Forem: Omar White

Mystery github build check

Omar White — Sat, 01 May 2021 01:13:03 +0000

I've got a github PR check that I don't recognize, it never reports back and prevents my PR's from being mergeable without admin rights. Anyone have an idea how to disable this check? Here's the repo and an example PR where the "build" check is hanging. Also here's a screenshot:

How do you test code that uses browser api's?

Omar White — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 18:57:40 +0000

I've been working with the Web Payment Request API recently and have found that its kind of a pain to test my code. The solution i've come to is writing wrapper functions for the browser API calls and mocking those in my tests. This allows me to isolate the browser API code and test around it, but i'm wondering if there is a better way. I would appreciate any insights.

What do you like to build when learning?

Omar White — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 20:33:31 +0000

I think learning by doing can be really powerful and I’ve always thought having a go to project for evaluating a new piece of technology was a good idea. What’s you’re favorite thing to build when learning something new?

What resources would you recommend to a web developer wanting to learn native iOS development?

Omar White — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:38:33 +0000

I already know how to code. I use JavaScript and react daily for my job. I’m looking for something to learn from that won’t assume I need to be taught what a variable or an array is.

How do you proxy your services for frontend development?

Omar White — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 19:01:24 +0000

I’m looking to find a solution for proxying services during development to avoid CORS issues in the browser. Would appreciate any insights folks could provide or tools anyone could suggest.

Opinions on Continued Education for Software Engineers

Omar White — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 19:58:44 +0000

I'm a software engineer that is a year into my career and so far really enjoying myself. Often times family members and a few mentors of mine will ask me if I have plans to go back to school. While I like the idea of doing so one day, I'm not sure when I would want to study, or when. Additionally the realization that I can make good money doing work I enjoy with the degree I already have makes me question what the worth of a masters degree would be. Do you think its worth it for engineers to go back to school? What kind of things doing you think are worth studying? General advice on continued education in this field?

How I Ended Up A Software Engineer

Omar White — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Note: I originally wrote this a while ago on my old blog just now getting around to moving it to my new one and setting up cross posting on dev.to

The other day I was cleaning out my inbox when I came across a message from Code Academy. I quickly deleted the message and unsubscribed from their email updates since I hadn't used the platform in ages. In doing so I came to the realization that I've come a long way. Regardless of how you measure it, starting from my senior year of high school or just in the past year, I've made incredible strides towards my ever moving goal, to be a great engineer.

Way back when I was a high school senior trying to decide what to study in college, learning to program seemed like an impossible task to me. I had an interest in technology, and had even dabbled in some HTML and copy and pasting of javascript, but had yet to really learn any significant programing. I tried to learn on my own, going over tutorials or using things like code academy but nothing really stuck. Unable to learn on my own I thought that perhaps taking a class might help, so I enrolled in my schools computer programing class. At first it was great, we started learning with scratch, which is a simple visual based programing language. It was incredibly easy to get started with and allowed me to easily create simple games and other engaging things that made it fun to work with. Because of this I was a bit more confident when we moved on to Visual Basic and eventually Java. This confidence was quickly shaken, as I found a much more difficult learning curve waiting for me.

For this part of the course we were given books to read from and expected to go through them chapter by chapter completing the exercises without much guidance, which proved to be very difficult for me. I wasn't getting much value out of reading the books myself and there were no lectures because the instructor didn't have any programing knowledge himself. He was just the teacher that did some of the business focused electives at my school and somehow programing fell under his jurisdiction. So after the remainder of the semester spent struggling with Java and VB I was thoroughly convinced that programing wasn't my calling. I still really wanted to study technology so I decided to go to IU and study Informatics with the intention of eventually being a consultant or business analyst.

Luckily I eventually took a second shot at programing and Computer Science, this time as a Sophomore in college surrounded by a much better learning environment. After making a pact with a friend to pick up a Computer Science minor and to be the best engineers we could be, I was determined to conquer the challenge that once seemed impossible to me. It sure was difficult, but also different this time. I had professors that I could go to with questions, lecture that I could follow and properly take notes on, other students around me that I could work with and learn from. This learning environment proved to be what I needed to finally have a breakthrough. Slowly but surely the basic concepts around computer science started to click for me, once that had happened I couldn't get enough.

