Code & Chill

Hello! I'm Alica \o/ currently learning: python, react/js, golang

inbox is open to anyone interested to chat about coding 📬

Applications for Winter 2023 are now open!

If you're looking for some hands-on experience with an opportunity to gain 1:1 mentorship, and contribute to a non-profit, here's a really cool opportunity hosted by DevelopForGood.

🎉 If accepted, you'll get an offer from a non-profit to work on a remote project with your desired role

⏰ The time commitment is 16 weeks, 5-10~ hours a week, so you can treat this like a part-time internship

🎓 Current students and recent graduates are eligible to apply. Though, if you're a more experienced professional, consider applying to be a mentor!

Apply as a manager, developer, or UX/UI designer!

Choose the causes you want to work for

Would super recommend checking out this organization in general!

do I need experience to apply? We see our opportunities as learning experiences, and encourage anyone interested in tech, design, and creating social impact to apply. => read more on their FAQ page

If you're a student interested in cybersecurity topics, I would highly recommend attending this bi-annual CTF competition hosted by National Cyber League & CyberSkyline. It's about $35 and you get hundreds of hands-on training and lab exercises on these topics:

Even if you're a complete beginner, there are included tutorials and guides on how to solve each problem (in the training and practice round) if you're just looking to learn!

=> Register here for the competition by October 6th

Happy to answer any questions about it, I attended the Spring season and it was super fun!

●~•──── Q&A ─────•~●

What's a CTF? -> Capture the flag competition. Typically the challenges have the goal of finding a secret code (the "flag") in a file or environment you're given. Problem Example: if you're given an .jpeg image, there might be a secret code inside the file if you open it in a text editor.

How long does this competition take? It is a month long, broken down into 4 rounds, all covering the same topics in each round. The questions do get trickier as the rounds progress. But, you won't get booted if you don't complete every problem. You can work on it when you want to up until the deadline for that round. The training gym will be open for at least a month after the competition if you want to revisit and learn the topics! Gymnasium: One week long, learn new skills, low pressure, guides and tutorials available Practice: weekend long, practice what the real game will be like, answer key provided Individual: weekend long, the real game, only solo, solution discussion boards open after the deadline Team: weekend long, with your team mates, solution discussion boards open after the deadline. You can form teams before the game starts, I would recommend your class mates from the same school! For more info on how teams work, i'd check out the site for the full timeline and breakdown of these rounds

●~•──────  question───────•~●

At what point in your life did you decide that the world of computers was the one for you?

Thank you @code-ess and @lazar-codes for tagging me!

●~•──────  response ───────•~●

When I was around 13yo, I wanted a new laptop… But, I had a very tight budget and wanted the best bang for my buck.. Surely there must be another source to buy computers other than the local Best Buy! In the process of researching, I was very intrigued with the specs of a computer and how it all came together. (I also became horrified with how expensive Best Buy actually was 😅) That was my earliest memory of being interested in computers. Not wanting to get ripped off! I ended up buying a used X220 tablet/thinkpad hybrid on Ebay. That thing lasted for years! And I got interested with distro hopping and scripting :D

Another strong influence was that I read a book titled Code: The Hidden Language of Computers by Charles Petzold which taught me a lot of fundamental computing concepts I’d later drill down in my degree! I initially wanted to be a hardware/embedded engineer, but I’m fully passionate about SWE as a career now 😊

Throughout my teens, I had pretty mediocre grades.. So, it was disappointing I wasn’t able to enroll in CS classes before college. I asked my parents to send me to super cheap summer camp courses in cybersecurity, game development, & robotics instead. Got into a lot of computing hijinks with my friends which kept up my interest too

Fortunately, I was able to leave high school after my 2nd year to attend a community college for Computer Engineering, which was smooth sailing. But transferring to university, there was A LOT of bumps in the road (2.20 GPA, gap year, switching majors), but I did make it and graduate with my Bachelor’s in CS last year so yay 🎉

Get a free ms certification voucher + extra certification resources!

