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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Greetings Anthony,<br>
<br>
Self-motivation is hyper-critical for any software engineering
job, but even more so for jobs like those at Golden Guru where the
work is done remotely on your own schedule. Each day, it's
important to evaluate the long-term costs versus benefits of
staying focused on the tasks at hand versus being distracted by
other pursuits. Playing Borderlands 2 may be a lot of fun in the
short-term, but it's helpful to evaluate whether spending time
there has better long-term value than investing in preparing for a
financially prosperous career.<br>
<br>
There are times as a software engineer when there are specific
tasks laid out in a sequence, like building the virtual machine.
There are other times when you have a specific problem that's
necessary to solve, and you'll have to then pour over a great many
details, derive theories, test those theories, and adjust tactics
based on the results. And there are still other times when you'll
be tasked with learning a new technology or system or methodology.
In these cases, you'll be required to read through lengthy texts,
since most complicated things require a great deal of text to
describe. The value of the work we do, and therefore the size of
our paychecks, is directly proportional to the complexity of the
work.<br>
<br>
Consequently, it's valuable to develop a strong work ethic and be
eager to jump into tasks such as reading a book to learn a new
programming language. In the case of Learning Perl, however, it's
more than just reading. There are exercises at the end of each
chapter that are designed to help the learner use the concepts
presented in the chapter. These exercises then comprise a specific
set of tasks to complete.<br>
<br>
It's also important to remember that the autodidact concept we're
operating under is one where the learner is self-directed. This is
critical for two reasons: First, when working in a software
engineering job with Golden Guru, you'll have to be self-directed
the vast majority of the time. Second, I don't have time to
provide much more than pointers to the next major learning steps.
It's up to the learner to break apart those steps into smaller
tasks and to make progress through them. Since my goal is to hire
folks who are able to do these sorts of things, that's why from
time to time there will be pointers to "read this book".<br>
<br>
Gryphon<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/25/2012 9:27 AM, anthony miller
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CACOq719UVHkV9wtGOEsynRGc2aYQcFN4zth_rNY8bTUSe8zFmA@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">I got enough done last week to be able to continue on
to more instructions, but less done then I would have liked. This
last week I ran into a little bit of motivation issues with
getting work done for two reasons. The first is that I don't do as
well at staying motivated when it feels like my assignment is
basically just "read this book". I do better when it feels like
the first week, that is "you have this task to complete, here are
some resources to do that." The other reason is Borderlands 2 came
out. Almost every one of my friends is playing it constantly every
day right now. Though now that the first week is out of the way
people are starting to play it less often so that wont be as much
of an issue. So I guess all this is me saying please give me a
task to do so that I can work to complete it. <br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 8:28 AM,
Elizabeth Rosenzweig <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:errosenzweig@gmail.com"
target="_blank">errosenzweig@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
The cat and I both got sick last week, so I am behind. <br>
<br>
I went through the vi stuff and feel like I'm getting the hang
of it but haven't started the Perl stuff yet. But I was
anticipating working extra this week to make up for last week,
so bring on the next stuff whenever you have it ready.
<div class="HOEnZb">
<div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 10:21 AM,
Griffin Kelton <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:griffin.kelton@gmail.com"
target="_blank">griffin.kelton@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Gryphon,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I'm still working through some of the Perl
exercises, but I'm not running into any problems.
I'm ready for the next set of things whenever you
are.</div>
<div><br clear="all">
Griffin Kelton<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="tel:%28919%29306.1135" value="+19193061135"
target="_blank">(919)306.1135</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.griffinkelton.com"
target="_blank">www.griffinkelton.com</a><br>
<br>
Please consider the environment before printing this
email.
<div>
<div><br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at
11:16 AM, Gryphon Shafer <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:gryphon@goldenguru.com"
target="_blank">gryphon@goldenguru.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px
#ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> <font
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Greetings
all,<br>
<br>
Just checking-in on progress, seeing how
you all are doing. I didn't see much in
the way of questions last week about vi
or the "Learning Perl" book exercises,
so I wanted to ask if folks are running
through these swimmingly or if you're
encountering any road blocks along the
way.<br>
<br>
I figure the Learning Perl exercises
will take a few days to finish, maybe a
total of a couple weeks. Learning vi
will take a lifetime, but you should
have a basic working ability with it by
now. How are things going? Questions
about anything, or are folks waiting on
me for the next set of things?<span><font
color="#888888"><br>
<br>
Gryphon<br>
<br>
<br>
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