32.4. Let's Play Ball!¶
Attention sports fans! Embrace your favorite quote(s):
| Sport | Quote |
|---|---|
| Baseball | "There may be people who have more talent than you, but there's no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do." - Derek Jeter |
| Basketball | "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot ... and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan |
| Gymnastics | "I'd rather regret the risks that didn't work out than the chances I didn't take at all." - Simone Biles |
| Football | "I was always willing to work. I was not the fastest or biggest player, but I was determined to be the best football player I could be on the football field, and I think I was able to accomplish that through hard work." - Jerry Rice |
| Soccer | "The backbone of success is...hard work, determination, good planning, and perseverance." - Mia Hamm |
| Tennis | "If I don't get it right, I don't stop until I do." - Serena Williams |
| Rocky | How can you listen to this and NOT be inspired? (Gonna Fly now ) |
| Optional | Imagine your favorite motivational phrase here. - Some admired person |
32.4.1. Marathon Analogy¶
Pretend you are not a runner (complete with the "0.0" sticker on your car), but you decide to compete in a marathon. You cannot just drive to the starting line, put on your running shoes and go.
You have to train:
- Begin by getting good at running 1 mile.
- Then get good at running 3 miles.
- Then get good at running 6, then 8, then 10 miles. By now you could try a half-marathon, and proudly slap a "13.1" sticker on your car.
- Continue training and increasing your distance. You WILL earn that "26.2" sticker, which will look GREAT when placed in line with 0.0 and 13.1.
- Your stickers demonstrate your commitment and might even inspire other non-runners. They will see how you started "just like them" and notice how your effort spurred personal growth.
Learning to code follows the same idea:
- Begin with "Hello world!"
- Then learn variables, strings and arrays.
- Then learn if/else statements and loops, followed by functions and modules.
- Then code your first "half-marathon".
- Continue practicing to increase your skills. You WILL earn that marathon.js sticker as you build solid demo projects and complete more interviews.
- Welcome, fellow coder. Don't forget to inspire others.
And don't forget:
Your heros worked really hard, so should you. Do your homework.