This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Andrew Weisbeck
The name Euclid is synonymous with Geometry in mathematics - it may also trigger childhood trauma if you are like me and feel your palms get sweaty because the name Euclid, for me, is synonymous with mathematical proofs. I can attribute my distaste towards proofs to one of my least favorite teachers that graced my entire educational career as my seventh grade math teacher basically destroyed my love for math.
I think one of the great disservices that can be done to a middle school age child is to ground your entire teaching philosophy in the practice of writing proofs. Yes, I can see the value in writing proofs today - maybe. But making your students do every homework problem as a proof and making your entire exams require proof answers is bound to make at least 95% of your students hate you and you also ruin their interest in a subject that is so beautiful when taught well and understood well.
Not to get too far off track on today’s subject matter, but I’ve thought a lot about my formal education lately and feel like there’s some correlation between my declining passion for math as a youngster and the steady decline of my math teacher’s ability to make the subject matter even remotely interesting. It’s really bothered me lately as I have still been trying to get my foot in the door in terms of employment at a company, earning a good salary, and benefits - I feel that I would be at a different place in my career had I been advised to follow my passion for computers and programming and had better educators when it came to math.
I’ve been freelancing for nearly four years now and it took me so long to get going that it has been really hard for me to get out of the situation I’ve been stuck in for a while. While I do feel like I am quite a qualified full-stack developer and would perform very well in an intermediate level role, I feel stuck at times in figuring out how to get that first job.
It’s been a lot of hard work and I think deciding to do a 100 day content publishing challenge will be immensely beneficial for my professional growth as not only a writer, but also as a developer. I just feel that nobody should ever have to go through what I’ve been through, regardless of their career choice, but especially given my personal drive, desire to work hard and often, and a strong passion for programming.
I’ve spent three years trying to get back into a tech job since I worked in cybersecurity and have applied for so many jobs and had so many interviews that it can seem impossible at times, but I can’t and won’t give up.
It’s been nearly 22 months since a string of untimely and unfortunate (I’ll go as far as saying extremely unfair) events led to losing a very basic and important need that seems more and more like a luxury item each day I go without hearing back on an application or interview.
There was a break from coding because my computer got stolen and I’ve been trying to get my MacBook out of the pawn shop for quite some time now, but I bought a recycled dell around April and I have basically been learning and building as much as I can since then, other than a few months I spent employed at Walmart, easily the worst place I’ve ever been employed at. I can’t decide if it’s good or bad that I am putting in 8-10 hours of work a day, usually for no money. My freelancing work fell off when I started at Walmart and I’m struggling between committing myself to my business that takes a lot of work or spending my time getting better as a developer and searching for jobs.
I shouldn’t give the image that I’m just totally miserable and that my life is just suffering - it’s far from that, thanks to a newfound appreciation for the small things in life and a well practiced ability to find the positives in failure and really difficult times. I don’t know if I could say I would change anything at this point because of the profound impact that this whole experience has had on me as a person.
I have a totally different outlook on what is important to me and what is not. Going through the process of losing everything you thought was important and realizing it was actually more of a burden than it was worth at times can be incredibly freeing. Sometimes I feel like I am the luckiest man alive when I get to spend the day learning about computer science and building a side project while drinking my free Panera Sips Club coffee, absolutely satisfied with my life that very moment.
At times you have absolute freedom from the oppressive chains of bills, corporate work, and material possessions. I don’t think people realize how miserable we are because of all the shit we think we need or the futility in trying to maintain the facade of being ok in a world where we are overworked, underpaid, and our health and wellness is an after thought to profits, possession, and power.
That’s not to say that it’s an easy life that we live though, because it’s not and I would do anything to have the stress of paying bills and long work days in exchange for having a warm place to sleep at night that is safe. There are moments where I feel so ashamed of the fact that I can’t afford to clean my clothes, shower, and feed myself like normal people that I would rather not be around people in case I were to offend them due to my mere presence. I can’t tell you how often people treat me with unbelievable cruelty and how many businesses and organizations discriminate against me because they can tell I’m homeless because I have a backpack and holes in my shoe.
I’ve been refused work so often that I sometimes ponder giving up all together.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Andrew Weisbeck
Andrew Weisbeck | Sciencx (2024-10-25T03:55:23+00:00) Started Out Writing About Algorithms – Somehow Ended Up Writing Something Totally Different. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2024/10/25/started-out-writing-about-algorithms-somehow-ended-up-writing-something-totally-different/
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