Problem Solving
When I got blocked on a simple problem
At one point I got stuck because I didn’t realize you had to use square bracket notation on objects when you want to reference something inside of them with a variable. I started console logging things, but kept getting Undefined, I assigned it to different variables, and tested it without the variable to make sure it actually contained what I was looking for. Eventually I found the answer in a youtube video after googling it. By the end of it I was feeling very frustrated because I thought I knew how this worked, then I felt rather silly once I figured it out because I actually already learned this a few months earlier when I was doing some stuff to prepare for this course.
I learned I should Google things quicker, instead of just assuming I’m doing it correctly and I must have mistyped something somewhere.
When I elegantly solved a problem.
I got stuck for a while on a problem where I had to capitalize every word in a given string. I was going to use a for loop to loop through the string like an array, and whenever it came across a space, make the i+1 positioned letter capitalized. However the task said to use the .map method which I’ve always had trouble with. After writing the problem out on my whiteboard, and discussing it with my partner I realized it’d be a lot easier if we were dealing with an array of words. So I used the split and join methods to do just that. I was frustrated when I couldn’t test my For loop theory but very satisfied once I’d sorted out the .split and map methods.
I learned how to use the .map method, and that it’s better to try and do something unfamiliar and learn about it, rather than just using what you’re used to.
Reflect on how confident you feel using each of these problem-solving techniques/processes:
Pseudocode
Not very. I’m going to try to do it more, but I’ve never really used it before this course.
Trying something
Very, similar to fixing stuff at my old IT job, you just have to try stuff.
Rubber ducky method
So-so. I haven’t done this much but I will try this more.
Reading error messages
Mostly very confidant. I’ve had to fix a lot of stuff through error messages in my professional life so I know what to look for. However Prettier throws me for a loop whenever it starts complaining. I can’t figure out what any of the ridiculous amount of information it throws at me means so I just hit Undo until it stops complaining.
Console.logging
Quite confident. I’ve done a fair bit of javascript to prepare for this course, and I was using console logging a lot to figure stuff out.
Googling
Extremely. Most of my previous role in IT was googling stuff to fix problems.
Asking your peers for help
So-so. I will find this easier once we’re in person.
Asking coaches for help
Quite. I’ve asked for help a few times already
Improving your process with reflection
So-so. I’m not a huge fan of changing tasks frequently because I find it hard to start focusing on a new thing, when I was really into doing the other thing. So stopping to reflect at the moment is a bit hard, but I’m getting used to it.