2, that I honestly couldn't believe because all of my previous learning experiences had been based on stackable concepts over time that you're just supposed to memorize and know when asked. Here are some of those phrases, so if you are reading this still, please keep in mind if you too are thinking about going into a coding bootcamp.

"You're not supposed to memorize and know everything all the time.  It's literally impossible." 

"It is okay to Google something you don't understand."

"It is okay to YouTube something you don't understand."

"Talk OUT LOUD when you code.  TALK. OUT. LOUD."

"Imposter Syndrome is a very real thing that you might experience, but when the doubt starts, let one of us know and we will help you.

"You could spend the rest of your career learning how to ActiveRecord alone and still not know everything." 

"Use your cohort members and us (cohort leader/educational coach) as resources through this process, you can do this!" 

And my personal favorite: "It is okay to ask for help.  Do not feel like you have to do this alone.  We are here to help you."

Once I arrived to Module 3 I was feeling pretty decent about where I was. I had learned Ruby for 8 weeks and about to go for 4 more and learn the ever so powerful RUBY ON RAILS! And mind you, if you ever read my first blog -- I was in the middle of my own grieving process from losing my job. COVID was the reason, sucked, but luckily I used the help of my educational coach who also was a fantastic resource for gaining another perspective and working through that emotional situation. The kindness and compassion of the Flatiron team is so special, and I can't thank them enough.

Great, so Module 1-3 was all backend oriented concepts, and with some frontend only by use of views that are used starting in Module 2 with Sinatra. Thank you MVC -- Model, Views, Controllers!

If you're reading this, LEARN YOUR CRUD AND RESTful ROUTES!! I KNOW I SAID THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO MEMORIZE EVERYTHING BUT THESE ARE THREE CONCEPTS YOU WANT TO MEMORIZE! => MVC, CRUD, and RESTful Routes. YOU NEED TO MEMORIZE THESE!!

Now, Module 4 + Module 5 are a BEAST all on their own. I will say it was for sure challenging, and I'm oh so so so close to understanding some key concepts and I have Nancy to thank for that. She's such an awesome educator and a compassionate individual. Coming from the backend curriculum where everything is just straight up logic with a dash of creativity, JavaScript is a different creature. It's "simple" but also SO COMPLICATED at the same time. But one thing I managed to do was to keep learning, keep growing, and keep trying. Eventually it will click, but all I do when I get those thoughts of doubt is to tell myself "Look how far you've come in such a small amount of time. You should be proud of yourself. You can do this..."

The list of things that are covered in Module 4 + 5 are so long just like the backend with one less month to do it. Such as:

Functions
Anonymous Functions
Arrow Functions
Event Listeners
Callback Functions
Invoking Functions
DOM
Children/Parent Relationships
props
fetch()
.then()
.catch()
state
spread operators
slice()
Lifecycle Events
Actions
Reducers
Dispatch
Components
Containers
react-thunk
Middleware
mapDispatchToProps
mapStateToProps
{ connect }
IMPORT
EXPORT

I could go on for DAYS!

-- Cue my inner drag queen --

"YOU.👏 CAN.👏 DO.👏 THIS.👏 MARY!💅"

And guess what . . .

I did it.

Granted at this point in time, I've submitted my final Capstone project, and still have to pass my assessment, BUT IF THE LAST 5 MONTHS HAVE SHOWN ME ANYTHING IS THAT I WILL SUCCEED. I WILL MAKE SURE I PASS. I AM SO CLOSE, AND I WANT TO KEEP LEARNING AND KEEP GROWING.

extremely deep and long inhale

even longer exhale

I know right now I have a very long way to go in continuing to learn and keeping my mind sharp and open to these ever evolving concepts of technology, code, and capabilities that will be expanded on in the future. There's a lot for me to still do of course, but I'm so excited for the next steps and process of finding a job using these new skills and growing professionally.

