Author: djknitex

Episode 2 with Episode 3 to come soon!

Just a quick update with what I been doing. I been blogging about my TCG life over http://teamskynite.wordpress.com for anyone that is interested and that I will get some footage for Episode 3 and start hammering down on that.

Techfair LA is tomorrow. Let’s do this!

 

I’m in LA now!

Los Angeles, California. I am now based here along side with one of my favorite bands, Senses Fail.

So I’m on that job hunting guide as well as freelancing. Got a couple of gigs so that’s good. So right now, I’m just banking on what I have left over from playing poker and hopefully be able to finish my first book and get that going.

So what am I going to do? I’m going to start vlogging and going to compete in random tournaments across Dragon Ball Super Card Game, Pokemon TCG, and if I’m not lazy I’m going to do Hearthstone and Magic The Gathering (Probably when the new set drops though)

Anyways, join me on my adventures here:

 

The Curious Cases of Nikki X

I’m packing my bags and moving West. LA to be exact. I figure that with one of my good friends being California, my girlfriend wanting to go to school there and where all the tech jobs are. I might as well jump ship and head that way. I booked a one way ticket, getting ready to put in my 2 weeks at my current job and ready to job hunt.

I been job hunting for the past 2 days. I probably applied for 50+ jobs and have been denied twice. I also applied for other bootcamps so I can learn while I’m there. I’ll have money on my own to last me 2 months and I’m ready to see how far this takes me.

I got one month of Web Dev Professional experience, got a freelance gig, and have a couple phone interviews lining up. Also,  I’m getting ready to finish the last episode of the VLOG and I’m ready to move on with my life.

To live in LA and become  a web developer.

I hope California is ready for this Arkansas Sad Boy!

 

nikki1

My First Week as a Web Developer

“Don’t believe in depression. I just gutted myself to prove that I’m different.
I’m different” – The Early November

 

I landed my Web Dev job in mid December but didn’t really start the job until the beginning of 2018 due to the fact that I was interviewing with other companies and demo day. I held off my answer for the job until Demo Day where I would interview with other start ups and big companies. You can just google me to find out where I work. I’m pretty public.

I started January 2nd and it was crazy and fun at the same time. I got into working on some tweaks for websites then found out later that day that they use the LAMP Stack for their environment along with frameworks/platforms such as WordPress and CakePHP. It’s a whole new world. I’m barely a Front-End Developer and I ended up getting the job as a Junior Web Developer. My goal was to be a Full-Stack Developer in the Mean Stack but I guess I’m learning LAMP at work while I do MEAN Stuff on the side. Get the best of both worlds, you know. I joined at the right time cause they got funded which means we were able to new computers and as a new hire I get the first round. I didn’t really want a MacBook but I ended up asking for one because I don’t have a MacBook to work with. I code primarily in Ubuntu and I can work with Windows. If the company is paying for it, I might as well get what I can, Lol.

The average day is a 15-20 minute morning meeting about what we done the previous day and what we will be working on the rest of the day.  I get to my desk which is in a room with two other girls (There was 3rd person but he left and move to a different room). I work with a Senior Web Developer and a Graphic Designer. I usually start my day by getting some tea and a granola bar. I sit at my desk, put on my headphones, and go through emails. I also work part time as the help desk so when someone within the Company needs help with printing or setting up their computer, that’s me. I also help set up a chromebit for my Boss so we can use the TV to look at reports and such.  Sometimes, we’ll get tickets through the help desk to work on websites which I do and do proudly because this is something that I always wanted to do. Sit at a desk, look at code and fix things. Lunch is around an hour and it’s pretty flexible we get to take it anywhere between 11-2 I believe. Throughout the day, I will get called in to the office to chat with my Boss about what we’re doing and what to learn. My hours are 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM which isn’t too bad. One of the best perks about this is able to hang out with my girlfriend a lot longer than I did with my previous job. (Had stupid hours/schedule). I’m still new and learning so I’m waiting to see what’s out there for me. It’s really fun and slow though. During my freetime, I would read up on CakePHP or go through progate.com or freecodecamp.org to brush up on some web dev skills. I left work a little early Friday since everyone was leaving and now I’m just waiting for my MacBook to come in so I can start setting that up. Unrelated note, but I just installed the LAMP Stack on my Ubuntu laptop so I’m pretty excited to learn cool stuff.

What I learn/Got Familiar with this Week:

the LAMP Stack; Still pretty confusing but I’ll get the hang of it by the end of the Year
CakePHP: A PHP Framework that most of the websites I work on are built on.
VIM: Coding in a terminal? Yall Crazy

BONUS!

A couple of pictures from Demo Day.

2018

Let’s begin the new year reflecting of what happen last year. You know just read the last post. Anyways, I’m going into the new year with a new job and a wonderful girlfriend. I am planning my future for this year. Crazy, right?

My plan is to live with my girlfriend starting August 2018. I know what you guys are thinking, that’s like 7 months away, anything can happen. You guys might be right, but anything goes. I’m not too worried about it and you shouldn’t worry about who it is either.

Got my feet through the door for my Web Dev career. I’m just a help desk tech with web dev responsibilities and going to work my way up as a Junior Dev. I’m almost done writing my acoustic EP and I been working on some new verses for an upcoming mixtape as well. Will 2018 be the year that I drop all the projects that I been working on?

