A Position of Learning
On the brink of a total meltdown, I came to an enlightening realization yesterday. A few weeks ago I took on a Flash project that is very similar to several other projects I have done in the past. The task is to basically create a portfolio with categories and projects. When you click on a category, the project list is populated. Then, when a project is clicked, a box apears with the project title, description and image. For some reason I quoted the project on an hourly basis, rather than my typical project basis (this will come into play later on). I went back to my desk and decided I wanted to build the portfolio in ActionScript 3.0 instead of 2.0. The other similar portfolios I have built were all using AS 2.
After the design was finalized, I began to code. I quickly realized there could be a better way of coding, using a more modular approach and actually utilizing the principles of OOP (Object Oriented Programming … if you’re not techy, please negate all geeky words and phrases). These principles basically make it possible to reuse code. More work up front = less work in the long term.
Anyway, before this project I scheduled a one-on-one four hour tutoring session with Dana Payne, an ActionScript/Flex/Flash expert and Adobe Certified Instructor. Wednesday of this week I completed this tutoring session and felt like I had a handle on the principles we talked about. Dana was great and I intend to hire her again in a few months for a more intensive eight hour session. I highly recommend her to anyone looking to learn these things. So, yesterday when I sat down to implement what I had learned the day before in my current project, I struggled. I was stressed from other projects, on mind overload, and frustrated that this project was taking longer than I had anticipated, hence why the hourly quote was a shot in the foot. I do not charge for my learning experiences, however, I also did not anticipate spending four times the time on the project. It’s not about money … more about personal / professional proficiency (or lack there of).
At this moment of ultimate frustration, the realization hit me. It has been over a year and a half that I have been in this position of learning. Of course, I am not saying I have not learned anything in the last year and a half. Or that I have not been frustrated. Rather, it is that I decided to take my skills to the next level and in doing so, lacked the self preparation and patience to hit the exponential learning curve head on. As I sit here now, humbled and a bit more at ease, I recognize this things and am ready to be more patient with myself and my ability to learn.
5 Responses to “A Position of Learning”
-
-
Dana is great. You should give her a call…she also does group training and reduced price for that. If you’re ever interested in doing that, let me know. I’d love to do something like that.
So what was your final project?
-
-
That sounds like a great idea. Let’s discuss it
My final project plan was to make a little flash widget that pulled in xml to movieclips already on the stage and a text label and with arrow buttons to go back and forward in an array of thumbnails that represented video clips, that when clicked would fill the screen and play and also would have controls and a close button to go back to the thumbnail view. I was having trouble getting the thumbnails to properly load into all the movieclips on the screen. I’m still playing with it though.
-
That sounds great! I’ve built things similar but not exact … Like a video player and an image gallery that both do the same thing you’re talking about. The video player has the info stored in an XML and loads in the videos from an external location (they are .flv files in a folder on the server). The image gallery is a bit more complex and ties into an actual mySQL database. The database spits the info out into an XML format. I didn’t have to do it that way, but it was less complex to do so in AS 2.0 (at the time, with my knowledge) than to use the LoadVars method to load in the PHP variables.
Are you using AS 2.0 or AS 3.0? I hope they taught 3.0 … We can geek out in our meeting today!
Oh, and I joined this group if you’re interested: http://www.meetup.com/flash-eastside/
And am going to go to the meeting end of the month…
-
-
That sounds like a great idea. Let’s discuss it
My final project plan was to make a little flash widget that pulled in xml to movieclips already on the stage and a text label and with arrow buttons to go back and forward in an array of thumbnails that represented video clips, that when clicked would fill the screen and play and also would have controls and a close button to go back to the thumbnail view. I was having trouble getting the thumbnails to properly load into all the movieclips on the screen. I’m still playing with it though.
Erin, this is great! Being a humble & eager learner is soo important. I just graduated from the UW Extension Flash Application Development certificate program; 81 hours, 27 weeks, and 1 year of learning… and my final project didn’t turn out exactly the way I planned! I had to redo my project at the last minute because I didn’t have time to pull off my original idea.
My teacher reminded me that it’s a journey, a constant learning process that is the fun of it and the fun of flash & design & technology. I’m glad to hear your honesty, we have a lot in common and I can’t wait to meet you!
Also, thanks for the mention of Dana Payne… I think I need her services, pronto!