The members in our cohort that stuck with this process the whole way through, I'm so proud of you. I'm so happy to know you, I'm so happy of the countless hours and karma points we have exchanged via Slack. Was refreshing to hear all of your thoughts during your own learning processes and also thank you for not thinking I'm being weird in lectures by asking so many questions. I don't know why, but that's how I've always learned and love to engage by turning the learning environment into a conversation.

Not to mention our awesome educational coach -- Dr. Gretchen Stamp, and Cohort Leader -- Nancy Noyes! Both of you were so instrumental, (ha, get it because I'm a musician too?), in helping me grow and stay mentally sane throughout the last 5 months. THERE'S A REASON IT'S CALLED A BOOTCAMP RIGHT?!

I honestly don't have much to say other than how grateful I am for having been through this journey and taking the plunge into a completely new career in a subject that I knew ZERO information about. The only technology based things I knew were all in sound equipment and composition software. Now that I've learned this, IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC MIND YOU?! I feel like I can do anything (within reason of course, lol).

After further reflection on this process, and to circle back to the first blog I wrote for Flatiron, "Why did you choose to become a software engineer?". And in that blog, at the end, I mentioned using a phrase as a means to enjoy the journey, and that statement will always be true for me, and this experience at Flatiron is proof of that. So happy I made this decision.

"Trust the process"

Headphone Handler // React.js & Redux.js Capstone Project

Moose Davis — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 17:50:38 +0000

Okay, so this project was most definitely one of those most wild rides in this journey. And it also happens to be the FINAL project in the Flatiron School curriculum. Fingers crossed the assessment goes well! :)

Here's a recollection of the events throughout this project week.
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Day 1

Alrighty, it's a new day, new project, but not just ANY project the FINAL project (a.k.a CAPSTONE PROJECT). It's a bit nostalgic but also nerve racking at how daunting this specific project is because of how much there is to do but in such a short amount of time. (Relatively speaking in comparison to the first module project where the ENTIRE project was literally 4 files . . .)

Was able to set up the backend pretty okay with not too many things going wrong. Put in my associations, serializers, scaffolded the appropriate models (2 of them), bing bang boom, BACKEND.

Also was able to use create-react-app in order to also initialize the frontend into existence. But that's all I did for that mostly.

THEN, I connected this project with the master directory of headphone_handler to my GitHub as well. So far so good.
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Day 2

New day, new progress b/c any amount of progress is progress.

Following a long with some videos to make sure I'm importing and using the correct information and implementing the correct technical aspects by keeping an eye on the Flatiron Project Checklist.

ES6 Code ✅
Use create-react-app generator ✅
Your app should have 1 HTML page to render application ✅
Redux middleware to respond to state changes ✅
Rails API handles data persistence ✅
Use fetch() for GET and POST data from API ✅

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Day 3

This is where the uncertainty and imposter syndrome started to kick in a bit unfortunately. lol, but I kept going!!

Put in quite a bit of JS and React.js code for Headphones and Brands. Decided to take out the Category aspect that would filter both given the time and network errors I had be having. (Hoping to continue to build out this application for my portfolio in the future!)
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Day 4

Both day 3 & 4 I ended up being stuck on the same section for quite awhile so I tried to take some more mental breaks to help with keeping a clear mind! (DIDN'T WORK BUT THAT'S OKAY!!)
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Day 5

As for the last day, Friday, was able to FINALLY fix my reducer and action problems I've been having in order to render any submitted information from my form to the appropriate headphone list which then automatically knows it's association to their Brand! NIFTY!

ES6 Code ✅
Use create-react-app generator ✅
Your app should have 1 HTML page to render application ✅
Follow repo to setup the generator: create-react-app ✅
Redux middleware to respond to state changes ✅
Rails API handles data persistence ✅
Use fetch() for GET and POST data from API ✅
Client-side handles display of data w/ minor data manipulation ✅
There should be 3 routes ✅
There should be 5 stateless components ✅
Make use of async actions and react-thunk middleware ✅

Species Petting Zoo // JavaScript Application

Moose Davis — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 16:12:38 +0000

It.👏 Has.👏 Been.👏 A.👏 Week.👏

Given that this week has been strenuous and stressful for everyone, I wanted to give my general impressions on each day that I experienced throughout this specific project creation.

