In my last post, I noted how it was important for someone to take on a multitude of interests, to stay interesting. Whether or not this rings true boils down to the individual, and of course I am no psychologist. Anyway, I digress.
I have been studying up on programming again, a hobby nearly completely lost to me while I was in college. Aside from a few web projects that never really went anywhere (with my friend Fitz), the land of programming for me was completely dead. Recently, I had an urge to change that – not only because it’s a useful skill to have in any tech market, but it’s something that has been a part of my life since I was around seven or eight years old, and I’m not willing to part with it.
However, staying focused is very hard for me to do, especially when there is a world of sound waiting to be explored further. I started by brushing up my javascript skills – something I never really had a full grasp of anyway – using the wonderful tutorials at Codecademy. After going through a majority of those (I have “Objects II” left to complete yet. That’s on the docket today), I started discussing plans with my good friend Brad about Android app development. A major part of app development for Android systems is Java, so I searched the web for some Java tutorials. Lo and behold, there are a ton of great resources on Youtube – although, sometimes the narration leaves a lot to be desired. Even now I’m finding it hard to return to my work with Java, though.
My problem usually boils down to this: While I know the coding exercise is good for my brain, I do not find any motivation to do something that someone else has already done. “Make a calculator app in Java” – no, why? Because it will teach me good programming skills? Yes, but that is boring. I want to jump right in and start integrating the Soundcloud API into my work. I know this is pretty foolish but I can’t shake the feeling. I know by skipping the in between steps, I’m setting myself up for failure later. But like I said, I just can’t shake that feeling.
I think writing this has been a cathartic experience. My struggle continues.
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