Not having pressure to produce makes being productive therapeutic.
This morning, I opened my notion and set practical goals for the day:
I feel well rested after being burnt out from the week prior. Aside from working forty hours a week, I've been interviewing and implementing feedback from my current project.
This week, I set boundaries and communicated to others some adjustments I needed to make in my schedule so I can succeed. It was liberating to have a couple more free evenings without any outside obligations. While these are my personal challenges, I know some people may have it worse and if they can overcome those challenges, then I can as well.
Feelings -
I'm quite frustrated at myself for taking so much time on this second personal project. It was a shower thought that I immediately wanted to make into reality due to my strong desire to make an impact while leveraging the skills I have learned through my coding bootcamp.
Growing up with a father that was a doctor (in the Philippines) and three sisters that are nurses. I knew from a young age I did not want to conform to the masses. If I were to be in healthcare, I would be an Epidemiologist. I mean, why not have someone in the family help prevent a disease than add one more professional to treat the sick? Upon immigrating to the US right before turning 10 years old, I explored my various curiosities with sports, theatre, photography, social media like Myspace and Tumblr.
A loss in the family during my late teens lead me to take several classes in Psychology and Philosophy in my early college years. Hoping to find answers to what others wouldn't provide for me. I should've just used Google but immersing myself in these subjects helped me understand myself and my current reality.
If you read my first blog, you know that I eventually majored in Marketing. "A practical approach to marry my interests in psychology and new technologies." However, I also produced and freelanced events such as Young Hollywood Networking Mixer and Asian American Awards to satisfy a part of me that wants to make a difference in people's lives. Even if it was only for an evening.
The Young Hollywood Networking Mixer (pictured above) was produced by a former Paramount intern and I in order to make networking be less intimidating. In university, they placed a strong emphasis in networking but it was an intimidating process. Young Hollywood Mixer would help ease the anxieties of young professionals as they build relationships in the film industry. While the networking endeavor lasted a year, I still wanted to be part of networking events so I freelanced whenever I could. Covid put an indefinite pause on any event involvement.
Moreover, with my second personal project, Baby Club, I felt like it would be a way for me to pay my dues to my brother who has mentored me each weeknight for three months as he anticipated the birth of his first born child. At the same time fuel my passion to make a some kind of difference in one's life. A social networking site that would allow expecting parents to have a digital community to feel supported through this prominent transition in their life. I hope to finish it and perhaps a smaller project before Christmas. Although I am not a healthcare professional, it is still in my DNA to make an impact in my community no matter how small it may be.
Main Challenges:
My main challenges with Baby Club have been mainly front end and my anxiety. I wanted to take full ownership of this project from design to back end. Leveraging the skills I have gained from bootcamp with inspiration from a couple popular social networking sites. I recently told an individual I met through Tech Twitter that it was a challenge for me to take feedback from a Visual Artist I know even though he has done visual effects for some prominent film studios and tech companies. Articulating that fact may have portrayed me in the wrong light but I did not add that that Visual Artist is my partner. Mental Health wise - It is difficult for me to take professional feedback from those who are not placed in a professional category in my life. But I am learning to be humble and take feedback from any individual that has their best interests in helping me grow in my career.
Writing this out has been very therapeutic. While I did go to a Bootcamp, it was a self guided one and I did not have a cohort that I could bounce ideas off from. That's why tech twitter has been so valuable for me. Most developers talk about how it was also a lonely road for them in the early years trying to navigate the tech industry as a new developer. But feeling alone sucks! Meeting people like Nicole, Allyse, Lyn and so many other individuals whom have greatly made an impact in providing me a wealth of knowledge and support has been the the missing piece in my journey. As an Asian American, community has been number one for me. I thrive the most when surrounded by positive individuals that help ease the challenging days.
Anyway, for accountability sake my goals before Christmas are:
- Deploy a responsive version of my first personal project, Maru.
A local coffee shop in Los Angeles.
I emulated Maru desktop version. See actual website vs. my version below:
vs.
- Implement feedback on Baby Club and Deploy.
Work on Algorithms at least 2 hours every week day.
Refine Portfolio and add deployment links and some visuals.
Add a third personal project where I could refine my front end skills more.
Thanks for reading!
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