(The following was typed on the train. I have pics I took but no time to add them. Also I got home after 10 and then coded until midnight.)
Travel:
I left the house at 6:25. I was going to leave at 6:30 to give myself 10 extra minutes. I was ready at 6:20 and sat around and decided to just leave instead of risking falling asleep. I biked to the train station. I got there and got my bike locked up. My license and muni pass fell out of my little wallet. I told Dave that they would even though the pouch is there specifically for your license. I was right. At least I heard them fall.
I ended up on the bench to wait for the train 15 minutes early.
The train ended up being 6 minutes late.
We arrived in SF only 4 minutes late. They were able to make up some time.
Then I took the bus. I only had to wait about 1 minute to leave.
I got to DBC at 8:22. Then I had to wait. I sat on the floor outside the classroom.
We were told the doors would open at 8:50 so I knew I'd have to wait.
Many other students arrived near 8:35. At 8:50, someone brought out name tags for us. Then a bit later she brought out a dry erase board that welcomed us and mentioned it was a little late for that.
At 8:58, we started hearing cheering from inside. It was enough to make us more nervous. Like they were trying to pump us up but it was freaking me out.
A few minutes after 9 we went in. Everyone was there from Phases 2, 3, and 4 to greet us. Giving us high fives and stomping their feet. Then we went over to an area for some ice breakers. Those were a little weird.
After that we went around the room and introduced ourselves. Those in Phase 1 said their name, something they loved, a quirk about themselves, and why they were there. Those in Phase 2 said their name and a quick tip for us newbies. Those is Phase 3 made a video. Phase 4 and TAs did a mix of all things.
Once that was done we had breakfast. They had bagels, muffins, and fruit. I just had fruit. I wanted a bagel but feared for my jaw. The muffins seemed a bit scary since they all looked berry by the time I made it through. I also had OJ.
Then Phase 1 went to "The Cave" for more team building. We had some sort of presentations too. We also created accountability groups.
Then it was lunch time. Hoagies, chips, and salad were provided. I was afraid for lunch meat so I had the chicken. I was kind of scared of that since there was a red line on the bun where the chicken touched it. Man was it spicy. I ate it all though. I didn't manage to finish my salad not because I didn't want to but because we were getting a tour of the local park and the YMCA and I wanted to go with everyone else.
After lunch it was more lectures then it was paired programming. Finally we got to code.
We did pairs but every 30 minutes we switched. If you were a navigator you became a driver on the switch on the same code. But after you were a drive you got up and joined someone else. (Someone new joined you when you switched from navigator to driver.) That was a little confusing to pick up in the middle. It also kind of sucked to swap and then have to backtrack and do the same code again while someone else did it for the first time. This was especially bad since I knew it was going to be tough for me with a long commute later.
After paired programming was over at 6, we went back into the cave to talk about what we learned about paired programmed and some good techniques. I didn't think there was much coding left but everyone else thought there was a ton.
Maybe 8 of us went to Chipotle for dinner. At least it was quick. Then it was back to coding. We could code in a pair. Most people did. I did not since my previous partner wanted to work solo for a bit. Finally she came to ask me if I wanted to pair up when I needed to leave for the train. I thought I left 10 minutes or so early
I left at 8. I ended up out of the building at 8:05. By the time I got up the hill, I only waited maybe 1 minute for the bus. I got off the bus and was able to immediately board a train. I did walk through 4 cars trying to find outlets. Then I discovered them hidden on some of the upper rows. I probably spent 10 minutes looking for an outlet. My macbook needed to be charged. I took some screen shots of some code to do but then when I got to get started with that, I realized I didn't go in and get the base code so I was basically a failure. The one program I was in the middle of, I realized I needed the internet to look up some google docs so that was a failure. I got out my phone to ask Dave a few quick questions but then my phone died!
I read a bit of my programming book but then decided to open my laptop up and write a text file on how the first day went. I might never get a chance again.
A few notes:
I barely used my cell phone in the morning but the battery just got eaten up all day. We aren't allowed to use cell phones during core hours so it was in my bag. I think because it had no wireless and was just using 4G for location stuff it was dying. I will turn it off in the future.
For lunch we get 1.5 hours and 2 days a week yoga is mandatory. We are allowed to use phones and laptops in that time for personal use but only during that time.
I talked to the instructor about how I have to miss a morning at some point the next 2 weeks for a doctor appointment. It is currently scheduled for Wed but I was willing to change it. He looked and said no day is better than another but to let my accountability group know. So at 9 if everyone is not there, they wait for everyone to show up. If you will be late or something you have to let your group know. We were supposed to exchange numbers with our group but none of us had cell phones with us and nobody had pen or paper so we still have to do this.
One tip we got was about taking notes yet we never got to go back to our bags to get paper to take notes so there was no note taking today.
For the quirk we had to say about ourselves I mentioned taking my daily picture everyday since May 2005. Then later 2 different presenters referenced that.
For paired programming, I was with 4 different people. I was told by 1 person how it was one of his best ones. Then the last one just didn't go well and I got a lot of constructive feedback. It just depends who you work with and everyone's coding style. In the future we will have 1 partner all day or at least half a day so it won't ever be as confusing as it was on Day 1. They like to swap a lot on Day 1 just so you get to work with as many different people as possible.
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