Drowning In a Sea of Parenthesis and Curly Brackets

function....span....append....element....$(this).....var... )}; .......?!

help.

Now, as some of you know, I have embarked on a new path. I'm taking lessons to become a web developer and it's been a struggle. In fact, this past week I feel like a fish out of water.

What possessed me to start this?! Why am I learning how to code?

Well, to be honest, I love this stuff....... I must if I'm up till 2am trying to debug my project.....yes, 2am....and guess what? After hours and hours of looking for the problem, I found the culprit. The reason my "code" wasn't working was due to a misplaced quotation mark! UGH!!!! Really???!

Anyway, no matter my level of interest and passion for learning all of this, it has been dwarfed by my feeling of total stupidity.

Apparently, not only did my vision go once I hit forty, but my brain as well. I cannot for the life of me retain the information that I've been reading. What once would have taken me minutes to comprehend in my youth, now takes me an hour.

It's so sad.

However, I'm not giving up. I've got a wonderful mentor and a supportive discussion group from taking my course at Thinkful......I will finish the course, ugly web pages and all......well, hopefully not really ugly.

So, bring it on O'mighty tech world.....I will learn to embrace you curly brackets and all.


Have you ever felt lost at what you are attempting to learn? Has your brain turned to mush too?

Taking the Plunge!

Well, I finally did it.

After learning that I'm considered a butterfly when it comes to resume reviews, I decided to sit down and think hard about what it is I want to do.

".....gee, what am I gonna be when I grow up?"

HELLO?!?!? Wake up! You're a mother of three and your well into your fo--orrr---ties.

While all this true...... what does it matter?

Honestly, it's really now or never. I have never been a big fan of my actual career path as a pharmacist and having taken years off to raise my children, I really don't want to head back to the healthcare arena in that capacity.

It's time to follow my dreams. Learn something new and start on a new path before I'm really too old! So, last week, I signed up for the Front-End-Web-Developement course offered by Thinkful.

How do I like it? Well, so far it's not too bad....I've only fallen asleep once while reading some text (reading always puts me to sleep) and I've had a couple of assignments that have lead to a little frustration on my part as I tried to do things not yet in my wheelhouse, but......I'm super excited.

I'm finally understanding how and why things are coded the way they are and I find it absolutely fascinating! Ok, you can say it.....NERD!!!!! GEEK!!!! But I don't care! I love it!!

I can now take a blank web page and make it look like something....of course at this time it's rather ugly, but hey it's my first week.....it can only get better. (if you want to see the real thing you can click here : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49988315/html-resume/resume.html )

This is a screenshot of the webpage I made for class.....it's ugly, I know.

It's still early to give an educated opinion on the course I'm taking, but the Thinkful FEWD program  seemed more comprehensive than some of the other courses out there - at least for me. I need a little more nudging....and knowing that I have to meet with my mentor every week and seeing what my "classmates" are doing, motivates me to get off the couch and get moving, or in my case throw my PTA and child rearing responsibilities to the side.

Have you ever thought about changing careers? If so, let me know..... I would love to hear your stories.

Listen, if I can do it after all these years, you can too.....follow your dreams and reach for the stars.