Day 1 - Monday, January 4, 2021

Alright, It's another day 1 of project week, we're gonna kick some butt today! Was able to set up most of the backend, and create the repos for which the project will be pushed to in my github.

Project title: Species Petting Zoo
Purpose of app: To allow an individual log a Genus and Species of animals they are familiar with or would like to research at a later time.
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Day 2 - Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Began putting together the structure of the backend defining what the two models I would be using (Genus & Species) and started to question if Rails would like it both of these words technically are singular and plural in their original spelling.

Much, Much Later...

NOPE! Rails doesn't like Genus or Species so I deleted it all, and regenerated the same project, connected it to the same repo using Category and Animal instead. For your reference.

const Genus = new Category(data)
const Species = new Animal(data)

👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆
This is not an actual representation of code 
included in the project that this blog is about. 
Thank you. 💃

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Day 3 - Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Everything is starting to work with the frontend/backend code I'm inserting according to lectures I have been watching from last couple wee...

wait. . .

what is that?

White Supremacist Neo-Nazi Terrorists attempt a coup to overthrow the U.S. Federal Capitol Building while House and Senate elected officials are in the process of certifying President-Elect Biden's and Vice-President-Elect Harris's win from the November 3rd election.

Continues to try and code. . .
NOPE
Stops for the day to process some mental & emotional states of ex·ist·ence.
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Day 4 - Thursday, January 7, 2021

Gets a lot done, and finishes required project needs as outlined in Flatiron Schools Deliverables section in the Module 4 project description. Here they are.

2 CRUD actions
3 fetch requests

Huzzah! Technically Done. 
💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅💅

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Day 5 - Friday, January 8, 2021

Not gonna lie, this last day it was filled with a lot of panic, a lot of self doubt, but then a realization of knowing that "This new path I'm taking does not mean I have to do it alone." And because of that, both Nancy Noyes and Leah Schlackman get shoutouts for helping debug and getting the delete buttons to work in order to finalize and submit this project ON. TIME. Enjoy!

~ || github || species_petting_zoo || ~

Instrument Warehouse // Ruby on Rails Project

Moose Davis — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 16:00:04 +0000

Module 3 has been some of the most challenging information I have attempted to digest in the world of technology and software development. Though it was challenging and I have a long way to go until I feel much more confident in the information I use on a day to day basis, I'm so proud of how far I've come in this experience thus far.

Okay, so here's what happened: #storytime

Each month the checklist for our projects have been growing, and this project was not an exception. Here are a few of the things we included:

Single and Bi-directional relationships in our models.
Defining validations in our models to protect from invalid or harmful data being submitted by the user.
Using standard authentication AND in that authentication system allowing the user to login via one 3rd-party (Facebook, Twitter, GitHub, Google, etc etc) if they do not have an account in this created application, or to allow a user to signup/login "regularly".
Inclusion of a nested new route, and a nested index or show route while following RESTful URLs conventions.
Keeping the code within the application as clean and DRY (Don't-Repeat-Yourself) as possible.
Utilizing helper methods and partial forms (when appropriate).
Define and use at least one scope method. (I chose to create one to list all instruments heavier than 100lbs. If you're a percussionist, you know how useful this can be knowing how much equipment is heavier than 100lbs. lol.)
Use of generators to produce specific components available to use via the rails framework.
Customization and production of error messages and correctly displaying any validation errors.

