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‎_posts/2013-05-23-getting-started-with-deliberate-practice.md‎

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title: Getting Started with Deliberate Practice
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tags: deliberate_practice
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---
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### Background
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I graduated with a degree in Software Engineering back in 2006. I have spent the majority of my time working as a business analyst and project manager (not developing software myself and using those skills daily). I have worked on minor projects here and there but they have been of the _hackers_ variety instead of being a _craftsman_ of software.
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I completed my MBA in December 2011. I planned to use my MBA to transition into a parallel field such as operations or finance. After having lackluster responses to resumes and informal interviews, I took a step back to ask myself what I was doing wrong.
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### Looking at the problem all wrong
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I had been telling myself that I was a skilled engineer who now had a formal business education to pair with that. I was attempting to leverage my skills I had developed as a BA and PM, to get others to hire me as a Financial Analyst or Manager. I could tell that what the interviewers wanted were people with the exact skills they needed at that time, and weren't willing to gamble on me. It was now time to approach things a different way.
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I downloaded the [_So Good They Can't Ignore You_](http://amzn.com/B0076DDBJ6) audiobook onto my iPhone and dove in. It wasn't long before I heard Cal Newport talk about _career capital_ and to be honest, I didn't have it in finance or operations. What I did have was a solid education in software engineering and an aptitude for learning.
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### Where to go from here
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I started looking for job postings in my city that had a significant amount of direct overlap with my education and work experience. After a few months of surveying it seems the most likely roles involved software development, specifically using Ruby on Rails. I posted and interviewed for one such postion. I was on the right track but needed to spend some time working on real projects with Ruby and Rails. From the interview I was able to figure out many of the exact skills that the team was looking for: Ruby, Rails, general web development, JavaScript, JQuery, Backbone.js, etc. I was also able to learn about some of the tools that were used: Git, Vim, etc.
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From here I need to put together a plan of _deliberate practice_ to develop specific skills in this area so that the next time I interview, I will have the _career capital_ required to get the job.

‎_posts/2013-05-23-practice-log.md‎

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title: Practice Log for 2013-05-23
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tags: practice_log
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---
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* [Build Podcast 01 - Web Dev Tools](http://build-podcast.com/web-dev-tools/)
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* Seeing the real time update of html / css was cool
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* I was not familiar with the pretty print feature when looking at scripts
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* [Build Podcast 02 - Terminal](http://build-podcast.com/terminal/)
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* `whois` from the command line is nice
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* I need to start using `sudo !!`
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* [Build Podcast 03 - HTML5 Boilerplate](http://build-podcast.com/html5-boilerplate/)
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> Although I don't plan to jump into pure web development for a while, I thought it might be good to check this out anyhow.

‎_posts/2013-05-24-deliberate-practice-plan.md‎

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title: My Deliberate Practice Plan
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tags: deliberate_practice
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---
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The biggest benefit I have in developing my plan for deliberate practice is that the Ruby and Rails communities have a large bent towards learning. Below I am going to document my plan for skills to develop, tools I will use to develop those skills, and my specific plan for practice.
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### Tier 1 Skills
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* Ruby
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* Vim
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* Git / Github
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* Testing
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* Bash
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* Markdown
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* Unix
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### Tier 2 Skills
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* Rails
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* JavaScript
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* jQuery
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* d3 or horizon
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* CoffeeScript
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* Backbone.js
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* Angular.js
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* Ember.js
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* Vagrant
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* Chef
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* Zsh
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* Objective C
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* R or JuliaLang
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* tmux
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### Tools
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* [Build Podcast](http://build-podcast.com/)
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* [Code School](http://www.codeschool.com/)
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* [Discover DevTools](http://www.codeschool.com/courses/discover-devtools)
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* [Try jQuery](http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-jquery)
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* [Try Objective C](http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-objective-c)
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* [Confreaks](http://www.confreaks.com/) and [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/user/Confreaks)
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* [thoughtbot trail-map](https://github.com/thoughtbot/trail-map) and [Learn iOS](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/thoughtbot-learn/id605401428?mt=8)
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* [Jekyll](http://jekyllrb.com)
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* [Stack Overflow](http://stackoverflow.com/)
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* [Vimium](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb)
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### Plan
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* Spend at least 30 min a day learning or doing
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* Document what I learn / do in a practice log

