Hi, I'm Peter O'Boyle!

You wake up, drag yourself out of bed and begrudgingly make your way to work for another day of surviving. We've all been there, right? That's how my life was until very recently.

Four months ago I decided to stand at the deep end and jump straight in. I am now a junior software developer at the end of a 12 week front end developer course with _nology, and I never had any idea that programming could be so awesome!

The idea that you can imagine something, and then write a long sequence of what used to look like an alien language so that you can literally give instructions to a machine to bring it to life is insane!

My work history is quite a varied one. I have had a variety of jobs, not really knowing exactly what I wanted to do.

I enjoyed learning some QBasic and writing text based games as a child and decided that I wanted to be a programmer when I grew up. However, I was always told I would need to study high level Mathematics to do so and that programming was boring, and so I drifted away from the idea.

My interest was sparked again last year and I decided to try and learn some C, which was challenging but enjoyable. Once I realised bootcamps existed, that you don't need a Maths degree and that I could actually pursue a career in development, I moved to Bristol to start a new chapter of my life and do the course, and I haven't looked back since.

I never imagined that I could enjoy something so much that putting endless hours of learning into it doesn't feel like work. I just wish there were more hours in the day so I could code more!

People always say to find work that you enjoy. Before I was merely working to live. I know that now I am back on the right path for me and am looking forward to bringing many ideas to life.

If you want to do something, don't be afraid. Dive in head first, or you may never get to see what lies under the surface.

It's no secret that I've been on the hunt for work for the last few weeks since I finished the Software Development course with _nology.

There have been a few occasions where I'll be looking at a prospective employers' site and have spotted bug such as a dropdown menu extending outside of the screen, or disabling resizing but leaving the resize icon visible.

Ok, most people probably wouldn't notice things like this but to me they are things that need to be fixed. Then the dangerous thoughts start to pop up...

"Hmm, if I put it on my application the employer will clearly see that I have an eye for detail, and that I'm not afraid to be confident and speak up if something needs doing.", and as I consider the notion, the warning lights start flashing in my mind and I consider it from another perspective.

What would a company think of a Junior Developer applying for a job and having the audacity to tell them on first contact what is wrong with their website? Probably not a great start.

Maybe I would get lucky and get through to someone who would appreciate the feedback but the chances of that are probably very limited, so I have adopted to remain passive for the time being. It is good to be able to spot these things and bring them up (part of the job actually) but there is likely a better time and a place, such as during a standup or refinement meeting when you are in a job!

I feel like the best approach is to show that you have attention to detail through quality work on your portfolio, and if you want to show confidence save it for the interview.

So... What do you think? I'd be interested to hear others people's opinions on the matter. Feel free to leave me a comment or send a message!

I recently finished the 100 Days of Code challenge and in case any of you are interested I thought I would share my experience.

I started it while I was looking for jobs and towards the start I was coding nearly every day anyway. However, there were sometimes periods where I wouldn't do anything for days at a time (or longer in extreme circumstances) and I thought this would be a good opportunity to challenge myself and stick to it even when the going got tough.

A quick run-down of the guidelines are:

1. You have to spend at least 1 hour per day coding.
2. Try not to skip any more than 1 day in a 2 week period.
3. Do not skip 2 days in a row.
4. Any days you do skip should be added to the end.

Here are some of the things it allowed me to achieve that I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't started:

• Learning the basics of Vue, Vuex, Typescript and some Vuetify.
• Building and completing an allotment website (https://www.francisroadallotments.co.uk/).
• Improving my Javascript skills.
• Getting my first job as a Front-end developer!

It was a very worthwhile and enjoyable challenge that I'm glad I did. There were a couple of days I didn't manage and on some days that I did it was incredibly difficult, but I managed to persevere and push through. Even though it was a minimum of 1 hour, it was easy to continue for much longer once I had started. It definitely helped me to get into more of a routine and made sure I was productive every day.

So if you are thinking of trying it, you should go for it! The next challenge will be 100 days of activity to improve my physical condition that has probably not been helped by my dedication to coding in the last year and a half!