Looking back at the checklist from the curriculum, I can't believe that I have learned so much in 3 months, and on top of that, the terminology that I am able to use to communicate as effectively as I can thus far. This has been such a journey, (with two months left to go!), and there are a lot of points during these months where I think to myself "I'm not understanding this. I'm going to fall behind. I'm gonna have to move to part-time. I don't know if I can do this yet." BUT, when those thoughts begin to creep up, I take a deep breath, step back and think, "wow. I am really doing something amazing here. And have done so much in a short amount of time. Keep going. Trust the process."

Back to the project:

Day 1 - Monday, November 30, 2020

Using rails new to create the project file, then by use of the devise gem, I was able to set up my project EASILY with user authentication. (Thank you to whomever created this gem, lol) Then, by use of some super amazing blogging by a past // Flatiron student, was also able to set up the 3rd-party login/authentication via GitHub super easy as well. (THANK YOU Salma Elshahawy!)

Devise Authentication Guide w/ OmniAuth for Rails App by @salmaeng

Day 2 - Tuesday, December 1, 2020

With my application set up with user authentication and 3rd party login capabilities, I was now able to being thinking about the
relationships I wanted to build for my project.

And settled on these:
Project name: Instrument Warehouse
Project purpose: To allow the user to keep track of instruments they like, play, or have in their day-to-day lives.

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :instruments
  has_many :categories, through: :instruments
end

class Instrument < ApplicationRecord
    belongs_to :user
    belongs_to :category
end

class Category < ApplicationRecord
    has_many :instruments
    has_many :users, through: :instruments
end

As a musician, I figured something like this could be a handy tool to utilize since my previous occupation was a percussionist and having to keep track of HUNDREDS of pieces of equipment.

Day 3 - Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Wednesday was the day I began to get into the nity-grity of the code. Setting up the appropriate views, adding buttons, adding test data to make sure it's functioning properly. (Thank goodness for paired programming when you need a fresh set of eyes or some help from other cohort team members -- THANKS CHRISTINA! )
#EverythingWasBreakingAndWasFreakingOut
#WasOnTheBrinkOfTears
#WasAbleToFixItAndEndOnAGoodNote

Day 4 - Thursday, December 3, 2020

The end of the week was fast approaching and went to both study groups, AND attended a pre-scheduled 30-min session with Nancy (Cohort Leader_090820). Nancy really saved my project so many times this day, haha. My params were acting so funky, and my strong params too. The edit/update & new/create actions were not functioning properly => cue Nancy to the rescue. lol.

Day 5 - Friday, December 4, 2020

And then finally, we approached the final day of office hour days, and ability to code together with some people and get fresh set of eyes when needed quickly. Also had this weird funky thing happening with my scope methods, and again, Nancy came to my rescue.

Once I had full consistent functionality with my project, was able to relax slightly and add some bootstrap styling in order to fine-tune some aesthetics as best as I could muster on a tired brain of coding so vigorously this week. BUT WE DID IT! #goteam

Welcome to the Instrument Warehouse

<body>
    <div class="center">
        <div class="jumbotron bg-info">
            <div class="container">
                <h4 class="display-5 text-center">Welcome to the Instrument Warehouse</h4>

                <h4 class="lead text-center">Please select an option from the navigation bar above</h4>

                <img src="https://wallpaperaccess.com/full/2039813.jpg" class="img-fluid text-center" alt="Responsive image">
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>

Coffee Corner // Sinatra Application

Moose Davis — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 16:31:34 +0000

Phew, okay. So. This months blog is reflecting over the process of creating, FROM SCRATCH, a working application that has CRUD actions (Create, Read, Update, Delte), and has RESTful Routes.

Day 1 - Monday, October, 26, 2020
This day was all about planning. I set up my project with the appropriate files, folders, and bundled all of the gems required in order to provide the correct functionality to my application. This day, wasn't TOO stressful. Luckily, there was a Flatiron alumni that decided to bundle their own gem that helped us set up a big chunk of what we needed to complete this project by use of the corneal gem.

