Week 1 @ Formation (Week 19 of Journey)!

Hello world! My first week at Formation was ... inspiring. I learned how to take constructive critcism in my code, I learned how to code amongst others watching over you, I also learned how to speak about what I am doing with my code as I write it. These things for me, were all underestimated, and I am grateful to have Formation work me through these things. It was my first week, they said it was a 'feeling out' week, and I took it as that, however, I also was loaded with over 18+ tasks. I love these things, and I excel in poor conditions, from my life, I am much better when my back is to the wall. I had a good week, my manager is amazing (Casey), she is always helping me and always in high spirits! She's curious as to what I need to make things better for me, and I am grateful for her. I had a Senior Engineer from Uber, named Vinit, who was an awesome teacher, with a delicate approach for us newbies, who knew how to explain things for us to grasp easier, and also gave us many pro tips for interviews. I attended all tasks on my schedule, and learned a lot at each tasks, except for the Friday night sessions, that session wasn't a good fit for me. The session lead (I do not want to expose or speak negatively about anyone) was less senior, more intimidating, and seemed to be ridiculed by the learners attempts, this person also left the session for a 'bathroom break' and seemed to be multi-tasking doing other things, as well as confused about some things as well. His effort or care towards our understanding appeared to be minimal. He also gave me a "poor" rating on the feedback, but he never called one me once for input, and he left 0 comments or advice to help me improve. It was my first time experiencing a teacher like this in my journey, everyone has been amazing, no matter what. I am sure he is a good person, just not for me, luckily my mentor Casey told me that she would not schedule me with him anymore, so that's good. Daniel on the other hand is my favorite, he's one of the intelligent, geeky, senior nerds. His approach and friendliness is similar to mines, he makes jokes, he makes the sessions really fun to learn, and walks us through, and helps us with understanding. I try to do this when I train new cooks on the line at work. You have to understand, people who are learning, and I think it takes a certain talent to be a good teacher.

Formation is still awesome, it's also demanding, I love this, because it teaches us to callous our minds with challening and uncomfortable situations. I only can imagine towrads the end of the course how much better I can become! Being that I rated myself poorly for my first week (I set a high bar), in terms of my performance, I started the course over, and I am doing every task alllll oveerrr againnnn, to make sure these concepts are in my mind. Plus, I enjoy complexity, I enjoy failure, I understand these things callous the mind and tremendously improve your abilities. I do not want to ramble on, I just finished my 1 mile jog, I am working my way back up from my surgery, I feel great. I am sorry, this weekend I took Saturday off to reflect and think, enjoy time with my family, so I did not write in the blog. I had worked everyday except Saturday. Sunday, I did work all day, made dinner, went to bed early. I am thankful for my opportunities and I am optimistic that I will improve this week and have a better performance, and also learn something. Baby steps....

Mila and Matthew Jr!