PRECOURSE WEEK 1 {command line/ "man" saves the day!}

Let me begin by saying that my program, Makers Academy, has an on campus option and an online option, Ronin. Both programs share the same curriculum, content and challenges, but as someone else from Makers put it, the "delivery and procedures are different" for us Roninites, as we are remote. For more information, you can find links on the right hand side of the main page on the site.

Now that that's out of the way, HURRAY FOR COMMAND LINE!

This week we are learning the basics of Command Line, which will help prepare us for the next few weeks and everything else after that as well. We were given a walkthrough and some exercises, along with a week 1 challenge. The walkthrough was very straightforward and easy to understand, and the exercises did a great job of providing me with enough experience to tackle the challenge with relative ease. During the challenge which consisted of several different exercises, there were a few scattered about that stumped me for quite a while, but I definitely learned a ton from them and will do my best never to repeat the same mistakes.

Even with a slightly late start on the precourse, I managed to finish the week's material early, so I was given permission to move onto next week's material so I will have more time solidifying my knowledge on our first programming language, which will be Ruby!

In case it isn't already evident, so far, my experience with Command Line, coding and Makers has been overwhelmingly positive. Every time I encounter some nuance or a problem I have to fix, I want to dissect it, get to know it - spend time with it, and I have faith in myself that whatever happens I will be able to handle, especially with the amazing support system I have with this program. Mentors and Makers graduates are super approachable and helpful, not to mention you can reach somebody at almost all hours (there's always that one person who doesn't know when to go to bed).

For the first time in my life, I can say with confidence that the future doesn't scare me. The other day as my fiance came home from a day of rotations, he was surprised to see the amount of focus I had that late in the day. It was only then that I realized I hadn't eaten for several hours (this I have to work on). But it would be a severe understatement to say that I am beyond excited and relieved that I have found my calling. There is truly no better feeling than knowing you are finally where you belong.

A few lessons I have learned thus far:

- Never hurts to pwd

- Up arrow allows you to scroll through past commands so you don't have to retype everything (Thanks, Owen! You're the best!)

- Know your way around ls, pwd, cd, mkdir, rmdir, chmod, grep, etc

- When all else fails, "man" up! The man command is like a built in encyclopedia that you can use to search any command. For example, "man ls" will tell you what "ls" means and what you can do with it.

- Laugh at yourself

- Take breaks

- Develop meaningful relationships with your team and always provide support when it's needed

Some things I have to work on:

- Knowing when to stop

- Knowing how to articulate to others what is stumping me

- Reminding myself that there are usually several ways to do things