Day 2 - Tuesday, October 27, 2020

This was one of the days that was close to being the hardest. From here, I was able to give my models some associations through use of ActiveRecord and allowing these models to have those relationships to each other. Then I began planning out what I wanted my application to do specifically and how I would achieve that. With a little of basic formatting thrown in to start me off with a feel good 'I can do this' vibe.

Day 3 - Wednesday, October 28, 2020

By far, Wednesday was the most difficult day to get through, but as Nancy says, "Sometimes you just have to press the 'I believe' button, and keep asking questions, go to study group, and keep trying." So that's exactly what I did, and hey, I added some buttons to my application, connected them to the appropriate routes, and had some views rendered. Wasn't COMPLETELY horrible, just fear of the unknown and needed a little self-esteem boost...from self. (HA, made a cheesy ruby joke.)

Day 4 - Thursday, October 29, 2020

This day was definitely feeling a little more accomplished. This day is when I started doing a little polishing, adding the appropriate validations, and 'if' statements for some added security against those "dirty hackers" who would want to steal my users information.

Day 5 - Friday, October 30, 2020
Also known as "All Hallow's Eve", feeling pretty decent about how far I've come building this second project in just 4-5 days! Of course I had some help along the way, but hey, who doesn't need help learning how to build an application from the ground up? Today is when I can begin to submit my application and schedule my assessment. FINGERS CROSSED!!

And now, I have my handy-dandy Coffee Corner application built with the Sinatra framework, using ActiveRecord, along with CRUD actions and adhering to the 7 (magical) RESTful Routes. Time to drink some coffee myself :)

Cold Brew, one scoop of maple sugar, and a dash of heavy cream.

YUM!

Rick and Morty // CLI Project

Moose Davis — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 21:33:55 +0000

Hello again,

The last couple weeks have been BRU-TALLLLL. But the pieces are all starting to come together and I'm not AS terrified as I was 3 weeks ago. So, this week, being week 4, means that Module 1 of my Flatiron journey is coming to a close. And this week, we had to take everything we learned from the last three weeks and put it to the test by building our own Command Line Interface (CLI) project. And with that CLI, we either had to scrape data from a website OR request data from an API...I definitely did the latter of the two options.

In this project, to be put in short, pulled information from an API, then used that information with Ruby in order to create objects and have them interact with each other across multiple files in order to have a user interact with whatever is outputted into the terminal. I think I said most of that right...I'm still learning, so be gentle, lol.

And my project was to pull information regarding Characters from Rick and Morty, and have the terminal display this information after performing some technology gymnastics and magic and having the user interact with the prompted text.

This was a stressful process -- I'd attest that it was because I've never used my brain in this way -- but I got through and hopefully the information has been stored in my own computer (aka - my brain). Sooooo, yeah, if ya wanna check out my code, follow the link below!!

Bodda-bing, bodda-boom, enjoy!

https://github.com/doosemavis/rick_and_morty_cli

Sincerely,
Moose

Why did I decide to study Software Engineering. . .?

Moose Davis — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 17:20:10 +0000

Buckle up to your seat belt Cindy, because this ride is about to get crazy!

To explain a little bit of my situation in a minimalist fashion, this is my backup plan, and I am determined to succeed. There is no plan C - Z. THIS is my backup plan.

The date is September 14, 2020, the time is 6:56:38am Central Time Zone, and I am listening to the 6 unaccompanied cello suites (Composer: J. S. Bach) being performed on Marimba by my previous professor -- Gwendolyn Dease. (On iTunes of course, not live, but how awesome would that be?)

So, to provide a more detailed background, here it goes:

In March of 2020, I was living in Chicago, Illinois working as a "Special Events Coordinator" for a music not-for-profit. I remember it so vividly even though it was a short 3 months ago when I left. I still even remember getting a surprise meeting invite from our Chief Development Officer to break the news that due to the cancellation of the fall season and the ramped spread of COVID-19 in our country, city, and community, that my position had be completely terminated from the company to conserve funds in more important areas for the companies lifeblood. Understandable, because business is business, but still hurt all the same. I had worked for a year and a half learning how to interview properly, rewrote my resume about 10 different times to please any employer that would have me, after completing an 4 months internship in Aspen, Colorado to learn HOW to be a not-for-profit event planner. The details, the planning, the collaboration, the administration, the feeling when it succeeds, the feeling when it fails, the lessons learned, and the progress made.

