September has come and gone! Once everything has been counted I ended up studying  78.33 hours, for an average of 2.6 hours per day. I was able to keep my streak (95 days now!) going despite a big trip to England, and I learned a ton of new things. I also changed my blogging strategy to include individual day updates, because I think it’s more readable that way.

• I finished up the Free Code Camp responsive web design certification.
• I started and finished the Free Code Camp Javascript certification.
• I also finished the JS section on the flatiron intro to bootcamp class.
• I started learning Ruby at learnRubyTheHardWay, I made it around halfway through before the month ended.
• I started researching algorithms and interview prep. This is going to be a big topic that doesn’t get taught very well in bootcamps, so I am going to have to work on it as much on my own as possible.
• I started the udemy JS algorithms and data structures class and I really like it so far. I feel like it is going to help me with interview prep as well.
• Lastly I started the udacity Git and Github class. It’s been great, and I think it will really help me stay organized, even when I’m not collaborating with anyone else.

You may be thinking “Wow! that’s a lot of different things you started learning simultaneously. Is that a good idea?” and I wonder the same thing with you. In the future I would prefer to stay in a ruby / javascript (one ore the other) mindset for longer periods of time simply because it helps you keep the syntax straight. I switched from js to ruby mid-month on what actual language-specific classes I am taking, but it’s not that easy since a lot of the ancillary classes still use one of the two languages. As an example: the Git class has you debugging javascript as a way to teach how to fix conflicts, and the interview prep classes need to have a language to code in (which is usually javascript).

One thing I have noticed is that I learn better when I code along, and when there are written notes for me to read. On the other hand sometimes when I am spent I simply can’t get my head around written concepts and videos are easier for me to understand. I always have a few classes going simply so I can have a written one (learn ruby the hard way) and a video-based one (like the udacity Git/Github one). When I’m super fried or just feeling bored with the content I will also switch to ‘smaller’ topics like watching youtube videos on things I have had questions about or listening to podcasts. Listening to your mind about how you learn is a very important thing. You can train yourself to be better at methods that don’t feel natural, but you need to understand that about yourself first in order to prepare for it.

It’s been a good month. I’m finally feeling a bit healthier, and that makes everything easier. October already has some new surprises, but that’ll be in a new post!