def life_change(aladdin) puts "#{aladdin}" end life_change("Makers Academy")

I am now more than half way through precourse week 3, and like I've told my fellow Makers peeps it's like I'm on a magic carpet and Makers Academy is Aladdin. It really is a whole new world, and I have to say almost all the lyrics to that song are eerily accurate to this experience. I know this because it's been stuck in my head and I've looked it up on several occasions.

As recommended, before beginning any new material, I reread Chapters 1-8 in the Chris Pine Learn to Program book before hitting the new stuff Chapter 9 and beyond. Embarrassingly, past Chapter 8, no matter what I did it felt like I was hitting a wall. I sought out help from other people in my cohort, and while some of their advice was incredibly helpful, it still wasn't quite enough because I was not completely able to articulate what exactly it was that I was having problems with.

I know the book is great for some people, but eventually I realized I wasn't making any progress with it myself and so I switched over to Ruby Kickstart by Joshua Cheek. This took a little getting used to as well, but because I am so visual and kinesthetic in my learning methods I preferred these tutorials because they have videos that allow one to see what is occuring on the screen. Personally I found the first video incredibly easy to follow after the initial introduction. However, one factor to note about the Ruby Kickstart is that there are very few examples provided and Mr. Cheek himself acknowledges this in the video and is likely to include more examples in the future. The first 4 challenges of Session 1 I found fairly easy, but starting at around challenge 5, they got a lot harder. I now know that the Ruby Kickstart challenges actually require some searching on the internet (unless you're already a lot more familiar with ruby methods and syntax than I am). This isn't a bad thing though, because as developers we are constantly learning and one of the ways we do this is through web searches, and keeping a good log of all the things we don't understand, or the questions we have along the way.

While I continue to be challenged to the point of utter frustration, I am proud of the progress I have made so far and I know that I need to just push through. A friend and graduate from Makers recently reminded me that we will never know all there is to know so I shouldn't worry too much. There will always be things that other people know but I don't know, and vice versa. And to be honest, if I didn't feel challenged, I would be in the wrong field. So I'm grateful for the continuing affirmation that I have made the right choice. On top of that, my mentor, fellow Makers students and graduates, fiance, friends and family have been amazingly supportive in this epic adventure. Thank you. There will be times when I lash out in frustration because it's been hours since I've eaten and there will be times when I toss my head back and laugh hysterically at the screen out of sheer madness. But there will also be times when I won't be able to keep myself from grinning ear to ear because even though I chose a hard path, I know it's the right one and every single moment of it is worth it.

Some things I learned:

- Keep an organized list of questions

- Having a folder of saved screenshots helps me immensely

- I am not anyone other than myself, and I shouldn't try to be anyone else. I shouldn't be disappointed in myself for not knowing all the things that others know.

- You can't always complete a challenge based on what you have been taught. You have to look beyond.

Some things I have to work on:

- Listen to myself. When I'm not making progress, try something else. Remember that I learn in a very specific way so if I spend a lot of time learning in a way that doesn't benefit me, I should find a way to mold that learning experience into my own.

- Spend less time worrying about meeting expectations and more time just exploring