Weeknotes - 04 Makers PreCourse
Tags: bootcamp, weeknotes, pairing
Published: 2019-05-27 15:10:38

---
title: Weeknotes - 04 Makers PreCourse
published: true
description: Looking back on the week gone.
tags: bootcamp, weeknotes, pairing
series: Makers weeknotes
---

## End of Pre Course Klaxon !!!

It's the last week of the part-time course and time to kick back before the real work starts.

### Pair Programming

This week involved trying to fit in as much pairing as possible.  I met up remotely with my cohort buddy, James, to pair on FizzBuzz<sup>1</sup> with TDD, then did the exact same thing with my mentor Ayelisha<sup>2</sup> the next day.
Pairing remotely is great for verbalising ideas and practising articulate communication.  James and I decided our goal up front and out loud, and split up our sessions.  We set up a collaborative repo on GitHub and used it to share code.  We finished with a mini-retro gave ourselves a pat on the back & observed we could to better at refactoring as we go.

#### Ping-pong pairing in a nutshell:

0. Write a test
0. Watch it fail
0. Make it pass
0. Refactor
0. Repeat!

- Each time you write a failing test you switch navigator/driver roles
- When you start repeating code that's an indicator you can probably refactor something

### Office Hours With Top Celeb Ali Spittel<sup>3</sup>

I was lucky enough to bag a 15 min meeting with blogger, educator, developer Ali Spittel.  She offered personal advice on succeeding at bootcamp, and how to get the most from my portfolio website.

:bulb: Ali has a whole blog post on how to build an excellent portfolio<sup>3</sup> btw

#### Tips for my portfolio

Ali suggested I start by making my site more readable and fully responsive.  When selecting which side-projects to big-up, it's best to focus on building things outside of the box that are _memorable_ - and link to both the code repo and the project itself.  
I'm interested in accessibility (or a11y for short), so Ali recommended to use lighthouse testing like a checklist and to read Lindsey Kopacz's blog<sup>4</sup>.

#### Making the Most of Makers<sup>5</sup>

0. Go to office hours with the coaches, and make use of 1to1 time
0. Attending tech events and meet-ups is a great way to meet people for life beyond bootcamp
0. It will be a rollercoaster - that's normal!


## Misc.

 - Big thanks to Ali Spittel<sup>3</sup> for her advice and time :pray:
 - Had a lot of fun learning JavaScript with Lauren<sup>8</sup> :unicorn:
 - Slack was alive with reports of flies this week - looking forward to meeting them
 - Excited that qui<sup>6</sup> is delivering a beginner coding workshop at his office!
 - I did a BeeWalk<sup>7</sup> in the rain with some friends, the clover was blooming and we saw lots of bumblebees - but only 3 species :bee:


# Weeknotes Notes
0. **FizzBuzz** | [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fizz_buzz)
0. **Ayelisha Amoah** | [DEV](https://dev.to/ayelishaamoah)
0. **Ali Spittel** _Building a Kickass Portfolio_ | [Article](https://dev.to/aspittel/building-a-kickass-portfolio-28ph) | [DEV](https://dev.to/aspittel)
0. **Lindsey Kopacz** _A11y with Lindsey_ | [website](https://www.a11ywithlindsey.com/)
0. **Makers** | [website](https://makers.tech/)
0. **Chris James** | [website](https://www.quii.dev/) | [@quii](https://twitter.com/quii)
0. **BeeWalk** | [website](https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/surveys/)
0. **Lauren Zammit** | [LinkedIn](linkedin.com/in/lauren-zammit-0b553959)

<sub>Edit: This post was edited to include Lauren Zammit's profile - May 2019</sub>