So about my novel, my first novel which the first draft was finished last November has yet to be edited… due to my laziness but I also planned out the next book as well. I will probably begin the storyboard and finish my Novel by the summer. My plan is to have it finished before my Girlfriend comes to visit.

So my goals for this year; Published my first book, start the 2nd book, record/release an Acoustic EP, drop my next mixtape, get a promotion at my job and to have fun with my Girlfriend.

I’m hoping to get back into Guild Ball.. When I showed her my collection, I felt an itch to play. So maybe I can get back to it.

 

Also the most important part of this 2018 year is…

 

MAKE SURE MY BILLS ARE PAID BEFORE I DO ANYTHING.

I felt something in me change.

“So I wanted goals. I saw all I needed was a home with a view of something beautiful, a woman that I trusted, the friends that I grew up with” – Crime in Stereo

 

I seen some crazy shit in 2017. I had my heart broken again and I went around looking for girls to talk to. Crazy right? I mean, As an adult male it sounds normal but in my case, I was still searching for someone who  I can find home with but I haven’t found the one girl that I wanted to be with. I been stuck with the feeling that I can never get anything right. Earlier this year past the fact that I was confused about who I wanted to be with, I attended many different concerts to get my mind off things. I saw Blink 182 with The Naked and Famous. I saw Senses Fail, Trash Boat, and New Found Glory. The last concert I been to was Taking Back Sunday which was in September. I traveled to two different states this year and I had a great time with my friends and family. I started learning Web Development earlier this year thanks to one of my best friends who is living out in Silicon Valley. I’m following his foot steps and planning on moving West.

One of the best things that happened this year was that I landed a an entry level Web Dev job at a local start up here. I’m pretty excited about starting a new job in the career field that I wanted to. You can view my portfolio as well as the RPG that I made here at my personal site @ http://nikkix.me

It paid off because I been studying regardless of what I was going through this year but it wasn’t enough to bring me down. I’m not as sad as I let myself believe sometimes. I’m making big plans for 2018. I’m planning on furthering my knowledge in the Web Development World. I’m about to finish my Front End Class, I’m starting my new career, and I’m going into the new year with this amazing girl I found.

2017 started out weak but I ended it with a bang. There’s only a couple of weeks left but that isn’t going to stop me from bettering myself. I know all I do is just write sad songs about how much my life sucks, but it’s more than just that. It’s about me, about who I want to be, about me trying to find out who I am and where I’m supposed to be. I’m getting lost to find myself and I’m hoping somewhere in 2018 I can finally find a reason.

I’m leaving room to grow.

Demo Day

Tomorrow is demo day for my Front End IT Readiness Program class and I’m pretty excitied there’s going to be recruiters from local
tech companies to check out what we made and possibily give us an interview. I’m hoping to able to at least get one interview. I already
got one job offer as a Junior Web Content Developer for a local start up and I’m pretty excited about that.

What I been working on is an Angular course that I got through udemy as well as working on my next RPG. I began working with a pixel
graphic artist from Kansas City and together we’re collaborating on a horror puzzle game using RPG MAKER MV. Just like my first RPG, Cartuga, it’s also going to be exported to be playable on a web browser on any device.

I’m pretty excited about the world of Web Development and hoping to make a career out of this.

— Nikki X

Japan 2020

I’m planning on going to a language school in Japan late 2019 or early 2020 just in time for the Olympics. I been slowly relearning Japanese and worked with a tutor online over italki.com it was fun but I’m still lacking stuff so I’m hoping I can get back to where I’m supposed to be.

My acoustic EP is almost done and I’m know I’m really late about that but I’m only needing one more song and I’m done! I also got a new novel series about eSports and I wrote a storyboard/outline for it. For fans of Esports and Sword Art Online.

Besides my dream to study in Japan (Which is still my dream since 2009), I’m re-working on my portfolio by using a bootstrap template and rediscovered my love for software. I remember in 2002 or 2003 when I first discovered RPG Maker was when I wanted to be a developer. I almost stumbled upon Zelda Online which was coded in Visual Basic 6 so I knew at the time I wanted to be one but as I got older and the more stupid I got (in school) I ended up wanted to be a detective but now I’m a self published writer and aiming to become a digital nomad Web Developer.

My goal by the time I get to Japan is to become a Full-Stack JavaScript Developer which skills in many other languages such as Java and PHP. I will also learn the in and outs of Unity and Visual Novel Maker.

 

More stuff soon.

First draft completed

I finished the first draft of my first novel today. I hit 40k words and after I do the 2nd draft (which I just go back edit when I can and add more) and I’m hoping by the end it’ll be about 42-50k words. I’m having a couple of people beta read it early next year and I’m hoping to launch and publish it in the Spring.  I been writing a couple of short stories which I will bring out online eventually. (Looking for a place to publish them).

The short stories is about Inspector Gregory Mouse who works somewhere in the West solving cases while trying to balance his team out.  I wrote one so far and planning on writing a second one in the coming weeks. My other short story that I wrote for a short story contest is done and I’m going to submit after I edit it. It’s 13 pages long and it’s about Arthur Rathbone solving a mystery.

 

Anyways, that’s all I got so far and my web dev dream is still in progress. I been working on sites and working on my portfolio. My RPG is pretty much 90% done. Just gotta polish it and it’s good to go!