Yep, not referring to that to-do list of blog ideas yet again.
However, that’s not the point right now. Right now, in the beginning stages of my Python 3 bootcamp, I’m just not motivated. I need a bit of an escape. Enter writing. Writing can be, like thinking out loud (or, you know, talking to yourself) a good method for organizing thoughts. Some people prefer to keep a diary for these thoughts. I blog.
I don’t hate Python by any means. I think it is a wonderful, versatile language with many applications. Since I’d like to have a background in Data Science in order to make me more attractive as an applicant (and future Scrum Master), I really want to make sure I know Python well, and I want to know the newest version of it. Python 2, after all, loses support in a year.
The problem I face now – which I similarly went through when I took my now completed MySQL bootcamp – is that I hate starting in the beginning. The instructor is currently walking through some introductory tasks that Python can handle. It’s not necessarily boring. My real issue, though, is why would anyone do this? I wish there were some real world applications thrown in. To me, learning
'hello'[-1]
doesn’t do a whole lot for me. In my head, I just can’t get past the part where I don’t understand why anyone would need to know how many characters are in a string. I’m sure there are plenty of great reasons for it. Having an example thrown in as to why this is being taught, even if I don’t understand the concept in full now, would be great.
I’m sure this might be a good criticism of the course, which I could do. I prefer to not review courses until I’m at the end, though, for this very reason.
Instead, what I need to remember, though, is to be patient. When you have anxiety, being patient can be hard. Often, your immediate response to anxiety is to make it go away. How to I find relief now? Being patient is a practice in itself, as instant gratification typically makes anxiety worse in the long run. It really sucks, and it’s hard to negotiate internally when the long term is a hard concept to grasp at times because of the immediate issue.
For myself, though, I’ll just write out my frustration, allow myself to be sidetracked just enough, and keep pressing play on these videos. Soon enough I’ll be out of the intro period and into the coding fire. Until then, I’ll just have to tell myself to remember the long term goals, keep my head down, and keep working towards those goals. The day to day might feel low at times, but all I have to be is slightly better than yesterday. That I can do.
hello_patsy 