Whew! Here we are with another blog post and a CLI gem project completed. It has been a roller coaster of emotions, health, and personal issues, however, I have somehow managed to make it out onto the other side not only as a better person but a stronger developer. 

As part of The Flatiron School’s curriculum after a project is submitted, you are to go through a code review by someone on staff. During this process, a series of questions are asked about the project and fundamental components of the lessons that were covered before the project. After the questions and live demo are completed with satisfaction a live coding session ensues. 

I have to admit, the thought of the code review made me nervous. Although I felt as if I had an understanding of the material due to the fact that my CLI gem project managed to run successfully, the notion of being tested gave me butterflies as my heart began to race and my palms began to sweat. 

My first submission of my project for code review went ok. Yes, I said first. Although my project ran, the reviewer called upon me to refactor my code as our meeting time dwindled. In going back through my code to refactor it in order to have all of my “puts” statements in the appropriate file I ran into trouble getting my program to run as intended. Once I managed to get the kinks out I was ready to resubmit the project for a second code review. 

During my second and successful attempt, I managed to showcase my understanding of the ruby fundamentals by answering the posed questions correctly and holding my own during the live coding portion. 

Once the code review process was over I had some time to reflect on the experience. While it was nerve-racking, it gave me the opportunity to talk and explain my process for the code that was written. I found that there is a profound difference from struggling through the code and thinking you have the thorough understanding of the code to talk about it so a layperson can understand and being able to live code on the spot.