Failing...

 ...Did you hear that? That was the sound of my heart shattering. Failed another timed technical test. 

Woke up to yet another rejection email. These days, I seem to wake up to a lot of these "love letters", as I like to call them.

 That's it. I'm done. This "developering" thing is not for me. 

Nobody prepares you for the rejections you will get, trying to get your foot in as a new techie. All t's crossed, i's dotted. I know that I know this thing. Okay, I know enough, and I am willing to learn and be better. So why do they not want to work with me?😔😔😔😔 Am I that bad a developer? 😭😭😭😭 

No, you are not a bad developer. You are probably not what they need right now, and that is okay. It is okay to be sad and feel downcast, but don't stay down for too long. Like me, throw tantrums, be sad, cry, sleep. But when you wake up, clean your teary eyes, open your laptop and go again.

Do not stop applying for jobs. For every rejection, apply for some more, build more projects, solve more Leetcode problems, improve on your soft skills, stay positive. One day, that yes that will cancel all the no's will come, and you will be thankful you continued. 

Meanwhile, when you get in, never stop building yourself. There are more difficult road blocks ahead. Until then, let me get back to applying for that role.

 Adios. 

How To Update Visual Studio Code for MacBook Users

Are you a MacBook user and when you try to update your Visual Studio Code, you get this error message, "Cannot update while running on a read-only volume. The application is on a read-only volume. Please move the application and try again. If you're on macOS Sierra or later, you'll need to move the application out of the Downloads directory. This might mean the application was put on quarantine by macOS. See this link for more information."??? 

... sucks, I know. I mean, Visual Studio Code auto updates on Windows, but not on MacBook. I smell beef. Anyway, here is how to fix that problem. If you downloaded, and are running Visual Studio Code from your Downloads folder(which is read-only), it will not auto-update. 

Open your Finder, go to Downloads, drag the downloaded Visual Studio Code file to the Applications directory and run it from there. If that does not work, send it back to Downloads, press the Command key, and then drag the file to Applications directory. Restart your Visual Studio Code and try updating. If this still does not work, then restart your Mac. Now, your update should be possible, and then you can install the chatGPT AI extension that will make debugging easier for you. You're welcome.

Altschool Exam Project: My Github repositories

This project is a simple React application that allows the user to search for GitHub repositories using the GitHub Repo API.

Getting Started:

 To get started, create new React App: npx create-react-app altschoolassignment Start the development server: npm start 

The application is hosted at https://alt-school-exam-project-zeta.vercel.app/

The following dependencies were installed for this project:

- npm i- react-router-dom

- npm i- axios 

- npm i- react-error-boundary 

- npm i- styled-components 

- npm i- react-switch

- npm i- react-scroll 

- npm i- react-helmet-async

url https://api.github.com/users/UgoChiori/repos

Next, data was collected from GitHub using Axios, and was fetched and rendered using the React Hooks, useState and useEffect.

The useEffect and useState methods were used to fetch and update the data automatically, every time a new repository is created.

Error Boundary was added to catch errors that may occur when code is executed. When an error is encountered, the error message is returned.

Using the App The app will display a list of repositories. You can click on a repository to view more details about it. 

Pagination was added to navigate between pages.

Built With

• React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces
• Axios - A Promise based HTTP client for the browser and node.js
• GitHub API - Used to fetch repository data

Baby Developer...

 So, I quietly updated my bio to "Aspiring software developer" on my social media pages and I won't even lie, I feel like an impostor, especially as Javascript is kicking my behind😭😭😭😭Send help! 

The first semester ended about a month ago, and yours truly did well. Of course, I can't fall you people's hands. I scored an overall score of 92.2% and it felt good. You see, all my life, I have always been an average student. Just passing enough to be promoted to the next class, nothing too spectacular. So this was a big deal for me...*whispering* I had the highest score in my circle, so my shoulders were a bit too high for a while. Do am if e easy.😁😁😁 

I also took part in my first hackathon yayyyy me! Here's what my teammate, Amaka and I worked on. It is a sign in page that shows your mobile network as you're typing it into the "phone number" input field. Cool, right? Tell me what you think about it. 

https://replit.com/@Hackathon-phonie/hackathon-phonie#index.html

The second semester has resumed fully, and as if it was not enough that Javascript was already dragging me by my edges, "they" introduced us to REACT. Oh yeah, Open Source, too. Right now, I have no idea what I am doing, to be quite honest. I'll figure it out, somehow. 