‎_posts/2013-05-24-practice'd.md‎

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title: Practice'd
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tags: practice_log
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---
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### Code School
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* [Report Card](http://www.codeschool.com/users/queuebit)
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* Completed Courses
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* Try Ruby
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* Try Git
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* Try R
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* Rails for Zombies Redux
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* JQuery Air: First Flight
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* Ruby Bits
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* Ruby Bits Part 2
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### [Learn Ruby The Hard Way](http://ruby.learncodethehardway.org/book/)
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* Exercises 1 - 26
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### Well Grounded Rubyist
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* Chapter 1
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* `ruby -cw` - checks syntax and gives warnings without executing
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* `irb --simple-prompt --noecho` - simpler prompt without echos (aka self-explanatory)
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* `load filename.rb` - this will allow me to update while testing in irb
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* `rake` - Ruby make task-management utility
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* `ri String#upcase` - quickly look at rdocs for given method / class
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* `gem install ___` - really easy to add third party gems
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* Chapter 2
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* `def m(a, b=2, *c, d)` - example of argument lists
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## Git Immersion
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* [Pro Git videos](http://git-scm.com/videos)
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* Getting Started / Basics
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* Dealing with the Past
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* Fixing Mistakes
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## Jekyll
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* After a few failures, I have this running on queuebit.github.io
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## Vagrant
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* [Getting Started](http://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/getting-started/index.html)

‎_posts/2013-05-24-practice-log.md‎

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title: Practice Log for 2013-05-24
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tags: practice_log, tk
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---
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* [Build Podcast 04 - git](http://build-podcast.com/git/)
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> Nice overview of git: branching, checkouts and merges
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* `git clone source [local_folder_name]` - This seems useful if you don't like the name of the source project
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* [Build Podcast 15 - Github](http://build-podcast.com/github/)
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* **<@tk>**{: .tk} - Pick a ruby project to look through on a regular basis
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* The `fixed #1` syntax for the commit message to close issues was cool
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* Pull request process
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1. Clone repo
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2. Create branch with new feature
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3. Push branch with new feature back to Github
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4. Create pull request
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* [Google Chrome Developer Tools: 12 Tricks to Develop Quicker](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOEw9iiopwI)
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* `copy ( __ )` will be really nice so I don't have to select output, Cmd+C
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* `inspect ( __ )` does the same thing but within the DOM explorer
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* `$0` is the shortcut to the selected element in the DOM explorer
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* `console.log( __ )` will take the print the output to the console during JS execution
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* [Build Podcast 41 - Vim](http://build-podcast.com/vim/)
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* **<@tk>**{: .tk} - Search for other .vimrc files on Github
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* `:bn` - switch to next file in buffer
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* `:ls` - list files currently in buffer
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* `^` - Go to the first character on the line
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* `P` - paste before cursor
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* `:vs pathname` - open two files vertically
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* `:split filename` - open two files horizontally
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* `^W` - switch between the two files
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* `:tabe filename` - open file in a new tab
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* `gt` - go to next tab
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* `:reg` - view current recorded macros
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* `:colo` - set vim themes

‎_posts/2013-05-25-practice-log.md‎

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---
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* Worked on side project for 3.5 hours
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* Checked out [state_machine](https://github.com/pluginaweek/state_machine)
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* Built initial case statement parser for games

