happy thursday devfriend!

A little almost-Friday love for you since I've been neglecting the newsletter, haha! I hope you're out there being great and most importantly, staying safe. 😘
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I'm getting outside in nature today with my partner to play for a while, because I've realized exactly how important it is for my mental health.

Yeah... I have a bunch to talk about in terms of consistency because of my own (what feels like regularly-scheduled at this point) break in consistency. I think I'm going to write a blog post and probably also do a podcast episode on the topic.

When you're doing anything hard and/or new, your consistency is GOING TO BREAK. It's bound to happen.

Until I build really strong habits, I'm bound to drop off eventually—and even then, keeping those habits in your daily routine until they stick is going to be an every day task. 😭

Your job is to learn how to be resilient, not blame yourself, and get back up as soon as you can. It comes down to perseverance and grit.

I started learning to code back in 2015, after losing my job in Customer Service. When I first started, everything was brand new and shiny and literally everything I did was a success.

Then things start getting harder, and harder. The challenges get more... well, challenging.
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I really was hard on myself because I thought I just wasn't good enough.
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That I wasn't doing enough.

Eventually, I just accepted that this cycle was going to occur, especially with Bipolar 2 Disorder and depression and anxiety and life and whatnot. The best that I can do is just to keep getting up, no matter how long it takes me. Even if it's 15 minutes a day, to move myself forward a launch.

I guess you could say I'm a model of what happens when you put somewhere between 0.002% and 1.68% progress every day. 😂

There is no referee waiting to declare the fight over. The only referee has been myself, telling myself that if I couldn't get up fast enough, it wasn't worth it to get up at all. 😭

As I pick my own ass up and get back to supporting you via the newsletter, podcast, and blog... I encourage you to pick up something you've been inconsistent with, as well!
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Even if you get knocked down immediately, you'll figure out something new to try along the way. You'll also learn what doesn't work.

And most importantly, you'll gain confidence. If I could buy confidence in a bottle, I would run them the hell out of stock. 😂

But because they don't... my only possible way forward is to put my head down, forget that I was just inconsistent, and just do my best.

If you haven't been coding... go write a line or two. Anything. Just open it up and try. Give your brain that context for how it feels. That's soooo important!!

If you haven't been releasing podcasts (NICOLE), just get the hell up and record anything to build the context back and just even remember what it's like to record.

If you haven't reached out to your frands via newsletter in a while (NICOLE!!!), write one. Doesn't matter if it's not on Monday like I used to do every week. Just reach out and say hi.

Then PRESS SEND. That's the only way I plopped back in your inbox today!

Now, if you don't hear from me next week... you'll know I'm struggling to stay consistent once again. I'm going to try to make that not the case, but if it does?

That's perfectly okay.

I know you'll be here waiting for me when I return, buddy. As will your way forward, as soon as you come back to it. ❤️

I love you and believe in you! Get it get it!

Peace, love, and code,

​P.S. If you're not already, be sure to follow me on Twitter @lavie_encode! :)

BIG changes are coming to La Vie en Code...

I don't really do the whole "can't let the cat out of the bag yet" teaser stuff marketers like to do. Like, OMG just tell me already. 🙄

Plus, if I got something good, and it's almost ready... why not tell you about it so you can get heckin AMPED like I am right now???

So... I'M LAUNCHING A MEMBERSHIP COMMUNITY AND FORUMS FOR SELF-TAUGHT CODERS IN EARLY-MID APRIL!!! It's called LaunchPad and it's pretty much gonna break the internet. Move over, Clubhouse.

Also, of course, there's a free forum-based community available for non-members! I don't want to exclude folks at all. Also, I should mention that it's for everyone, not just self-taught coders. 🙃

Why did I decide to do this? I mean, it's been a lot of work to set up, a lot of time, and I mostly had to do it myself cuz I'm broke 😂

Well, honestly, I really want to meet and support and love on you as a self-taught coder. ❤️ And I wanted to do it in a way that was really different from everyone else.

I'm a member of a lot of forums... and quite frankly, they bore me to death. People don't really engage in meaningful ways that lead to real relationships. I love Twitter for that reason.
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The pandemic has left us largely isolated. We're at the point where it's looked down upon to socialize with anyone outside our bubbles. I don't know about you, but I'm frustrated as hell right now that I can't be with my friends in person.

I had talked about the little social experiment I had last year during the height of the pandemic, where I basically brought together total strangers in a weekly ultra-casual Zoom hangout.

(I'm actually STILL doing these hangouts every Saturday night at 8 PM EST, so just reply let me know if you'd like a link! We love new faces!)

I got to thinking... I'm great at bringing people together, so why not just make my own larger community to support the people I'm already supporting via Twitter and my courses/coaching??

And so came the idea: create a paid membership community for new folks who want access to everything I create: my courses, special member-only groups, exclusive content, peeks behind the scenes... ALL OF IT.

But I didn't just want a membership component. I wanted it to be available to everybody. A community where people can build their own groups, see what they want to see, chat with others, and have fun! And most importantly, know that there's even more should they choose to upgrade.

Ooh, also: I loooove games, so I've added gamification for virtually every aspect of the community experience.

Chat with some folks in a thread? You get a badge!

Wanna move up in the ranks? Complete the steps and earn that shiny new title!

For members only: wanna buy real-life stuff? Earn coins to spend in the LVEC shop!

I have so so so many more details to give you, but this is a long enough email. So, stay tuned for more information! I'm so excited to offer a fun and casual home base to people in tech—myself included!

Wanna know when the membership launches?

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN LAUNCHPAD MEMBERSHIP (or the free forums), please click below! I don't wanna spam you with details via the newsletter.

🎙 This week's LVEC Podcast episode: Visualize Your Code (and Practice Anywhere!)

AYYYY WE'RE BACK!! 💥
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Tune in NEXT TUESDAY (March 16th) for a new episode of the La Vie en Code Podcast!

This week on Episode 48, I'll introduce you to an often-overlooked technique for solidifying the programming knowledge you encounter: visualization.

Visualization is a suuuuper powerful tool that can help you to practice recalling the information you learn, in the form of code syntax! It can also help you quickly identify areas of weakness or strength. Once I discovered the power of visualization, it totally changed the way I approached my code learnins.

If you've been looking for a way to strengthen your code skills, this episode is definitely a must-listen!

Listen now!

Please SUBSCRIBE to the podcast, too! It's on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher!

And of course, if you like what you hear, please leave me a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and a kind comment. I love hearing from my listeners. 🥰

Ok, onto the hand-picked resources, and I hope I'll get a chance to see you in the courses! ♥️

💻 dev goodies

📝 Some really helpful and supportive freeCodeCamp forum posts (go sign up even if you don't use FCC!):

• ​My roadmap towards becoming a web developer​
• ​Anyone want to partner for bootcamp?​
• ​Feeling defeated and uncertain​

📝 Make your first GitHub contribution (by @dephraiim)

📝 How to choose the best laptop for programming (by @MKaifOfficial)

📝 Am I missing something in JavaScript? (by @thisisdipen)

📝 The cure for imposter syndrome (by @RobotOptimist)

📝 The F*ck – A great little productivity app (by @noelworden)

📝 How to start an online store – A quick guide for beginners (by @techosquare)

📝 How to stand out as a developer in your job search (by @catalinmpit)

Psssst... you're awesome! ✨