I just found out about this yesterday!! This is happening on May 23rd (Tuesday), during the Microsoft Build 2023 event.

Register -> MS Build 2023 (Free Virtual Pass)

●~•──────  Microsoft Free Certification ───────•~●

So Microsoft Build 2023 is hosting a number of cloud skills challenges and completing ANY of them will get you a free voucher for a Microsoft Certification exam. The challenges are learning modules, like a mini-course!

When you complete a challenge, the exam offer will valid between the end of June to end of September! So you can take time in the summer to get certified in something you're interested in!

More details here -> Microsoft Build Challenges

●~•──────  Challenge Details ───────•~●

The challenge starts on May 23, 2023 at 4:00 PM (16:00) UTC and ends on June 20, 2023 at 4:00 PM (16:00) UTC.

There are 8 challenges available to choose from

Each challenge is based on a collection of Microsoft Learn modules. If you complete your challenge before it ends, one free Microsoft Certification exam will be associated with your Microsoft Learn profile by June 30, 2023. You will be notified via email when it becomes available.

To see the full list of eligible exams please refer to the official rules page for more details.

●~•──────  BONUS FUN FACT ───────•~●

You can also get free vouchers for fundamental certifications for Microsoft!! Just have to verify your student status.

More Details Here -> Free Microsoft Training & Certs for Students

●~•────── Are Certifications Worth it? ───────•~●

What do ya wanna do & where are you at? Here's my grain of salt:

If you're an intern /new grad level, then even a fundamentals cert can be great to show proactive learning & make you standout with recruitors

If you're switching to a new role or want a promotion, getting certifications seem to be a decent way to meet those qualifications, backed with some professional years of experience

Of course, the TYPE of certification matters a lot. Generally certs that are more challenging to complete, are considered "Expert" or "Professional" level will be more valuable.

Do diligent research into what your field of interest is looking for, and if a cert would be useful. (Read reddit, hackernews, watch yt vids, linkedin, etc)

Certs are not necessary (uhh when it comes to swe. flying a plane is a different story). But if you see it often in job descriptions that you're interested in, consider it! From my impressions, if you're interested in cloud engineering, AWS certs seem pretty valued.

Certs can also be a negative if you have too many with no specialization or experience. Certs are great to enhance ur resume, but make sure to emphasize relevant experience too!

If you have any experience with certifications, please do share your experience!

●~•──────── Introduction  ─────────•~●

Hello! Today I wanted to talk about UX design. This post was supposed to be longer but Tumblr deleted my draft and I’m feeling (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ so here is just part one.. We’ll be covering the “Empathy” step which includes:

Exploring the problem space

Conducting User Research

Defining User Personas

I believe that taking time to do design thinking when creating a product avoids bad door knobs and confusing app interfaces. Here’s a handful of hilariously bad UI demos for taste: https://mattw.io/bad-ui/.

Here’s some other common pitfalls: 

Too many choices for a user (overcrowded toolbars)

Not enough options for users (accessibility)

Poor feedback (“Did that form actually go through?”)

Inconsistent interfaces (“Do I push or pull on this door…It says push, but has a pull handle!”)

●~•────────What is a prototype? ─────────•~●

A prototype is an early model mock-up of the product you want to build. We’re focusing on digital products in this case, so the product can be an app, website, or any other applications. Prototypes are useful for conceptualizing and visualizing your ideas for the product. It's also meant to showcase the "flow" of using the app from a user's perspective, as well as show the layout and organization of your product.

●~•───────What is the design thinking process? ────────•~●

The design thinking process is an iterative process to approaching designing products. It's not necessarily linear, but we'll walk through what you should consider at each step. In practice, you may find yourself revisiting steps to refine your problem, ideas, and mock-up itself after getting user feedback. Let’s talk about the first step, empathizing!

