The Valley of Despair
I got an email stating that I
...did not meet the required score to be considered for Google. However, you do have one more attempt to retake the assesment.
The test was provided by Code Signal and it was for an application for the Google Mentorship program. I recently got emailed by my profile coach a list of companies that you could submit forms and applications. A profile coach by the way is part of the career services my Coding Bootcamp provides and she's been nothing but awesome helping me with my job search.
I wasn't surprised that I didn't pass the test. The test had two algorithmic problems, one HTML + CSS problem where you had to make a stop light which I skipped, and one multiple choice question. You had an hour and thirty minutes to complete it. It took me 45 minutes to solve FizzBuzz! And I have solved FizzBuzz before! I just got stuck on it because I had the condition of (num % 3 === 0 && num % 5 === 0) after an else if instead of having it at the top.
I'm definitely going to retake the test because why not. But it is highly unlikely that I'll get hired by Google, as an Engineer, at least at the moment. Not impossible, but again, highly unlikely. That's next level, and I'm not there at all. Not even close. Why I think this way? Math, that's why.
Let's talk a bit about Math
I've been going through Free Code Camp's curriculum. Particularly the JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification. I blazed through everything until I got to Intermediate Algorithm Scripting. I takes me hours or a day to solve just one! Some of the problems I ended up looking up the solution. I do give them a good try, sometimes getting super close, but some are way above my math skills and my math skills are at the level where I have to Google the words factorial and prime.
When I was more focused on being just a Web Designer, or just an old school Front End Developer, you know, before React made Front End more complicated, I knew I didn't have to concern myself too much with the Mathy aspects of Programming. I'm not particularly interested in making a game, a desktop application, or anything where I have to be too concerned about memory heaps or things that are close to the metal. People in the industry say it all the time. "You just need to be good at logical thinking, and sometimes not even that much", they say. I agree with this and it is mostly true to a certain extent, specifically for web programming, but then sometimes it is not.
The thing is Maths helps. I have slowly begun to accept this. Web dev for the past couple years has become more like close-to-the-metal coding. You still can just make websites, do only the "front of the front", only concerning yourself with markup, style, and some JS to make the buttons do the things. But a website that isn't also an application is becoming more and more rare. Being just a web designer is also in my opinion becoming less of a thing.
To get back to the screenshot of the Dunning-Kruger Effect and how I'm connecting it with Math and Web Development... I'm just trying to articulate it the best I can, but I think the notion of the valley of despair communicates clearly what it is to be a Bootcamp grad in 2020. I found the picture while skimming through this PDF a free chapter for the Coding Career Handbook I also watched this video and thought that the guy really hit the nail. Demand is simply low for entry level peeps.
I'm gonna battle through the valley though. I'm gonna buckle down and keep fighting. I'm going to keep learning. I'm gonna set some time to go through some Khan Academy videos. I'll get there.
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