Backing up to January of 2020, I had heard about Flatiron School from a now friend, Shanon Langan, who completed this program recently in Chicago in the UX/UI Design track. I learned about this for-profit education company from Shanon at my Co-worker and close dfriend’s birthday party (Hey Hey Nick!!) while having drinks at Sidetracks in my glorious 'sporty spice' ensemble.

I started looking into this program, and I began to think "What if I could be a software engineer?" My best friend is already doing it. My cousin works in IT as well. I began to pick both of their brains about what it's like, with not really being able to understand or grasp a true understanding of what it is. I still don't know half the things it is or what we can do with it. . . yet.

I read the syllabus, set up a meeting in February with one of the admissions team members to get a better understanding of what each program had to offer. Seemed too good to be true, even more so when I read the Job Report of "96% people who complete this course find a job within 3 months working in their field, with an average minimum salary of $75K." To put this in perspective, that was roughly 40K more than what I was currently making at the time.

What I DID know is that:

Technology as we know it isn't going anywhere any time soon, and,
If I moved, I could EASILY find a job programming at any company around the country or even the world
(HA, jokes on us because of the poor response to COVID-19 by the current administration, the EU and probably other countries have placed a travel ban on U.S. American's because of our poor response and containment of the virus. How's that for irony from the previous travel ban's on China and the Middle East? #wasntmychoice #ijustlivehere).

To recap, I was let go because of COVID-19, and I was needing a sign to apply and start my new journey. All the pieces just seem to fall into place. Last day of work was June 30, 2020, my lease ended June 30, 2020, was already thinking about doing the part-time while still working full time (but I lost my job so that changed rather quickly), and my boyfriend still lived back in Oklahoma.
Therefore I took the plunge, moved back in with the boyfriend, grieved for my loss (I'm still grieving to this day.), basically convinced that I'm more depressed than I was before and took the proper steps to get home. BUT, as for the depression bit, I can at will compartmentalize and think what I need to make things happen and that's when I started to think, "Hey, I'm creative. I'm determined. I have a hard work ethic (at least I think). I can do this. I can TOTALLY do this." These were all things I thought to myself as I summed up the courage to apply. And within 2 days, I had been accepted, gotten a Scholarship for partial tuition cover, AND gotten a loan to cover the rest. And fast forward 2 months after my acceptance into the program to today, September 14, 2020. Today is technically "Day 5" but have been working in these materials all weekend as well so it's "Day 7" for me, Haha (there was a holiday on the Monday we should've initially started). I'll be blunt, I am struggling to understand the usage of all of the operators, enumerators, through iteration & looping but like I said before "THIS is my back up plan." I cannot afford to be defeated, nor will I accept such an outcome without fighting for my education. I want to learn. I want to improve. I want to be a productive member of society and make the world a better place for people younger than me. If I have to figuratively kill myself to learn this in order to improve my life and in turn improve others with whatever skills I will ascertain, then so be it.

I'm here. I'm willing to learn. I'm ready to continue growing. I don't like the struggle. I don't like not being able to ask my teachers in person how to troubleshoot, but hey "If it was easy, everyone would do it.", right?

I am still mourning the loss of my hard work getting my previously and most recently lost job, but hopeful to look forward and through different lenses for other opportunities such as Flatiron School.

If music, 8 years of college, 3 degrees, 5 summers of drum corps (DCI), 7 gold medals, 3 silver medals, 2 bronze medals, and countless other accolades has taught me anything. . . it's this.

"Trust the process."