happy thursday devfriend!

I hope your week is going well so far!! 💕We're almost there!

I'm so glad we're an hour in the future at last! I feel wonderful; even if it's cold as hell up here in Massachusetts 🥶, the sun feels warm, and the days are longer. As a seasonal depression sufferer, this is like the lights being turned on after so long, and I'm loving it. 😊

So, in last week's newsletter, I talked with you about inconsistency and how I'm (actively!!) working alongside you to work past some of the shame and guilt that can come along with being inconsistent.

Well, after I sent you that email, I got like half a dozen emails from other people expressing how deeply they identified with the emotions I expressed over my own inconsistencies. 🥺

You were telling me stories about how you try to code SO MANY TIMES, just to get discouraged by some kind of bug or not understanding something.

And then there's those times when you just straight-up don't feel like opening up your browser to anything other than social media.

At first, that tab in another window stays open with your online course or whatever. It whispers for you to come back and take a crack at it again... but social media sounds way more appealing, and eventually, it just drowns out the whispers entirely.

Then you might have to like restart your browser, and it opens up again after.

You feel immense guilt and shame over closing the window altogether, but seeing it again is just a reminder that you've fallen off. You couldn't possibly go back to it now, and really don't want to.

It's heartbreaking, really... there are so many totally capable people wrestling to build habits that will help us get ahead of everything you have to do. And by extension, of course—feel a hell of a lot less anxiety.

Listen, I know how hard it can be to JUST GET STARTED.

Plus, this shit is hard (life, not just coding). And it's only going to get easier by throwing yourself in there and opening yourself up to failure as a natural step of the process.

I define consistency today as "more often than not". That makes it a lot easier for me to swallow, and doesn't bring up imagery of having to force myself every day. It actually allows me to build resilience against our expectations of being productive every single day.

But I assure you... even today as I write this, I'm floored at how much convincing it takes for my brain to finally say "OK, fine, let's just do it already... I'm sick of hearing this" and do the thing.

Plus, my executive function is crap due to my veritable cornucopia of neurodivergence and mental illness. Like, is there any hope for me?

The answer is YES. It kinda has to be... or I'm really screwed, right?

When I don't believe in myself, I'm not going to hear any of the inspiration or encouragement I receive and actually feel anything from it but even more shame.

I could talk about this topic endlessly, but I at the very least want you to take away from this newsletter that you are loved, you are capable, and you are strong.

Whatever you're trying to do, you have lots of people who believe in you, and know you can do it—even if you don't!

So, please be gentle with yourself. Remind yourself often why you are choosing the hard path. Consistency will come if you just keep showing up. You can't possibly fail as long as you succeed in just showing up when you can!

I wish you a week (and another, and another) of trying the best you can, and being proud of what you are able to do by the end of the week.

And then? REST. You need it, and you deserve it. Let's talk again next week when you're nice and refreshed, and feeling good about your accomplishments... no matter how minor they may seem to you. ♥️

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 cool 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—you can even earn ACTUAL MONEY by participating and helping others!

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 even just 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 for this week's 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!

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!):

• ​Social distancing intro thread: stay home and code!​
• ​I don't know if I can do this​
• ​​​Success story: 7 years as a self-taught developer​
• ​Not sure what area of development to go into​

📝 JavaScript IRL: Examples of JavaScript's filter function in real life (by @shaileshblog)

📝 How to Get Your First Dev Job – Insights from Reviewing Career Switchers' Résumés (by @coderlyn)

📝 Creating a Killer GitHub Profile README (Part 1 of 2, by @BraydonCoyer)

📝 How to Be Productive, Feel Less Overwhelmed, and Get Things Done (by @LifeTechPsych)

📝 How to Get a Job as a Professional Developer in 2021 (by @KenTheRogers)

Psssst... you're awesome! ✨