🐢 Even if you've activated in the past, I think it's fun to re-visit if anything new has been added :D

●~•───────────────────────────────────────•~●

I learned about this when I attended my 1st hackathon, I used the pack to get a free website domain (from Namecheap) and used Digital Ocean cloud services to host apps, and even tried out Educative's courses. Later, when I was hosting a hackathon, they released their ~hackathon hosting starter pack~ and it was great to have access to extra resources to support hosting virtual events!

I recently remembered this existed and wanted to promote it here, so if you're a student interested in CS/Software Dev, have a upcoming hackathon or just want to play around with some premium tools, pls take time to check this out!

Something exciting I noticed this time around is the addition of project template examples (Ex: Discord Bots) and a career readiness section 👀

Personally, I am still using: Codespaces, GitHub Pages, I *still* have my domain with NameCheap, and there's a handful of services they added that I want to check out now :D

●~•───────────────────────────────────────•~●

-> Get the GitHub pack here: https://education.github.com/pack

Here’s my notes from this video about the Google I/O keynote!

P.S. I'm not sponsored or anything, I just like tech news :D I have my own thoughts about all the AI updates and products but I'll leave that for a later post 🤔

📱 Google Pixel 7a - released

Powered by G2 Tensor chip

72% larger camera sensor

$499 price (personally.. I'll be going for the "older" Pixel 7)

📱 Google Pixel Tablet - available for pre-order

Powered by G2 Tensor chip

11-inch screen

Offers hybrid charging/speaker dock

🖁 Google Pixel Fold - available for pre-order

Very optimized for android experience

Allegedly durable hinges

Great camera

$1799 + you get a pixel watch (😥 crazy expensive)

📧 Gmail - now powered by AI!

🗺️ Google Maps - Immersive 3D view coming to 15 cities by the end of the year!

📸 Google Photos - AI Magic fill missing objects in photos, brighten up sky

💬 Exciting updates to Bard - Google’s AI chat bot

Proficient in 20+ programming languages 

Easier to read, added source code citations

Dark theme

Waitlist removed - open to 180+ countries!

In-line AI writer in Google Docs, Google Sheets

🖼️ Adobe Firefly - generative image AI

📨 Google Messages w/ RCS

800M+ monthly active users with RCS

RCS is a a new standard for messaging, intending to replace SMS

📨 Google Messages - Magic Compose, AI texting!

🤠 Emojis on your wallpaper lol + better dynamic wallpapers + AI wallpapers

tl;dr

Focus on learning and practicing, not just the completion of courses

Don't be afraid to skip parts of a course if it's too easy, don't be afraid to challenge yourself with extra research if a course isn't giving enough explanation, don't be afraid of dropping a resource when it's no longer relevant or helpful to you

Build small atomic projects to test new concepts you're learning

Use it or lose it! This goes with getting practice on new topics, and remembering to revisit your saved bookmarks! 🔖

thoughtdump

There's a big pitfall for consuming lots of tutorials and courses without building or practicing it. Nowadays, if I’m bored with the sludge of a tutorial, I just move on from it or skip around as I please. Don’t worry about 100% completing it. What’s the point?

(Disclaimer: It's still an amazing achievement to complete courses, it takes dedication, perseverance, and consistency! Personally, I've found myself beaten down by the expectation to complete things. So I find it helpful to let go of this kind of perfection)

Sometimes I find the best explanations on a stackoverflow post, in the source documentation, or on a niche developer’s blog. 

The benefit of courses is the structure and the guaranteed coverage of topics in a field. So there’s that. Just gotta be intentional with it, and always connect what you’re learning with what you already know to make it sticky to your brain. Also, before buying any course, there's likely a free resource online that will do the trick! I find free courses in the most unexpected places, from youtube playlists, to github repos.

It’s much more engaging to learn something relevant to a problem you’re trying to solve as well, which leads to the epitome advice regarding tutorial hell.. 

"Quite Simply.. Build Projects"

The advice of simply “building projects” is thrown around a lot, but I think it’s important to build small, atomic, projects. Very small demos that test out just one concept you’re trying to hone down.