That learning has continued as I've begun my career as a software engineer at Target. In my first 6 months here I had the pleasure of working with the most talented group of engineers I had yet encountered on the Cloud Platform Engineering team. When I started I barely understood what docker was and why containerization was valuable. I'm leaving with a couple open source contributions to the Spinnaker Project under my belt, and as I move on to my new team next week, which focuses on front end engineering, I'm sure my Javascript skills/knowledge will increase dramatically as well.

I write all of this to try and get across the following point. Don't be discouraged if you are attempting to learn to program or immerse yourself in the world of technology, but things aren't sticking. Everyone is different and while not every single person may end up a software engineer, there is a place for all kinds of people in the world of technology. The tricky part is figuring out where we fit, how we learn, and what kinds of things motivate us. So if you're struggling with that at the moment, don't worry! Find a mentor, or a friend to try and learn with, keep trying different approaches to learning until something finally clicks. Also to those of us who are well beyond that initial learning phase, reach out to those who aren't. Encourage someone who is just starting out, mentor them a bit, point them to some resources that helped you out, answer their questions. That way we can continue to grow this industry and make sure its filled with fresh blood, new perspectives, and diverse groups of people.

Suggestions for learning more Java

Omar White — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 22:39:33 +0000

Hello all, I've been interested in Java lately. I feel like I have a good grasp on the basics of the language as well as object oriented programing in general, but have been having difficulty figuring out where to look to learn more about building things with Java. Specifically I'm looking to learn how to build Web Services/API's with Java. Any suggestions on books, tutorials, frameworks, etc I should look into.

Taking suggestions for new laptop

Omar White — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 02:51:10 +0000

I recently started a new job(hooray) which issued me a brand spanking new 15" MacBook Pro to use as my work machine the only problem is, I already have a relatively new(2 year old) MacBook pro thats pretty powerful. I don't see the point of having 2 MacBook pros, but I still want a personal machine so I can keep side projects and stuff separate from work, since technically I believe my employer owns everything I do on my work machine.

So I'm looking for suggestions on a laptop to replace my personal MacBook, with good enough specs for me to do some side projects on the go, but nothing ridiculous since I plan on eventually building a fairly powerful desktop down the line for when I'm home and extra power. Would appreciate any suggestions you all have.

Front End Javascript, Angular, React, etc, what and where to start with?

Omar White — Sat, 27 May 2017 20:12:10 +0000

I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations of what frontend javascript framework/library I should try to learn first and any resources to use while doing so. I've been doing a bit of reading but can't decide if I should try to pick up angular, react, vue.js, or something else. I already know some javascript and jquery. I'm looking for something I can use to make the front end of an application, that I can then connect to a separate backend or api. Any recommendations are welcome.

Hi, I'm Omar

Omar White — Sun, 16 Apr 2017 21:20:09 +0000

Hi, my name is Omar and I'm a little bit of a nerd. I got started messing with technology in middle school when I first learned what linux was and installed it on an old computer.

From there I somehow ended up at Indiana University interested in studying technology but to scared to try Computer Science. So instead I picked Informatics never heard of that, I hadn't either but it sounded good to me.

When I first got to IU I was afraid of coding and didn't think I was quite smart enough to take up Computer Science and now I'm about to graduate with a degree from Indiana University in Informatics with a minor in Computer Science. I've reached a point where I actually enjoy coding and though I still have a lot to learn I dare to say I've gotten pretty good at it in the past few years.

After I finish up school I'll be headed to Minneapolis to be a part of Target's Technology Leadership Program. Life is good!

You can find me on GitHub as omawhite, theres not much up there yet, but I'm still working on that. I mostly program in python, I've been learning a bit more php lately, I also want to pick up more javascript. Eventually I want to learn more of Java, C#, or C++ not sure which yet. I did a project in C once that I'm pretty proud of, its on github.

So that's me in a nutshell. I'm a nerd who used to be afraid to code who now likes to spend his time messing around with python. I'm excited to be graduating at the end of the month and I'm even more excited to be moving to Minneapolis soon afterwards.