Now now, before you get bent out of shape, I mean the case for actually owning a whiteboard.
While we can dream of one day kicking the whiteboard interview to the curb, we should actually prepare for this inevitable part of the hiring process. I think a good start is getting a board, and hanging it up, or using it as a scratch pad while you code. I find it especially useful while I myself learn how to code.
Some benefits of owning your own whiteboard:
- Practice for actual whiteboarding
- Use it as a reminder for difficult concepts
- Draw out your database relations
- Vocabulary
- Blog post ideas!
So this doesn’t seem groundbreaking, but let me tell you why I think it’s important to have something analog hanging around. I probably have like 30 tabs open on my browser at this very moment. I usually pull stuff up with the intention of reading it, but I have no desire to actually bookmark it for later. That would just get unruly trying to organize that many bookmarks. Inevitably, I forget why I even have the tabs up and end up skimming, closing a lot and repeating the process.
For me, this is usually because if it’s out of sight, out of mind. I need a visual reminder of important vocabulary, or DB relations etc. I can just take a glance up there and see what’s on my plate, what I need to work on, and draw up anything that comes to mind. In our digital world, especially with coding, I think we need an anchor to the analog world, and therefore a whiteboard seems to do the trick.
So go out there and get yourself a whiteboard!
I got this one from amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DJJXYZG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It’s perfect for hanging up, but may be a little big for holding in your lap, but still doable.
Till next time!
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