Theory without practice is dead - practice without theory is blind.
The project we were assigned to work on was a great opportunity for me to finally step into the unknown, and escape from the tutorial trap, where I was constantly looking for ways how things are done by others and following their example, thinking that it was the right way. This course opened a new perspective on development for me. Development means to develop, not always following someone else’s example, because there is no right or wrong way of writing code. It taught me that I can’t know everything in advance and if I don’t know where and how to start then I should just start at where I am with the knowledge I have and move on from there by experimenting, reading docs, and asking more knowledgeable developers for help.
If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.
Honestly, it had always been somewhat difficult for me to ask others for help. I always wanted to know that I could do everything by myself without others. During the course, I realized that it was a negative mindset, which was caused by my ego and it slowed me down in many things. I had to rewire my mindset and I started seeing how this affects all my life’s spheres positively. I learned that it is normal to ask for help, we can’t know everything, and we should collaborate and help each other. That’s how the world progresses, we learn from the works of the previous generations and leave knowledge for the next ones.
In our project, we set up checkpoints called milestones. These were like road signs showing us where we were headed. Each milestone marked a big step forward in our work. They helped us understand what we needed to do at each stage. Breaking the project into smaller parts made it easier for everyone to know their job. When we reached a milestone, it felt like we accomplished something important, which kept us motivated. Plus, milestones helped us talk and work together better. We could see if we were on track and make changes if we needed to. Overall, using milestones made it easier for us to stay focused and know where we were going with our project.