‎_posts/2013-05-28-practice-log.md‎

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tags: practice_log, tk
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---
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* [Build Podcast 39 - Vagrant](http://build-podcast.com/vagrant/)
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* `vagrant package` - Package up vagrantfile, box, etc to share with other devs
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* **<@tk>**{: .tk} - Resources to checkout
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* [Pregenerate typical Vagrant builds](http://rove.io/)
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* [Vagrantbox.es](http://www.vagrantbox.es/)
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* [Slideshare intro to Vagrant](http://www.slideshare.net/salizzar/introduction-to-vagrant)
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* [Automate Your Development Environment by David Kerber](http://www.confreaks.com/videos/2368-rmw2013-ready-to-code-automate-your-development-environment)
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* Options for configuring Vagrant boxes: shell, puppet (_used in this video_), chef
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* Puppet modules for rvm, and custom manifest for postgres
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* [Dave's vagrant-example](https://github.com/davekerber/vagrant-example)
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* [Build Podcast 43 - SQL](http://build-podcast.com/sql/)
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* [SQLfiddle](http://sqlfiddle.com/) seems like a nice tool for mocking up DBs
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* `GROUP_CONCAT( _ )` - interesting way of displaying data without tons of rows
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* Powerful [example using ActiveRecord and Sinatra](https://github.com/sayanee/Build-Podcast/tree/master/043-sql#with-ruby-sinatra) with MySQL
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* [Confident Code by Avdi Grimm](http://www.confreaks.com/videos/763-rubymidwest2011-confident-code)
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* Narrative Method Structure
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1. Gather input
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2. Perform work
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3. Deliver results
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4. Handle failure

‎_posts/2013-05-29-practice-log.md‎

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---
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* [Real Software Engineering by Glenn Vanderburg](http://www.confreaks.com/videos/282-lsrc2010-real-software-engineering)
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> _defined process control model_ - requires that every piece of work to be completely understood. A defined process can be started and allowed to run until completion, with the same results every time.
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> _empirical process control model_ - provides and exercises control through frequent inspection and adaptation for processes that are imperfectly defined and generate unpredicatble and unrepeatable outputs.
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* \[PDF\] [_The Making of an Expert_ by Ericsson, Prietual, and Cokely](http://www.uvm.edu/~pdodds/files/papers/others/2007/ericsson2007a.pdf)
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* _The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and host, often painful self-assessment._ p2
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* Required components:
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* time
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* _deliberate_ practice
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* well-informed coach

‎_posts/2013-05-30-practice-log.md‎

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---
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* [Intro to 'Write Code Faster: Expert-level Vim'](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke7SfUFvvxo)
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1. Learn to use the vim `:help`
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2. Keep a cheat sheet on your desk (7-10 commands), find excuses to use them
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* If you do something the _wrong_ way, undo it and redo it the _right_ way
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3. Keep track of your annoyances (mistakes, things that are harder than they should be, etc) and put them on a list (back of cheat sheet)
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4. Learn all of the single letter commands (80% of power with 20% of effort - Pareto)
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5. Rebind caps lock to ESC
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* [Write code faster: expert-level vim (Railsberry 2012) by Ben Orenstein](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkdrYWhh-8s)
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* **<@tk>**{: .tk} - Checkout some of this other content Ben talked about
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* Look at Ben's `.vimrc` file
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* [Command-T](https://wincent.com/products/command-t)
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* <http://vimuniversity.com/>
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* [surround.vim](https://github.com/tpope/vim-surround)
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* <http://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/>
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* <http://vimcasts.org>
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* [Learn Ruby The Hard Way](http://ruby.learncodethehardway.org/book/) - Exercise 27-35
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* `(0..5)` - the [Range](http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.0/Range.html) class seems neat, similar to some of the value of python

‎_posts/2013-05-31-practice-log.md‎

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* [Learn Ruby the Hard Way](http://ruby.learncodethehardway.org/book) - Exercises 36-43
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* Installed [vundle](https://github.com/gmarik/vundle) to mange vim plugins

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