2020-2021 Alpha Male v.6

[Ampersnd]

Alpha Male v6.0, Stage 1, Day 4

Hi y'all, it's been a while.
I didn't find much changed under UMS, so I decided to change to AM6.

Overall, I feel like an improved person over the past 12 months.
My discipline levels have gone up in October 2020 versus October 2019
My perseverance has increased.
My maturity towards big projects has also increased; I realize that it's a day-by-day improvement, and I no longer lose patience.
My vices have been diminished; I no longer drink or use pron. I rarely do the other thing ; I now eat some chocolate, drink tea, and have a can of diet Coke every day or two.  

Two or three years ago, I'd be short-sighted about the future; I wanted my months-long projects to be done NOW.
Last year, I accepted that good things take months to accomplish, but still felt impatient.
Now, I've fully accepted it, and this acceptance has allowed for me to become increasingly vigilant about how I spend my time, hour-by-hour.

I've given dating a shot, with some success. I think my flirting skills are off; I'm simply too logical and don't take risks into the emotional realm. My prospects have petered out. I think that I'll be focusing on my projects these next 6 months.

These projects are:
- Complete my book by end of 2020; I'm about 80% done with my 3rd draft. Historically, I've finished my book within 1-2 months at this point.
- Complete a 12-week Squat and Bench press program to max out strength. Currently Week 3/12. The logic is that increased squats = faster sprints and better long-distance pace. I will be introducing weekly mileage on my treadmill after that to improve cardio.
- Continue practicing guitar 1-2 hours per day.
- (Tentative) Join a part-time Coding Bootcamp in late February/early-March; this would last 6 months and take up 3 evenings per week. This would be a nice kickstart to a new career, especially one that has a lot of possibilities and is in demand. My current career caps very early, and doesn't have much room for advancement.

I've managed to sneak in Stage 1 onto my work computer so that I can play it on loop as I work; there's no one else around, and most people who walk past the office are women.
I've been sleeping extra since I've been playing these loops. The full-body workouts aren't helping.

[tolgaocal80]

which run is this?

[Ampersnd]

Oof, I did AM5 in 2013-2014, and AM6 twice.
So this is my 4th total run, but 3rd AM6 run.

[JamesM]

Suggestion: If you have the self disciple to stick to a decision after the excitement of the moment is gone, buy some books and learn whatever language(s) you are going to use by plowing through those books yourself. It will be a lot cheaper than a bootcamp, and no one is going to hire you because you went to Bootcamp X. They will ask to see a portfolio of what you have coded. Classes are only needed if you don't have the discipline to do the work on your own.

Source: Two friends that are full-time developers.

Disclaimer: I can't code for shit in anything other than C (C++ get out reeeeeeee). After getting through 2 thick books on C (about 30 bucks used) I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to do this everyday for the rest of my life. That cost roughly $4,970 less than an equivalent bootcamp. I did run to the library a couple times dicking around with books on some other languages, so add another 10 bucks in wasted gas.

[Ampersnd]

Suggestion: If you have the self disciple to stick to a decision after the excitement of the moment is gone, buy some books and learn whatever language(s) you are going to use by plowing through those books yourself. It will be a lot cheaper than a bootcamp, and no one is going to hire you because you went to Bootcamp X. They will ask to see a portfolio of what you have coded. Classes are only needed if you don't have the discipline to do the work on your own.

Source: Two friends that are full-time developers.

Disclaimer: I can't code for shit in anything other than C (C++ get out reeeeeeee). After getting through 2 thick books on C (about 30 bucks used) I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to do this everyday for the rest of my life. That cost roughly $4,970 less than an equivalent bootcamp. I did run to the library a couple times dicking around with books on some other languages, so add another 10 bucks in wasted gas.

I disagree on the "Classes are only needed if you don't have the discipline to do the work on your own."

I've done a large Python project which involved the use of HTML. I'm still a bit clueless about how all the languages fit into each other. In spite of this, I often fail to see the whole picture. I often got caught on very small mistakes and had to rely on friends to help me out; they aren't always able to help. At this point, my programming friends have gotten quite niche and haven't been able to should me the full picture. 

I'm comfortable with some of the logic behind programming languages, but this is a full-stack developer bootcamp; it would help me understand and develop what is actually required to get hired in the field.

There's 1-on-1 career advice, the certificate is through a reputable university, and they've touted alumni working in half of the companies of the Fortune 100. 

I am disciplined, but it doesn't mean that I'm enough of a voyeur or a self-starter to develop a curriculum for myself to follow.

[lano1106]

A book alone is maybe not the best way to learn programming. My take on the question is that experience is the essential ingredient for mastery.

A bootcamp is one way to get that experience and feedback from more experienced people but it isn't the only one.

you can also acquire good experience from a job in the field but only when you are beginning. In the span of 2,3 years, I feel like a talented individual will have gone around the park pretty fast.

imho, possibly the best place to learn is to implicate yourself into an open-source project for a software that you really enjoy using. Reading a lot of code from very talented people is the greatest way to learn programming.

[Ampersnd]

A book alone is maybe not the best way to learn programming. My take on the question is that experience is the essential ingredient for mastery.

