my last work-related post was regarding a programming class i was taking in preparation for me switching functional areas. that class had its pros and cons. it was great because it was a language i hadn't used before, it sucked because it was from 2-7pm every day for a month straight (minus thanksgiving weekend and sundays. oh yay.) and after being at work from 9-7 for a month straight. you're like dead. close to the end of it, people would come up to S and i and ask if we were ok. anyway, pros and cons. it was great because i learned new ways to do things in programming in general (my logic could be better), it sucked because our class had a lot of people with varying levels of experience programming..so there was a ton of downtime while the instructor was helping individual people. it was great because......nah that was it. hahaha. it sucked because we all didn't have the same operating systems, so a lot of people had issues getting their environments set up properly and thus, downtime. it sucked because...with varying levels of experience there were varying levels of ages... let's say 20 somethings..to 50s+, and with that, they're not so quick or need to be shown how to do things several times before they get it right. and lastly, there were three written tests and several programming tests. yours truly failed all of the paper tests because they were very tricky and nit-picky, but did extremely well on the programming tests. and because my company is more so interested in this being a learning experience and becoming good/better developers i still passed the class because i proved myself in the programming tests.
[for those wondering, the written tests were all multiple choice. it was two tests and a comprehensive final. the first test was completely code-based. here's some code, what's the output? and by the way, one of the answer choices was always some sort of error (type mismatch, compilation, etc.). the second test was 1/3 terminology and 2/3 what's the output. thus exam 3 was basically all "what's the output?" i am not a computer! and a gazillion of those types of questions is ridiculous!]
about a week or so after this class finished, one of my orientation friends began teaching us some of the stuff involved in our new functional area, which is developing e-commerce sites. [he recently got his developer certification, woot!] then one day, we met with one of the partners who used to work for the company/software we will be working with. he wanted to meet us and tell us how we will be fitting into the picture in our company as far as future and current client projects. afterward, he took us out to lunch, and my manager's manager came and sat by S and i. in conversation he casually says, "we want you guys to get certified by the end of january." and we look at him bewildered.. "i'm guessing no one mentioned it to you yet." uh...noooo.......
then it was basically christmas time. so there was a ton of downtime and the motivation to study was at an all time low. there's all kinds of resources and study materials for the certification, and several training environments and materials to go through. but with that, the office was empty and you're excited about the holidays....and nothing gets done. so i kind of but not really studied.
and then, last week. the beginning of the week was a lot of studying and training videos. thursday rolls around and our project lead person for our new functional area comes to us to tell us that we're getting interviewed for the company that they've been telling us about. sidenote: something that i failed to mention above--the future and current client that i mentioned before has multiple branches. currently, people in our office are supporting the US website. the aforementioned future project is now a reality; it has been officially signed. and this project involves building a brand new site, from the ground up for the canada branch of this company as well as supporting it for a few months after it goes live (about 1 year total). GUESS WHO'S ON TEAM CANADA?! ^______^
unfortunately, as of now they said that we're not anticipating travel to canada, but who knows what the future will bring with that. additionally, we are slated to go to chicago either for training or to meet with the US branch. check my instagram for updates! i will be posting pictures on it soon from my travels! ~Lindsay-chan ^.~
edit: i realize i left out this week, but i also couldn't figure out a good place to put it... anyway, all i did was watch training videos..all week.
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