December 19, 2012

Time To Stop Whining And Move Forward

Ok, I confess, I haven’t opened my terminal or editor in the past few weeks. I know that this probably sounds crazy for someone who is supposed to be working so hard to become a developer. I am going to be perfectly honest with you, I got in a rut and let things pile up on me while I was down.

I work full-time as a Body Shop Asst. Manager and my job is extremely busy, multi-tasking, working with customers, insurance companies and the 20 employees on my team. To say my day job is mentally draining would be an understatement. I also have 5 children, three of which have learning disorders, one being Autism. This means that daily tasks and routines are more difficult than some families. There are days when things are great, then some that can be extremely challenging. I love my family and would do anything for them, they are what I look forward to at the end of my crazy workdays.

I have also been beating myself up over the fact that there are some things in ruby/rails that I feel should make sense to me, but for some reason, they do not. I can work through tutorials and follow instructions, but I want to be able to build an app completely from scratch and understand how to connect everything. I have been a little hesitant on asking for help because my friends are all so busy and I felt that I could somehow figure it out myself.

What I have learned is that isolating myself and not reaching out for help just makes the pressure that much greater and compounds my frustration and discouragement. It can get out of hand really quick, so I encourage you to not stop reaching out for help, no matter how discouraged you get. As I say this, I am talking to myself as well. It wasn’t until I received an encouraging email from a friend that I realized this myself and decided to stop whining and get going!

As a community of talented and creative people, we should make it a point to reach out and encourage each other on a regular basis, you never know when someone could use a boost.

Have a question? email me at dennis@thecommongeek.com

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Filed Under: Blog, Family, Ruby on Rails 4 Comments
  • http://lessaccounting.com Allan Branch

    Dennis, this is a very good post. No one ever reaches a day where they know everything and don’t second guess decisions (coding, business, life included). I still feel like a terrible hack that will one day be found out. RailsBridge is coming up, let’s make that a “success party” for you. Jan 1st is fast approaching, let’s do this Dennis!

    • http://www.thecommongeek.com/ Dennis Keefe

      Thanks Allan! I really appreciate everything that you are doing for our community and for encouraging me during my journey.

  • http://twitter.com/ChuckGuynn Chuck Guynn

    Dennis, you have been a huge inspiration to me! We are both on very similar journeys together, and I can’t wait for the day we can call ourselves Rails Developers! Let me know your schedule this week so we can get together on Skype. I can stay up late if it will be easier to fit in with your schedule. I know that our local tech community is about to really take off, and you are going to be a major asset to all of us. Keep fighting, you got this!

    • http://www.thecommongeek.com/ Dennis Keefe

      Thanks Chuck! I appreciate your support and encouragement. I too am looking forward to us both becoming full-time developers!