End of week 1! Day 5 of Makers

So much to do and so little time. I believe the general sentiment among the cohort was that there was so much to learn already in our first week. Rspec, mock doubles, TDD, encapsulation, SRP — you name it. When will we ever find the time to read up on all of them and practice until we feel like we’ve mastered them? Turns out we may never feel like that. And that’s fine!

I had thought about this all day, and I really feel we just have to claim small victories as we go along. Look, I’m better at Rspec today than I was yesterday, and that’s great! TDD almost felt like second nature, maybe. It may feel overwhelming now but I guess we need to quit being such perfectionist completionists. Although I’m saying this now, you may in fact find me in a break down a few weeks later! Touch wood, not.

Meanwhile, I completed a TDD practical today during independent learning which felt satisfying. And so I braved myself and asked for feedback from a technical coach. I was glad that my efforts in finding the appropriate matchers for outputs were noticed. And I was given a couple of really helpful pointers about how often I should commit and having a test for each method. So again, small victories and all, it felt like a win!

I went through mock doubles again in Boris Bikes with Ani this afternoon and it was actually great in refreshing my memory about those pesky imposters. Trying to guide someone else in a concept that I had just learned yesterday was certainly a good way of recalling information. I guess that’s why pair programming is so effective.

To have a lie in again tomorrow, ooh! And a weekend challenge awaits.