GARRETT SMESTAD
The first week was mostly spent familiarizing myself with the project and its code. I did a lot of research during the first week. Most of it was related to various job board websites' APIs to determine whether or not they could be integrated into the project. However, I also began brainstorming ideas for my blog post(s), and settled on the topic of React vs. Ember.js. I quickly discovered this was a fairly large undertaking, as the two are significantly different and I would have to learn a good deal of Ember.js on my own in order to accurately and thoroughly speak to the differences between the two. This actually ended up consuming a large portion of my time during the second week.
During the second week, I ended up landing a job interview as well as a follow-up interview the next day. It was not the job I'd applied for, so in addition to losing time on the project for the two interviews themselves, I also had to spend time researching the job (i.e., roles, responsibilities, expectations, language(s), terms/vocabulary, etc.) so I wouldn't make a fool of myself during the interviews. That being said, during the second week I did additional research on React and Ember.js, wrote my blog post, documented the results from my API research, and reviewed a few pull requests.
- Monday (0 hours): 0 hours
- Tuesday (8 hours): 2.75 hours
- Wednesday (8 hours): 3.25 hours
- Thursday (8 hours): 1.75 hours
- Friday (0 hours): 1 hours
- Weekend (0 hours): 9.75 hours
TOTAL: 18.5 hours
Where do I begin? Before this project, I didn't know anything about React, so I learned a lot from the Creact Tutorial that was part of the pre-work. I learned what React is, that it was created by Facebook, that it can be added to my existing Rails projects, and I now understand that it merely builds the view layer using JSX.
(500+ words, in-depth blog post)
React vs. Ember.js - A Quick Overview
I really enjoyed the extensive collaboration on PRs during this project. Everyone was encouraged to review PRs from other projects (e.g., Whiskey Tango) as well as their own, which allowed for better feedback since "fresh eyes" tend to have a different perspective. It also provided a great learning experience, getting to see other people's code and how they chose to implement a solution.
I'm not very good at coming up with original ideas for a project, nor am I good at coming up with ideas for a blog post. When this project was assigned, the two OSS projects to choose from---LookingFor and MentorSHIP---utilized either React or Ember.js, respectively. With that choice still fresh in my mind, I decided to write a blog post that would compare React and Ember.js. I quickly discovered that I had embarked on a huge undertaking. Not only because the two are significantly different, but mostly because in order to discuss how the two compare, I would have to know and understand both fairly in depth. This meant that I had to learn Ember.js entirely on my own, as well as learn more about React.
I found the daily stand-ups to be rather fruitless. They usually finished in less than 10 minutes because everyone was always in constant communication via Slack, GitHub (PRs/PR reviews), Basecamp, etc., so no one ever needed to speak in detail during the meetings about what they had done or what they were going to do. The benefit I do see from doing daily stand-ups is that it pushes you to complete a task quicker. Having to give an update on a daily basis makes you less inclined to stretch the completion of a task over multiple days, because nobody wants to tell the group the same thing each day when asked, "What did you do yesterday?" or "What are you currently working on?".
The ability to sign up for e-mail/text alerts when jobs are posted that match certain criteria (i.e., a specific language, a specific city/state).
Notes:
- I do not consider bullet points a blog post - If you have something else and accidentally did not submit that please let me know.
- You are right. I had used my week 4 submission form as a template and didn't replace the link for the blog post. I spent the most time on the blog post (it's currently almost 3,000 words), so I would hate not to get points for it.
- Updated link to blog post: React vs. Ember.js — A Rookie’s Exploration
- Did not participate in any standups this week. Did say in the slack channel that you had an interview and you would post your standup but you never did. I think this is the reason you did not see value in standups either. We often don't see the benefit in something if we don't give it a shot. It's my understanding that most of the people in the lookingFor group found standups to be helpful and a good use of time once the project got rolling in week2.
- I did participate in one stand-up on Tuesday. I explain further in my response to the next bullet point.
- I have some questions about your submitted hours: I see a total of 4.25 hours this week on blog writing and I do not feel that reflects 12 bullet points of work. As I noted above - if you do have a blog post and linked to the wrong thing please submit that. I noticed you sumbitted hours for a standup you did not attend. Could you please audit your hours for last week for accuracy? No score until you let us know you've reviewed the hours.
- See note on 1st bullet point regarding blog post.
- I did participate in one stand-up during the 2nd week on Tuesday, which is what I believe you're speaking of. Yes, I was "late" because I arrived around 1:05 (they started some time before 1:00 and were done by 1:05), but the group was still gathered together around the dining table in the big workspace when I arrived, so I did my stand-up at that moment.
- 10 points for risk taking and creativity because I believe you did look into react and ember, but I did not see any code contributed, or any documentation.
- During my week 4 submission evaluation with Andrew, I was given risk-taking points for my blog topic choice, because he said I was taking a risk by diving into Ember and tackling such a complex topic. So it was my understanding the blog post was considered part of the 'Risk Taking and Creativity' section.
- So this scored strictly via this submission and the rubric. Please reach out to discuss.
10/150 total points
- 40: Developer has 500+ words across, one or two blog posts, about their independent study.
- 25: Developer has posted blog(s), but fell short of 500 words.
- 0: Developer created no blog posts.
0 + 0 + 0 + 5 + 5 + 0 + 0 = 10
Points in this section are cumulative
- 15: Developer participated in 2 daily stand ups
- 5: Developer participated in a 3rd daily stand up and was able to speak to their work in a way that was clear and informative.
- 10: Developer submitted a detailed pull request for review
- 5: Developer provided useful feedback on a PR review request.
- 5: Developer provided useful feedback on a second PR review request.
- 5: Developer provided useful feedback on a blog post draft.
- 5: Developer provided useful feedback on a second blog post draft.
- 20: Developer logged 21+ hours, or has a reasonable plan to do so over the weekend
- 15: Developer logged 18 to 21 hours per working day, or has a reasonable plan to do so over the weekend
- 10: Developer logged < 18 hours
- 0: Developer did not track hours
Modifiers cannot take you below 0 points for the section
- -10 points: Developer is unable to speak to work completed
Instructor/Developer will select one feature in the project to review for this section of the rubric.
- 40: Developers pushed themselves and their team by taking risks which is demonstrated by a delivered feature or well documented spike. Developers explored concepts and technologies outside the scope of the curriculum.
- 20: Developers pushed themselves and their team by taking risks which is demonstrated by an almost delivered feature whose next steps are not well documented.
- 10: Developers attempted to implement extensions using technologies not covered in class but it did not result in code or documentation.