Day 23: Looking back at one month with 8th Light
Doug and I sat down today to look back at my progress over the past month. Over the past month, I have done the following projects:
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Tic-tac-toe in Ruby
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Take #1 and put a web-interface on it using Sinatra (Ruby)
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HTTP server in Clojure (working but needs another couple days before ready for review)
Other things done during this time include the Ruby and Clojure koans and reading from a number of books:
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Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices
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Clean Code
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Side track: The Joy of Clojure
It took me a little while to get comfortable working in the open office environment at the 8th Light downtown office. I came from a very quiet office where I shared an office with one other developer looking right out the window on the 9th floor of a building in the loop. The 8th Light office is very different. The current office has a large room with a lot of tables, about 8-9 large LCDs with keyboards and mice (for pairing or individual work) and a large number of random office chairs. We’re on the top (5th) floor of a building so we have skylights. One end of the office has windows but nobody sits right next to them. For the most part, everyone grabs a chair wherever they want however most people do tend to sit in the same area.
But I digress – the point was that working in a loud open office is a bit of a change and I think this slowed down my first project. My second and third were much quicker. Doug has told me a couple of times that the apprenticeship has no fixed pace so it is up to the individual to go at the speed they are comfortable with. I think this makes a lot of sense and now that I’ve adjusted I’m working at a pace I’m happy with.
In short the last month has been a lot of fun. I’ve gotten to know everyone by name at 8th Light. Some I work with almost every day while others are typically off at client sites during the week. It takes longer to get to know these people but that is what Friday is for. I have felt very welcome here and am happy with how things are going!