We are now seven weeks in and five to go in Code Academy, and with the holiday week it’s really only four weeks to go… and since graduation/demo day will be on Wednesday, December 21st there will really only be three and a half weeks to go…

Like many of Code Academy classmates, once we hit the halfway point my thoughts have drifted increasingly towards what’s next. I have no idea what that is, but thanks again to Apprenticeship Pattens I have an idea of what I want it to be- and that feels like a huge first step.

The third chapter of the book is “Walking the Long Road” and it challenges us to keep our focus on the long term journey of software craftsmanship. The first exercise in the chapter is to think of where you want to be in 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years from now, and it caught me off guard just how difficult that was for me. I spent a week or two mulling it over before I was able to complete it. I started out with five years, then 10, 20, 30. Then I moved my way backwards based on those goals- 4 years, 3 years, 2 years and 1 year.

One thing I discovered in the first couple weeks of class is that I want all of those steps to incorporate continuous development and learning- and other thing I’ve learned is how important it is to have a community to share knowledge with. Over the last couple of weeks when I’ve paired with my classmates I’ve learned just how helpful it is to challenge, be challenged and explain through what thoughts have formed in my mind on why something might work. It helps to provide a deeper understanding of my knowledge (and I use the word “knowledge” lightly considering everything I know I learned in the past seven weeks—and it still completely boggles me how much that is).

In short, the plan is to keep learning, be a part of a community that encourages growth, and develop my knowledge base enough so that in three to five years I can choose or create the projects that I’d like to work on. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but this 1 to 40 year journey I’ve mapped out is the first time I’ve ever really laid out anything resembling a “life plan”. Up until now all of my plans have only been annual ones like writing out a training plan based on the big races or forecasting ABD’s next season of races. Granted, we always improved on those plans each year and did things bigger, better, faster and stronger- but I never really stopped to ask myself what the long term vision was. It feels good to have those goals.