Justin SiimonStark

What particular skills, talents, or perspectives do you bring to a team?

I love the DOM, both in design and in rendering elements. Bringing a project together in a flow that the user can navigate easily and stress free is my goal!
Not only do I love the DOM but I also love bringing a team together and create an environment where we can all accomplish our best work.
I make it my mission to be understanding of those around me and I genuinly care about creating success together.

What have you learned about building software in teams?

Additional Deliverable: Write Blog Post

Topic: Webscraping

Repeat SMART Goal:

S ) Be able to confidentally solve Kata 6 problems on Codewars

M ) Using the Codewars site, I can see the points I've wracked up as well as my kata skill level (currently 8). By the end I should be awarded the skill level of 6 and be able to solve a majority of the kata 6 challenges.

A ) I do not currently have the skills, but with more reps on other codewars/jsfun/etc I can get closer to my goal. I plan to dedicate at least 1hr a day to solving codewars. And have talked with my classmates to help hold me accountable.

Growing up in the woods of a small colonial town, I had an interest in tech, but didn't quite have access to the help I needed to nuture my interests. So I drifted, I tried going into business and sales that's where I learned that career path can be rather soul sucking and dull. Learning that I didn't like that path I took the leap and decided to navigate the tech career path. I tested the waters on the hardware aspect of tech, but realized my interests lie in web development. Passion in mind I found Turing, states away, but a huge enough change to where the stakes are high!

Growing in the tech field is certainly much harder than I had imagined. Each week is a new struggle! But that feeling, when you finally grasp the concept and get your code implemented, it's utterly a-moo-zing! I know that the struggle will continue even past Turing, but I welcome the challenge. It keeps things exciting and new. It's great when I can find a new more efficient way to write my previous code. I look forward and onwar

1: What are you left thinking about? There were a few things I hadn't considered, both about myself and in regards to others. It really brings to the forefront the differences that we all have, whether visible or not.

2: How will these discussions affect me as a developer? I believe this discussion will help me to keep in mind that we all have struggles in life. Some more challenging than other's. With that in mind it helps to show compassion and/or patience for all of those around us, we don't know their struggle and their "truth". In sharing some of these differences and having open-forum discussion can help to heal some of the pain that may have been experienced.

3: Any additional thoughts tbd...

I come from a relatively small town in VA, tucked in the woods. Completely absent of a tech community, so I ventured out. I found myself attempting to self-teach my way through it, but after rabbit hole and rabbit hole of no progress, I instead decided it would make more sense to put myself in a fully encompassing environment. Where I could learn with others, have structure and guidance in the right direction, and most importantly I was looking for something that would challenge me to the core. I knew that this would be a life change that I could not give up!

Within my options, report after report claimed Turing to be the best school. They were not wrong! This curriculum has made me struggle more than any education before it. But through the struggle I learn more and more everyday. In just ONE month: I surrpassed my knowledge from self-teaching, branched out with networking opportunities that I would never of had the opportunity for, made more like-minded friends than ever, and I am so proud of myself

##What are you left thinking about? (3-5 sentences) - This gear up has me thinking about how I should step up more often in times where ignorance is being spread. As well as try to bring up the discussion of racial equality in more situtions. By expanding the knowledge to those arround us, we slightly stride towards a better future for equality.

##How will concepts today affect you as a dev? - By being exposed to these kinds of discussions early, it allows for me to reflect and gather my opinions on the topic. Which in the future may help to lead the conversation in the work environment. - Also it may help in having more empathy for end-users of all types; racial, culturally, handicapped.

##Any additional thoughts? - I'm happy to see that Turing puts in the effort to expose us to such a curriculum. I believe its a step in the right direction.

##Gear Up Gist Reflection:

What are you left thinking about from today's session?

It really makes me internalize how much I benefit from white privelege, but how little I know about the other perspective.

How do you think the concepts covered in Gear Up today will impact you as a software developer? 3-5 sentences.

I think that having these conversations now will help prepare us to have these deeper conversations with future teams. To create a more diverse and ally oriented outlook when tackling ideas that will have a big impact on the community. I hope to be able to participate in some instance of outreach to help diversify the tech workforce and get the word out there that there are resources like Turing to get an accessible jump-start at a career in tech.

Any additional thoughts on the session today?

I feel like we talked a lot about race gender, but some topics that I would like to hear more about is the LGBQT and those with Anxiety and Depression.

	Should we have global values?
	- I would agree with global values being in scope as in regional. Different cultures may have varying opinions on the value of lives.

	How can we develop applications for everyone if we all have different values?
	- A 40yr old single male would most likely value his life above all others, but that should not dictate that of the greater good. I believe we should have Global/Regional values in place, in order rule out as much human error as possible.

	Should we have global values for public services vs private services?
	- I think that for the most they would go hand in hand.
	- But I could see the argument that the private sector would hold more responsibility for their own lives/actions for choosing to ride in an autonmous vehicle.

	- Why you want to connect with this person and what you want to talk about
	- When you will contact them by and how you plan to meet
	- What your follow-up will look like once you've met with them
	- What other steps will you take to start building a stronger network in the tech community?

	1) I would like to reach out to Tyler Murphy. The owner of the company I used to work for in Virginia. I know that they do not have any software jobs at their facility, however I'm hoping he has some well established contacts in the area of Richmond.

	2) I plan to contact him mid Mod 3. As I will have to arrange to move back to VA and account for the transition. I will either reach our for a video call meeting, or through a traditional phone call.

	3) After one week I will reach back out to him, to make sure he hadn't forgot/ got busy. When I left the company, him and I were on good terms, and he was my sales mentor for awhile.

	# Agile & Feedback Reflection Guidelines
	In interviews, you'll be asked about how you approach working in projects, and being able to describe how you utilize agile processes is a great way to help you stand out as a junior developer candidate. This reflection is meant to help you develop this skill.

	With that in mind, please answer the following questions in your own gist about your group project:

	1. What have you learned about the use of agile vs. waterfall in software projects?
	- Waterfall is the slowest yet most commonly used in larger tech companies.
	- Agile is the most effective, because it allows for quick breakpoints if a project is not worthwhile.

	2. How did you and your group approach project management in this project (what tools did you use, how did you hold each other accountable, etc.)?