A bootcamp is one way to get that experience and feedback from more experienced people but it isn't the only one.

you can also acquire good experience from a job in the field but only when you are beginning. In the span of 2,3 years, I feel like a talented individual will have gone around the park pretty fast.

imho, possibly the best place to learn is to implicate yourself into an open-source project for a software that you really enjoy using. Reading a lot of code from very talented people is the greatest way to learn programming.

That makes sense. Do you have experience in the field? No offence to anyone in the forums, but I prefer to place more weight from someone "in the field," ya'know'wh'I'mean?

[tolgaocal80]

thanks lano, I will take this as a advice too, I started to learn programming with a book but it is obvious, book will not help me for learn concepts fully and wisely

[lano1106]

A book alone is maybe not the best way to learn programming. My take on the question is that experience is the essential ingredient for mastery.

A bootcamp is one way to get that experience and feedback from more experienced people but it isn't the only one.

you can also acquire good experience from a job in the field but only when you are beginning. In the span of 2,3 years, I feel like a talented individual will have gone around the park pretty fast.

imho, possibly the best place to learn is to implicate yourself into an open-source project for a software that you really enjoy using. Reading a lot of code from very talented people is the greatest way to learn programming.

That makes sense. Do you have experience in the field? No offence to anyone in the forums, but I prefer to place more weight from someone "in the field," ya'know'wh'I'mean?

he he... You must not have never opened one of my journal since the start of the year... because I am overly talking about my software dev projects in them

I'm ok... I have something like 15 years of professional experience... Because of my age, when I was at the engineering school, software engineer wasn't yet offered. I had to fall on electrical program which was the closest that I could pick... It was a passion and whenever I had a small programming assignment, I was always going all in and over deliver the assignment with solutions that was several orders of magnitude more complex than what anyone else was doing.

So that means that I never had a formal software formation and official professional credentials yet my realizations did attract Google and FB attention. FB is really snob. The interviewer kept saying that they are really only looking mostly for Doctors... (IOW, he was making me lose my time)... Google did made me fly 2 times for on-site interviews (Once at Mountain View and the other time at their MIT campus)

Since the 2000 Internet crash, working conditions have greatly deteriorated in the industry (or I went to an industry very boring. You can do SW in any industry...). It wasn't fun anymore... The office did burn out my passion and I had to do something else. Not because I didn't like programming anymore. The job market conditions did make me hate it.

As a hobby, it is a real blast. Now, I feel like I have given myself the freedom to develop software on my terms without the BS that industry is putting on its worker... If you end up working in that field. Mark my words Agile/SCRUM methodology isn't fun at all with its dozens of never ending meetings every week... That is what made me quit...

[apollolux]

Good to read that you plan on studying programming!

I am also "in the field" with a similar length of time of professional programming experience (close to 15 years) as lano1106 has said for himself, but have been studying for much longer (since 1998, so a little over 20 years total). Having only recently obtained a bachelor's in computer science after many trials and tribulations, so far I can say that I've used very little of that formal education in the professional work that I've done since then. While there is some legitimate difference between "coding" vs "programming" vs "software engineering," the distinction only becomes more apparent based on how much of the development process you become involved with, especially the "design" aspects, and for the majority of the actual grunt work of writing the code independent study and directed, focused, real world practice go a surprisingly long way towards preparing you and increasing competency. The formal education will certainly offer theory and explanations behind the "why" of aspects of programming, but the practical aspects like timing still need hands-on experience, and all the theoretical knowledge in the world matters little on a project in a real world company, Fortune 500 or not, if it can't be implemented reasonably properly in their workflows of choice and/or doesn't work well enough in real world conditions. Example: real-time pricing info for stocks, bonds, loans, etc for banks beyond just throwing hardware at the problem.

From my own history and experience, I can certainly +1 lano's suggestions regarding the benefits of studying and experimenting with existing projects. When I started, regardless of how many programming books I borrowed from the public library, some of the most beneficial practice I did early on was printing out the source code of the projects I saw online that I liked and recreating them at home (didn't have internet so had to use the library's or my school's). Once I got the thing working then I drilled down into the guts of the code, reverse engineered piece by piece and matched them up with what the books were saying each piece was supposed to do.

I would hope that having both the informal experience and the formal education, I've become competent at "teaching" the thing in ways that are understandable to a reasonable chunk of people who decide to go into programming. While you go through this bootcamp, if there are any one-off questions you'd like help with understanding I'd be willing to provide a small bit of time towards that. Anything deeper than that I would likely charge for, and I would prefer you spend your money on the thing you're already spending on first and seeing how that plays out before committing any money towards extra instruction.

[Ampersnd]

Thanks to lano1106 and apollolux,
I will reflect on your advice. If I need the occasional tip, I'll let you know (or pay for extra help).

[apollolux]

[Ampersnd]

Alpha Male v6.0, Stage 1, Day 9,

Life's been pretty good,

I've gone 2 full days without contributing to my book; I've been following my hunch to play more guitar.
I have Friday off, as well as the weekend, meaning that I'll have plenty of time to write.

I had sex on Tuesday; the woman is not a baddie - she's cute at best - but I feel very attracted to her, and she's very arousing to me. Also had sex with her on Thursday; she's leaving town for a few months next week.

[Ampersnd]

Alpha Male v6.0, Stage 1, Day 12,

Life Tune Up v.6 looks pretty interesting. I might consider getting it when I finish AM6 or after another run of BASE 2.1.