NEW BEGINNINGS: THE SWITCH.

 It has been the most difficult three years of my life, so far. What with being a Nigerian, living in Lagos (oh, I moved from Uyo to Lagos in 2016, so I am now a Lagos beb) and living in Nigeria with only a Nigerian passport. Abeg, anywhere you see me, give me a long, tight hug and squeeze dollaz and/or Mama Charlie into my hands...bad as e bad, Mai-Bornu and Uncle Clems, I go manage. 

Have you ever had to deal with discontent or rather, being stuck in a rut? That's where I was for the longest time. I was stuck in a rut. I knew I didn't want to bake cakes commercially anymore, but I had no idea what else it was I should be doing, and it really did my head in. I love baking, honestly I do, but the daily hike in the price of baking products, and sparse patronage, made something break inside of me. Also, the idea of baking, just to get by and pay bills did not sit right with me. I really just wanted to bake from a place of comfort, not necessity and survival. By the way, if you see any baker, hug them tight and dash them something. They're really going through it.

As I was saying, I graduated from University centuries ago, and had not used my degree for anything, or done any other thing academically that could get me a job, so I crossed that off my options.  I knew I wanted to do something very different from what I knew, something different from what I was known for, but I did not know what it was. Abi I should go read Medicine? Then I remembered I could not stand the sight of blood, or see flesh being cut, so I killed that thought. 

I picked up my pen and paper to write things I was good at, and could do for work, but nothing came to mind. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. So I kept baking, while dealing with that burn out. It was not a good place to be, and I never want to go back down there.

The whole of 2021, every time I'd scroll down my Twitter TL, there would be tweets about going into Tech. I would just shake my head and keep scrolling. As far as I was concerned, those people that were going into Tech, and already in Tech had two heads. Besides, I was 37 years old, how could I possibly venture into that? With which head? In my head, it was already late.

I kept seeing people tweet about this tech thing, I considered it fleetingly, but had no idea how to start. Then one day, I saw a tweet about AltSchool Africa, and their diploma in Software Engineering. I liked the terms and conditions, and on a whim, I applied for a diploma in Front End Engineering. All I had to do to qualify was to pass the assessment test, and the cut-off was 85%. I checked further, and Quantitative Reasoning questions were part of the test. "Is this how I will chop disgrace?" I kept asking myself. How on earth was I supposed to meet that cut-off point? 😓😓😓😓😓😓

I studied the materials we were given to prepare for the test, but I kept doubting myself. I would wake up some nights, drenched in cold sweat, because I suddenly envisaged how I would probably score 45% in the test. And I had told people already, that I was going into tech so my disgrace was going to be televised.

Thankful for Arit, Chy and Obinna who kept assuring me that I was not an olodo, and would pass the test, each time I ran to them to say how afraid I was of failing. They actually believed in me, more than I believed in myself.

Fast forward to February, abi was it March... test questions came, and I remember my hands shaking violently as I clicked on each answer. I was so sure I would not make the cut-off. Then, I submitted and waited for my result, which came almost immediately. I opened it sneakily and OMGGGGGG I PASSED. 

I mean, I scored 85 on the dot...EVEN THOUUUUUUUUGHHHH!!!!! I was INNNN! I could not believe my eyes. That pass was all the boost I needed.

April, classes started in ernest. When I saw what we were supposed to learn and do, I started wondering if I should not just quit while it was still early😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

What the hell is this HTML and CSS? Why do they look like Sanskrit and how on earth am I supposed to know and master these? "Ugo, are you sure you want to do this?", I kept asking myself. I kept at it, started trying it out myself, watching other video tutorials, practicing as lessons were ongoing.

