/self-assessment

Self-Assessment

  1. Is there anything about the general job search and internship interview process you feel unprepared for? What would make you feel more comfortable and confident in your job search and internship interviews? I would be more confident in a job search if I felt more prepared for the technical interview and non-technical. There is a tendency for me to get nervous when I stand in the front of the room. My memory isn't the best when asked to perform in this capacity. I would like to have more Javascript methods in my toolkit.

  2. Is there anything about searching for and transitioning into your future career a technical field that you feel unprepared for? What would make you feel more comfortable and confident in this process? I'm a little unclear what a typical work day looks like and what the expectations are. Knowing what the expectations are would help me feel more confident. I would also like to learn D3.js since I feel like this would be a useful skill.

Plan

Technical Interview

Non-Technical Interview

Skill Building

First day jitters

Plan Executed

  • Read "Ace the coding interview, every time"
  • Read "Get that job at Facebook".
    • Note to practice sorts.
  • Read "Internship and Job Search Preparing for job interviews Technical interviews" and take notes for the questions linked.
    • Practice code challenges at "coderbyte"
      • Complete First Factorial challenge
      • Complete First Reverse challenge
      • Complete Letter Changes challenge "fiddle"
      • Complete Simple Adding Challenge
      • Complete Letter Capitalize challenge. Not complete.
        • Now refamiliar with: string.toLocaleUpperCase(), string.slice(), string.charAt(), string.split(" ")
  • Read "Conducting a Great Technical Interview" and note answers to the questions asked.
  • Read "Everything You Need to Know to Rock Your Next Whiteboard Test".
  • Read "The only 6 types of questions you need to know to ace any coding interview" and note any logic problems presented and formulate responses.
  • Watch "5 Interview Questions that every Frontend Web Developer Should Know" and note the questions and formulate responses.
    • What are your favorite features of HTML5 and CSS3?
      • HTML5 new structural elements: aside, footer, figure, dialog, nav, progress
      • HTML5 new input types: color, date, datetime, datetime-local, email, month, etc
      • HTML5 new graphics: svg, canvas
      • HTML5 new media elements: audio, embed, source, video
      • CSS3: rounded corners (border-radius), border-image, box-shadow,text-shadow, gradient, rgba with opacity, transform with rotation, web fonts, animations, media queries, flexbox, grid
    • Can you describe your workflow when creating a webpage?
      • I typically start with some sort of sketch mock-up. If I am using a framework like Angular, then I determine what parts of the site warrent their own component (does it do a discrete task) and which components need to be children and parents. I typically build/style each component and make sure that it works independentally of the other components. Testing is important at this stage so I will test my logic to ensure that it wotrks. I include media queries and image opitmization so that mobile devices are not loading unnecessarily large files. If I'm using a module bundler like webpack, than I will use that to minify and bundle my code. Check that the site works as expected across various clients.
    • Can you tell me the difference between CSS reseting and CSS normalizing?
      • Never used this, but it sounds awesome:
        • Normalize.css makes browsers render all elements more consistently and in line with modern standards. It precisely targets only the styles that need normalizing.
        • The CSS Reset stylesheet is a basic template to wipe out all built-in styling for HTML elements. You can customize your CSS Reset stylesheet, and add your own preferred styling choices for your webpage.
    • Can you tell me the difference between inline, inline-block, and block elements?
      • Inline elements don’t start on a new line, they appear on the same line as the content and tags beside them. Some examples of inline elements are span, strong, and img tags. When it comes to margins and padding, browsers treat inline elements differently. You can add space to the left and right on an inline element, but you cannot add height to the top or bottom padding or margin of an inline element.
      • Inline-block elements are similar to inline elements, except they can have padding and margins added on all four sides. You’ll have to declare display: inline-block in your CSS code. One common use for using inline-block is for creating navigation links horizontally.
      • A block-level element always starts on a new line and takes up the full width available (stretches out to the left and right as far as it can).
    • Can you please describe to me the CSS Box Model?
      • The CSS box model is essentially a box that wraps around every HTML element. It consists of: margins, borders, padding, and the actual content. Content - The content of the box, where text and images appear
        • Content - The content of the box, where text and images appear
        • Padding - Clears an area around the content. The padding is transparent
        • Border - A border that goes around the padding and content
        • Margin - Clears an area outside the border. The margin is transparent
  • Watch "What You Need to Know to be a Front End Developer in 2018".
    • html = hypertext markup language (low-hanging fruit!)
    • I don't use enough semantic markup. Browsers use semantic markup to search webpages to provide SEO. It also helps with text readers and increases accessibility.
    • css = cascading stylesheets. Tells ths client how to render your document (typically markup language).
    • DOM = document object model. The DOM is like a representation of your webpage or application that allows javascript and the client to commiunicate. Each html element on you page is represented in the DOM and you can use javascript to manipulate those DOM elements.
    • CLI = command line interface.
  • Read, note, and practice the "55 Must Know Built-In Javascript Methods and Operators".
    • up to the array methods

Reflection & Next Steps

I am feeling more confident with basic interview questions and some built-in javascript methods. I would like to know more acronyms and methods.

I need to practice whiteboarding in front of other people before I will feel confident in a job search. I will set aside time to whiteboard during lunch at Epicodus and at home.