Hello folks,
As I continue down my job-hunt search, many things are apparent. I have not actually just "coded" in years. What should be simple tasks for any computer science graduate, I struggle through. Some could be chalked up to bad timing ... just being caught off-guard/unprepared for the question. But usually I am just being hit with something simple that I have not done in years.
In my last year at the "company that shall not yet be named", amongst other things, I:
- re-designed our application's UI and doctored up (HTML structure, SCSS) new features; overhauled UX pain-points
- optimized our Azure infrastructure
- designed a new approach for accessing our customer's data
- upgraded application framework to .NET Core 3.1 (on the way to .NET 5)
One of the downsides of small-team development, is that many times an individual has to wear multiple hats. I've specialized in this over the years and it was once an asset. For example: even as a project lead/lead server developer, there was no-one available to work on the UI/UX. So ... since I had my start writing HTML UIs back in 1998, I stepped up to the plate. I wanted the project to be successful, so I did everything I was able to try and make it a success. Alas, it was not meant to be.
In the long-run it seems though, I may have done my career a disservice. Focusing on multiple types of tasking is great for a small-team. However larger teams and organizations mostly expect a concentrated effort in your chosen field, and one must be able to excel at all times. A recent graduate from a solid school can score better than me on technical interviews/tests, and that can not be acceptable. Even if I lament the idea of "text-book" testing, hiring managers these days love it.
I need to do better and I need to get back those skills I basically stopped using 10-12-14 years ago!
So, to that end, I have created a pair (of mostly useless) github repos with my attempt to pick up on a few things such as:
- working with XUnit and CodeCoverage tools
- playing with a bit of "metal" (as compared to just the "glass")
- GitHub actions
If interested, jump on over and check them out!
Now, these are not meant to contain any type of breakthrough or aha moments. I'm not even claiming the code is good as for sure optimizations and structures can be refactored. Easily 99% of the credit in the "ringarray" repo can be attributed to Mr. GL (thank you) ... but these again are just meant to give me experimental/experiential examples to play with!
Thanks for reading ... Happy Coding!