 First page I ever did after writing a line of code got me really tickled. I squealed in excitement. It felt really surreal...it still does.

Two months in, and I am happy I started. I mean, see me writing lines and lines of code, able to link CSS to my HTML file, and do magic on my laptop. Heck, even showing others how to do stuff. I still squeal when I see my work on the live server. It is all so exciting for me. Is it easy? heavens, no! But I like that I am able to walk through every difficulty, eventually. I pray I never lose the excitement, and that I follow this course through, and complete it successfully.  

Meanwhile, here is a link to my first ever project.

https://ABOUTUGO.ugochiori.repl.co

and this, too.

https://Ugos-Responsive-PageFORM.ugochiori.repl.co

 I hope to share this journey with you, as I keep posting more of my projects as I advance and get better, so I consider you all to be my accountability partners. 

A wise man once said,"the first job of a cake is to be vanilla". Words on marble, yup. This is why I always, always, always add vanilla to every cake I'm baking. Sometimes too, you just want to keep it simple, especially when you're using a strong flavoured frosting which brings us to our cake for the weekend... good ol' vanilla cupcakes with mocha frosting. These fluffy, moist, buttery cuppies drenched in mocha whipped cream frosting with a generous dash of  "JD" are so delicious you might not want to share. 

 "JD" infused Mocha-Vanilla Creamy cupcakes

Ingredients 

250g unsalted butter, softened
3 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs (room temperature), lightly beaten
360ml unsweetened yogurt
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
3 tablespoons vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon salt 

Frosting 

• 2 tablespoons, instant coffee powder
• 226g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners (icing) sugar, sifted 
• 4 tablespoons, unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup chocolate milk 
• 3 tablespoons "JD" 

Difficulty level: Easy

Total baking/prep time: 1 hour

Heat the oven to 300°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Line your cupcake moulds with paper liners 

Whisk together the measured flour, baking powder and salt in a dry bowl; set aside.

Using your mixer, starting on a high speed, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together for at least 8-10minutes until pale white and fluffy. 

Gently add the eggs to creamed moisture with mixer still running, allow to mix properly. 

Add the flour in 3 batches, alternating with the milk, mixing thoroughly after each addition, and ending with flour. 

Using a tablespoon, add 2 generously heaped spoons of batter to each case. It will be approximately just over half full. 

Place in the centre of your preheated oven.

Allow to bake for approximately 15minutes, then check

 for "doneness". 

To know that your cupcakes are done, check that they are light brown and when pressed in the middle, are springy to the touch or a toothpick comes out dry when inserted in the middle. 

Remove from oven, leave in mould for 5 minutes, then remove from mould to cool completely. 

FROSTING

Dissolve instant coffee in 1 tablespoon of water

Sieve icing together with unsweetened cocoa powder and salt. 

With your mixer at high speed, mix butter with 1 1/2 cups icing sugar for 2 minutes. Add chocolate milk, instant coffee and vanilla essence to mixture, add "JD", Allow to mix for 2 minutes, add remaining icing sugar, mix on a high speed for 3 minutes until it gets to a piping/spreading consistency. 

Pipe or spread onto the now cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle crushed peanuts on cupcakes. Serve with coffee, ice cream or anything really. 

Makes 18 cupcakes. 

Bon appetit. 

Eat responsibly. 

Yummy coconut flour pancakes

1/2 cup, coconut flour
2 packets, sweetener
5 large eggs
1/2 cup, almond milk
1 teaspoon, baking powder
1 teaspoon, vanilla essence
A pinch of salt
Coconut oil (for frying)


Instructions

Sift coconut flour together with the sweetener, salt and baking powder, set aside.
Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla in a bowl for 2 minutes. Gently pour in flour mixture and mix thoroughly.
Place your griddle or nonstick frying pan on low heat, add a teaspoon of coconut oil to pan and spread. Using a tablespoon, scoop a little of the pancake batter into pan.

 Be careful with these because they burn easily. Allow to fry till light brown. Flip pancakes after a minute and allow to cook till light brown. Your pancakes are ready to eat. Serve with yogurt and fruit.

Enjoy.