Sources of Inspiration 

ok i've got a behavioral interview coming up so decided to make this quick guide on how i prepare for these if it helps anyone else trying to land internships or full-time jobs in the tech industry!

the process

1. ⭐ Introduction (10-15 min)

The interviewer wants to know more about you, your career goals, skills, and how you align w/ the company's mission.

Like a compelling essay, you want a strong hook or opening statement. The first question asked is often "Tell me about yourself" and this should be a brief elevator pitch (30 seconds) that highlights your current status (student, major, study area), your relevant experience, why you're interested in the company/why you're a good fit for the company, and what you're looking for (in a job). Practice this in front of a mirror if you have to!

Doing company research is really important for the whole interview! You want to look informed and interested. You can use sites such as:

Twitter Linkedin Glassdoor company website (blogs/news/about/careers page) any press releases/news articles to find info about what the company is focused on or what they care about most.

Find things that are genuinely interesting to *you* and write it down on a separate notepad to remember it

Review the job posting you applied to and review where you meet their expectations (your strengths) and be aware of your weaknesses (be ready to answer like "I'm working on improving my..." or "I hope this company can give me more experience in..")

Top questions: Tell me about yourself, why do you want to work for us, what are your strengths? Why should we hire you?

2. ⭐ Situational Questions (15-30 min)

This is where you use the STAR method to craft your responses to questions about your communication, work ethic, and collaboration style

STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result

Here's a guide + sample questions that you can encounter in any type of interview!

Also, prepare 5-6 solid situations that you can use to anchor your STAR responses. These can come from your resume, where each project can be something you can tie back to another soft/technical skill the company is looking for.

For example, for my hackathon experiences, i can relate it to any collaboration / communication / time crunch / meeting deadlines question. for my research experience, i can relate it to analytical skills / experimental / problem-solving questions.

For me, I put all my projects/experiences on a google doc, and then I write additional bullet points on things I did, problems I solved, challenges, skills I gained, etc. It's kind of like a super expanded resume. It's a great reference at a glance! Reflecting on your experiences/projects is very important as well, whether large or small.

3. ⭐ Closing (5 - 10 min)

This is your opportunity to end on a strong note, re-iterating what makes you a good fit for the company and asking questions that show you've done your research on the role/company!

What are good questions? Questions that aren't easily answerable on the company site, questions that will help YOU make a decision if you want to work for them

Here's some good ones: What is your current work from home / hybrid / in-person policies? What are the most exciting challenges facing your company in the next 6 months? What's the next step in the interview process / when can I expect follow-up? Is there support for junior / entry-level developers (such as mentorship)? How does the company support work-life balance? Can you share any recent projects / initiatives the company has taken on that you're excited about?

Here's some to AVOID: Avoid asking about salary / benefits unless you absolutely need this information before moving forward, Avoid asking questions you can google easily or know by reading the job description, avoid questions that are clearly outside of your interviewers area of expertise

phew, maybe i shouldve broken this into multiple posts, for now this is a quick overview, hope this helps!

----

additional (free) resources:

interviewbit - variety of questions listed for behaviorals

tech interview handbook - more details on preparing for STAR and example responses

handshake blog post - list of questions you can ask at the end of any interview

exponent's blog post - FAANG interviewing, focusing on company values, finding peer-to-peer mock interviews

You know how ppl say that you just need to learn one programming language really well and it will transfer to other languages? I think these are the handful of skills that are transferable to different languages, frameworks, and much more. Being aware of this has helped me understand where I can improve

Grammar: Recognizing the syntactic patterns behind a computer program

Semantics: Understanding what a computer program actually means from the computer's perspective

Reading: Fluently reading code and understanding what it does

Debugging: Finding and fixing computer bugs

Algorithms: Writing code to solve academic problems

Software development: The skill of writing code to solve a real problem

above all, using stackoverflow and source documentation when in doubt :D