my first javascript app: a retrospective
Tags: javascript, beginners, webdev, productivity
Published: 2022-07-29 19:38:26

As my phase 1 project comes to a close, the scrum master in me thought it would be a good time to pause and reflect on this experience. Traditionally, the questions I would ask teams in a sprint retrospective are the standard- "what did we do well?", "what could we improve next sprint?", and "what didn't go well?". These questions make sense in a work-related context, so how can I apply this to my first project retrospective? The beauty of agile is how adaptable its principles are to fit with all types of teams and workflows. So lets jump into it!

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## What went well during this phase?

- Collaboration

Even though this was a solo project, I was able to take advantage of the different types of resources offered to me. I jumped into a study group with a few other members in my cohort and even joined instructor office hours in between work meetings. This is a habit I would like to solidify in the next phase.


- Development environmenent

On top of learning the javascript language and syntax, we also learned how to create a develolpment environment to support our phase 1 project. What files need to be included? How to use git to push local changes to a remote repository on github? How often do I make commits? These are parts of the inital setup of a project that sometimes get overlooked by beginners and I'm glad I took the time to create a solid foundation to work on.

## What did not go well this phase?

- API integration to my SPA

The requirements of this project were to create a single page application and use event listeners to trigger a `fetch()` request to an external API and then manipulate that data with the DOM. The API I chose was from the Chicago Institute of Art and my idea was to create a "virtual art museum" where users could search for artworks using subject keywords and recieve a list of results provided by the data stored in the API. I was able to successfully fetch the data, but when it came to displaying those results in a user-friendly format, I didn't have the same luck and was only able to view my search results in the console. 


- Imposter syndrome

My mindset was not adaptable to this type of exercise. I am usually someone who is afraid of not knowing everything and making a huge mistake as a result. I noticed that I was "catastrapizing" my situation when I really needed to be more understanding of my inexperience to nuture growth. This will be a game changer for my confidence in the next phase. 

## What to improve on?

- Time management

This first project was difficult to gauge at first because this whole process is so new to me. Something to note for next time is to _overestimate_ how I long I think it will take to complete a task to allow time for research and debugging. 

- Project planning

Ultimately, the reason why I hit a roadblock with my API integration was because I was not 100% certain on what I wanted the user experience to be. Next time, I will _definitely_ spend more time on planning out my application and explore what that looks like for me - wireframes? project backlog with features and tasks?

## Conclusion 

This first phase was a test of my resilliance because each step of executing this project was defined by my process. I had to do this alone and without having someone hold my hand and with that came self-doubt of my abilities and imposter syndrome. Taking this time to reflect gave me the space to acknowlegde my mistakes, accomplishments and insecurites to start off the next phase refreshed and ready to go!

Talk soon friends!